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80's Rock band Poison concert at Musikfest 2022 By Rick Vanvliet I was invited to do a review of 80’s rock band Poison, at Musikfest 2022, in Bethlehem Pa, on Sunday August 7th by the owner of Steel Notes Magazine. I said sure, what else was I doing? I figured that I was going to see some older musicians mailing a performance in. After all, it had been 3o years since their last song appeared on the charts, and 40 years since the seed was planted that formed Poison. Boy, was I surprised! The show started with amazing energy and they all carried it to the end of the show. Mailing it in? Hell no! Brett Michaels was on the mic on stage to fire the crowd up. “Bethlehem Pennsylvania! It’s good to be home!” He then announced the band by each name, with the biggest smile, and bouncing as if he had springs in his shoes. “Good to be home…..”. Poison was initially formed in Mechanicsburg Pennsylvania, some 108 miles away. So yes, this was a hometown show for them! Their genuine smiles about being here,- here, In Bethlehem PA, spoke volumes about what this show meant to them. Brett Michaels said so himself. “We have been looking forward to this very night for 2 1/2 years. It feels so good to finally be here! Back Home!” I can’t speak for the whole crowd but I, and I imagine most of us, felt this show was special after he said that, to both the fans and to Poison also . A very very nice touch. The show opened up with “LOOK WHAT THE CAT DRAGGED IN” I personally was struck by the lead guitarist’s look. Was that CC DeVille or someone filling in for the tour? This lead guitarist had beautiful extremely long brown hair and a red top hat on. Well that can’t be CC I thought, but let’s give him a chance. Sad CC isn’t here. I’ve always thought very highly of his Axe work. This “new” guy didn’t have CC’s bleached blonde hair towering high off his head with enough Aqua Net to make a hole in the ozone layer all by itself. But, at one point the guitarist flashed a very familiar and unique smile. Then in the first song Brett Michael said “CC play that guitar for me!” It was him! What a new look! He looked more like he was a member of Molly Hatchet then Poison The glam was gone. No hint of it. I think we all naïvely think that people look the same as we imagined them. Well, not here. Not CC DeVille. His new look was “Rock Cool”. It played very well as a sign that they were rockers and all that glam stuff was in the past. In between songs during the show Brett Michaels was amazing. He was talking about how his father is buried in a war memorial cemetery close to here as an American Vet, and twice during the show he took time out to honor our past and current members of the armed services. The second time allowing local members of the military on stage for a song. Very nice touch and very classy. You could feel that Poison sincerely enjoyed being there on that stage together. The way they interacted with one another, and by the huge smiles they had on their faces during the whole show, you could see that they were as happy to play for us as we were to watch. Before the third song, Bret Michaels was talking about how when he was young his parents would sit together with him, and play acoustic guitar and that he learned to play the harmonica. He picked up the harmonica, and as he started playing, it was just as you would have imagined it. All of a sudden he ramps it up and starts riffing on the harmonica as I’ve never seen anybody do. It was truly amazing! And then the band slid into “YOUR MAMA DON’T DANCE” After the song, he was telling the crowd about the amazing day he was having here in Bethlehem. He took time to shout out to his stage crew and the local crew that helped him put the show together. All night Brett Michaels was classy and thankful. A prime example is when he had 3 military veterans, one of which was in a wheelchair, join him on stage. It was so patriotic that the crowd started chanting,” USA! USA! USA!” He called them “The real rock stars!” Poison then broke into “SOMETHING TO BELIEVE IN”, and after the song he said with honesty, “ I got choked up right then, I’m not gonna lie.” I thought Bret Michaels was a pretty boy/ reality star with a good voice, but tonight I realized that he stands for more, so much more. He has a huge heart and gets the big picture of what’s real, like our vets and what doesn’t matter so much comparatively. It was very impressive to say the least. Poison brought the energy back up with “UNSKINNY BOP”. I couldn’t help but think back to the 1991 MTV music awards. They played this song in front of millions and it was a total disaster causing physical confrontation between Brett Michaels and CC DeVille famously after their performance. That show started the unraveling of the strings of Poison. Not tonight! They were four good friends just rocking out one of their hits! Brett and CC even play fought for a moment as an homage to that day right before CC DeVille ripped off a masterful guitar solo walking right up to the front of the stage like a guitar God. Bret Michaels then picked up a rhythm guitar and Poison broke into “MAMA’s FALLEN ANGEL” Bass player Bobby Dall honestly seemed to be charged up even more for this song. He was walking and working the stage. He and CC delivered crisp back up vocals. Then the unexpected