THERE ARE FEW THINGS IN THIS WORLD THAT MEASURE UP TO THE SIGHT OF NINETEEN OR TWENTY THOUSAND AGING POISON FANS. LOOKING UP FROM MY SEAT AT THE MASSIVE CROWD, IT WAS OBVIOUS THAT THESE WERE THE SAME PEOPLE THAT WOULD HAVE BEEN AT THIS SHOW TEN YEARS AGO, ONLY THEY WERE OLDER AND FATTER. THERE WERE A HANDFUL OF LADIES IN THE CROWD THAT HAD THE MEN IN THE AUDIENCE DOING SHUDDER TAKES. NOW, ONTO THE SHOW...
SLAUGHTER WAS THE FIRST BAND UP ON STAGE, AND FOR ALL THE CRITICISM THEY TAKE, THEY SOUNDED PRETTY TIGHT. MARK'S VOICE WAS DEAD-ON THE ENTIRE TIME. WHETHER OR NOT HE WAS USING A HARMONIZER OR LIP-SYNCING THE ENTIRE TIME REMAINS TO BE SEEN, BUT FROM WHAT WAS GOING OUT OVER THE SOUND SYSTEM, THE LIVE VERSION OF "UP ALL NIGHT" SOUNDED JUST LIKE THE CD VERSION. NOT THAT I'M A HUGE SLAUGHTER FAN (BECAUSE I'M NOT...AT ALL)... I KEPT MYSELF AMUSED BY LOOKING AT THE 400-POUND BLONDE WOMAN IN THE FRONT ROW WHO KEPT WAVING BACK AND FORTH, SHIFTING LIKE THE TIDES OF THE ATLANTIC, WHEN THEY PERFORMED "FLY TO THE ANGELS"... THANK GOD THE SET WAS ONLY 30 MINUTES, OR I WOULD HAVE LAUGHED MYSELF TO DEATH.
NEXT UP WAS DOKKEN, WHO FROM WHAT I GATHERED FROM THE PEOPLE AROUND ME, SOUNDED IDENTICAL TO THE WAY THEY DID IN 1989. THEY KICKED OFF THEIR SET WITH "ERASE THE SLATE", A SONG WHICH I USED TO LOATHE, BUT AFTER SEEING IT PERFORMED LIVE, ISN'T SO BAD ANYMORE. THEY FOCUSED A LOT OF THEIR MATERIAL FROM THE LYNCH-ERA DOKKEN ALBUMS, AND THE BAND WAS VERY TIGHT THROUGHOUT THE ENTIRE PERFORMANCE. DON DOKKEN'S VOICE STARTING LOSING ITS LUSTER ABOUT THREE SONGS IN. YOU CAN TELL THAT YEARS OF SCREAMING HAS TAKEN ITS TOLL WHEN DURING "KISS OF DEATH", HE'S SINGING THE ENTIRE THING IN A LOWER REGISTER. ONE OF THE FUNNIEST COMMENTS CAME FROM A WOMAN SITTING IN FRONT OF ME WHO SAID "FOR AN OLD GUY, DON DOKKEN HAS REALLY GOOD HAIR"... IT'S CALLED HAIR CLUB FOR MEN HONEY... WANT THE NUMBER?
PREVIOUS TO THIS SHOW, I HAD NEVER SEEN CINDERELLA LIVE...AND I'M SORRY I HADN'T. THEY WERE THE BEST SOUNDING ACT BY FAR... AND I'M NOT TALKING ABOUT SONGWRITING (BUT I DO HAPPEN TO THINK THEY WROTE SOME CATCHY TUNES), WHAT I MEAN IS THAT THE MIX WAS FANTASTIC; TOM KEIFER'S VOCALS CUT THROUGH PERFECTLY, AND NOTHING WAS OVERPOWERING. I'LL BET ANYONE A HUNDRED BUCKS THAT THEY USED A HARMONIZER ON THEIR VOCALS, OR AT LEAST HAD SOME BACKING TRACKS ON DAT, BECAUSE AT ONE POINT, KEIFER WAS THE ONLY ONE SONG, AND THERE WERE A FEW VOICES COMING OUT OF THE PA... AT ONE POINT, FRED COURY STEPPED UP TO PLAY FIDDLE ON A BALLAD, AND I GUESS HE WASN'T TURNED UP, BECAUSE HE STOMPED OFF TO YELL AT THE SOUND GUY OFF STAGE. WELL, THE CAMERA FOR THE BIG SCREEN STAYED ON HIM AFTER THIS, AND YOU COULD SEE THAT HE WAS STILL PRETTY BULLSHIT.
AFTER A MASSIVE STAGE RENOVATION (POISON WANTS YOU TO KNOW THAT THEY'RE HEADLINING THIS WHOLE SHEBANG) WHICH INCLUDED SOME MORE PYRO, GREEN RAMPS, AND LARGE BACKDROPS, IT WAS TIME FOR THE GLAM SLAM KINGS OF HAIRSPRAY, POISON. NOW, I DON'T WANT TO SOUND LIKE AN OLD FART (PRIMAILY BECAUSE I'M NOT ONE), BUT THEY WERE WAY TOO DAMN LOUD, AND THEY WERE USING WAY TOO MUCH DAMN REVERB (WHICH IS WHAT BANDS DO TO COVER UP A LOT OF SCREW-UPS...USUALLY) ...WHEN I SAY "YOU COULDN'T HEAR A DAMN THING"..... YOU REALLY COULDN'T HEAR A DAMN THING. YES, YOU COULD TELL WHAT SONGS THEY WERE PLAYING, BUT YOU COULDN'T DISTINGUISH THE VOCALS OR THE GUITARS... IT WAS WAY TOO MUDDY. MAYBE THIS IS WHAT POSION WANTS. REMEMBER THE OLD SAYING FROM SPINAL TAP GOES "THESE GO TO ELEVEN"?... WELL, THAT SEEMED TO BE THE MANTRA FOR THIS SHOW. AS FAR AS ENTERTAINING THE CROWD, I THINK POISON PULLED IT OFF THE BEST. THEY WERE BY FAR THE MOST ACTIVE GROUP THERE, AND CC DeVILLE'S ANTICS, WHILE CURLY-LIKE AT TIMES, CERTAINLY KEPT THE CROWD AWAKE. THEY DID A FEW TRACKS OFF THE NEW DISC "POWER TO THE PEOPLE", WHICH JUDGING BY CROWD RESPONSE, NOT TOO MANY PEOPLE KNOW ABOUT.
WE HAD TO LEAVE ABOUT 40 MINUTES INTO POISON'S SET, AS WE HAD TO GET UP EARLY THE NEXT DAY. THIS WAS A NICE OUTING TO RE-LIVE OUR HIGH-SCHOOL DAYS, BUT I DON'T THINK THESE BANDS ARE GOING TO DRAW THE CROWDS THEY USED TO...NOT ON THEIR OWN ANYWAY. I THINK THE PACKAGING OF THESE ACTS IS WHAT YOU'RE GOING TO SEE MORE OF IN THE FUTURE...
