So going to see Poison live is like going a whole day eating nothing but fast food. Sounds like a good idea, but it leaves with you the same feeling inside. Live at the Journal Pavilion, Poison warmed up the crowd for Motley Crue. Never would I think that Poison would be a warm up act for one of their Glam Metal colleagues, but Poison's music hasn't maintained its relevance the way Motley Crue's has.
Now I am not a proponent of old bands adopting the look that the kids are doing, but I am also not a fan of the ones who hadn't changed their look in 20 years.... Poison only changed their look simply because of natural causes. Image aside, I couldn't wait for one of the great arena rock bands to take stage and play Fallen Angel and Nothing but a Good Time. They blasted on stage to an awkward and slightly off beat boom of leftover KISS fireworks, and began the show with the only gritty song they have, which is, Look What The Cat Dragged In. From the start, I was very disappointed; immediately it was evident that they should be playing in a medium size club or theatre. The four piece band just didn't carry well in an amphitheater situation and frankly had a hard time rocking the joint. All my fantasies of rocking until it hurts to the classics on the Poison catalog was extraordinarily underwhelming.
Drummer Ricky Rocket unfortunately fell victim of being from an era of drum solos in possibly the least placed emphasis of drummers in rock history. That being said, Ricky Rocket was no exception, and his drum solo was not entertaining, or even very good. Drum solos are possibly the worst thing you can do at your concert unless your drummer is famous like Travis Barker, Alex Van Halen, Buddy Rich or Neil Pert. Only drummers might like drum solos, but even a good drummer would have chuckled at Ricky Rocket's attempt. After this many years, it would probably be a good idea to leave the drum solo out of the song list... particularly when they are the warm up act.
On to C.C. Devile. Deville also fell victim of an age of guitar solos, and particularly guitar shredding masters. Now, it's hard to knock C.C. Deville for being a good guitar songwriter. Deville wrote some of the most memorable and catchy licks of the 80's, but he was by no means someone you would go to a show just to see him play. That being said, why would he insist on a guitar solo? His guitar solo lived basically at a slight variation of Eddie Van Halen's Eruption--I say variation because his variations seemed to mostly stem from his inability to play the song accurately. Watching him play is like watching your 17 year old nephew play Eruption and you say, "Dang dude thats pretty good! Sounds just like Eddie, keep it up!" When you say those words to a 17 year old, you are sincere, but when you see it from a man who has to be in his 50's, you say, "C.C., it's time you just skipped that part of the show."
All that can be forgiven, but what is hard to get past is Brett Micheals.
There was a promo on TV for the Apprentice with Brett Micheals that said, "Trump meets the bad boy of rock n' roll." Anyone who knows Brett Micheals could not have heard that and not thought something like, "That's like calling Chris Rock the family man of comedy." Michaels has become a parody of himself and he doesn't even know it. Much like William Shatner, except Shatner is pretty aware of how the world views him, along with Hasselhoff. Brett Michaels doesn't seem to know that it's been 22 years since he has been relevant, and talks about himself like they are still all over the radio. His vocal performance wasn't much to write home about, but what can you expect if you know the recorded material. He talks like an 11 year old's perception of what a front man sounds like and he made unwanted refrences about his health. As much as I don't care for a frontman who has nothing to say, it's five times worse when he has nothing to say and insists on speaking anyway. If you need a clearer picture of what it is like, imagine what Dog the Bounty Hunter would sound like. Michaels is possibly one of the worst on stage frontmen to make a successful career. To his credit, I will say after watching him, I tend to think Kenny Chesney and Tim Mc Graw may have learned a thing or two from him, and I don't mean that to be a bad thing.
All critizisms aside, even a jaded fan as myself can laugh off the ridiculousness of the show and just put his arm around his woman and sing along to Every Rose Has its Thorn and Something to Believe in. And couldn't help but really get into singing as loudly as I could to Talk Dirty To Me (which I still believe to be one of the greatest rock n' roll anthems ever). So, even if Poison really offers nothing culturally to the world, I think they give a solid and accidental meaning to their song, "Nothing But a Good Time!"
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