happened. Poison broke out doing a great cover of “WE ARE AN AMERICAN BAND” by Grand Funk Railroad. Brett was still bouncing with exuberant energy on the stage, then their drummer’s cowbell made its 1st appearance, leading into Rikki Rocket’s drum solo. Before the next song, Brett Michaels again made reference to playing in Bethlehem Pennsylvania. He said, or words to that effect, that this show was like a big hometown backyard barbecue with our friends from New Jersey and New York here to join us. Rock stars are human too and not Gods. We forget that. Brett gave a shout out to Rikki Rocket for beating cancer. The response from the Bethlehem faithful was a huge cheer. This was a perfect time to go into the next song. Bret Michaels then reminded the crowd of how important this night was to him personally. He then proudly introduced the next song by saying, “This is a song that YOU made number one. I needed a night like this!” He strapped on an acoustic guitar and broke into one of their biggest commercial hits. Encouraging the crowd to sing with him, Brett and his acoustic guitar broke into “EVERY ROSE HAS IT’S THORN” to huge applause. Bret Michaels had the stage to himself, right until the ballad played its first power cord, The rest of Poison took their post. CC stage left ( from the audience view) Bobby Dall stage right and Rikki on the kits. But, of course, center stage Brett Michaels. The fans in Bethlehem also made their voices heard. They were singing as loud, if not louder than the band. CC DeVille has an amazing solo in the song on the studio recording. Live? He nailed it! The song ended in thunderous fashion. Long continuous strumming to its fitting end. Well done! Brett then announced the next song while pointing at CC DeVille. “TALK DIRTY TO ME!” The song was sonically fantastic! Brett was still working the crowd to clap their hands. Still full of the same energy he walked out on stage with in the beginning of the show. I can’t stress this enough how Poison got along with each other over the years, specifically CC DeVille and Brett Michaels. 2 Alpha males looking to be the big stars. Competing with one another for the spotlight. That was undetectable tonight. They came off as brothers who hugged it out and realized the others' talent with great respect. Very nice to see! When it was each person‘s time to shine during that song and frankly the whole concert, you could see that they were waiting for that moment….. To pounce! To be the best for the crowd. The stage went dark after the “TALK DIRTY TO ME” encore. I was going through the rolodex in my mind thinking about what song they hadn’t played yet. I didn’t come up with anything. You kinda knew they were gonna come out with at least one more song. With the stage still dark all you heard was Bret Michaels voice after a short amount of time saying, “Pennsylvania! You know there’s not a chance in hell that we’re ready to go home yet! Do you wanna keep on partying?” Again, I couldn’t put my finger on what song they hadn’t played yet. They started their Encore with a generic fast blues riff. Brett then asked if we had, “NOTHING BUT A GOOD TIME!”? The Bethlehem PA crowd showed themselves now, they were louder vocally than Poison and very into it! especially the part in the song where it says,” Ain’t lookin for nothin….. but, a good time…. How can I resist?” The people from the Lehigh Valley were louder than Brett Michaels. Rikki Rockett was twirling his drumsticks, Bobby Dall was laying down the powerful base, CC DeVille was just waiting for the wicked guitar solo, and Brett Michaels was still bouncing as he had to start the show and work the crowd. Right before that amazing guitar solo they slowed things down, Brett was working the crowd to a feverish pitch. The two instruments you really heard were Rikki Rocket's drums and Bobby Dall’s bass, stretching the song out, and creating anticipation for one of the most amazing guitar solos I may have ever heard on a record. It’s a top 10! Brett Michaels announced the upcoming solo correctly. “CC, give em Hell!” The best guitar I’ve ever heard live would be Ted Nugent. I’m not gonna take anything away from Ted, but, CC nailed that solo! At the end of the concert Bret Michaels held up his mic stand that was draped in an American flag. I have no political party thought of where he stands. He also probably won’t ever say. But, at the end of the concert there was no doubt in my mind that he was a true patriot. A troop loving, thank you for our freedom, Honoring his father who was a veteran, proud to be an American man. When this show was over I had a new respect for Poison and their talent as musicians and honestly people in general. I came from The age of AC/DC and Van Halen. And yes, for years I did not take Poison seriously. They put on an amazing show from top to bottom. I was honestly blown away! To anybody who naïvely thought that Poison was just some glam band….. I was wrong and so are you! I highly endorse seeing them live! Great music, fantastic musicians, and they give the crowd all the energy they have every minute of their show. It was amazing to see The four original members rock out and get along with each other as well as they did on stage. It was very genuine and nothing about their show came off as fake at all!
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