July 6, 2001

Poison/warrant/quiet riot/enuff z' nuff at the Jones Beach amphitheatre, Wantagh, NY

Wow, when I found out I was getting free tickets for this one, I never expected them to be this good. Row 13 dead center was a great view!! I took some pictures while they were onstage

I love this arena! It's right on the edge of the water so there was a really cool breeze blowing the entire time. It turned out to be a beautiful evening weather wise unlike previous times I've heard about.

The only bad part about it is that you have to drive through hell to get there. Being stuck in rush hour traffic on the streets of New York is not a fun thing. I'm not really sure why they paint the dividing lines on the streets because no one stays between them any way. We almost got hit a couple times by people darting back and forth from lane to lane. It was a white knuckle ride to say the least.

We missed Enuff Z' Nuff's set this time due to the above mentioned traffic.

Wait, did I just see a guy in a banana suit? More on that later.

We got in the place just after Quiet Riot started their set. The crowd was not the slightest bit interested. We were two of only a few people standing and clapping. You could tell that it was bothering Kevin Dubrow. He kept saying stuff like "What is this a garden party?" and "This ain't no Paul Simon concert here!" I guess a New York crowd is hard to win over.

In between sets I was unfortunate enough to see something that I really could have done without seeing for my entire life. There was this really huge fat guy sitting a couple rows in front of us. Someone was trying to get to their seat so he had to get up to let them through. When he got up all you could see was this giant ass crack (at least 10 inches or so). I don't understand how you could not realize that your pants are practically down to your knees. It was a windy day too, you'd think that he'd be able to feel the breeze. There were a bunch of people who saw it and were roaring with laughter. The one guy with a shaved head directly in back of him was laughing so hard that you could see the veins popping out on his scalp.

Warrant came out and played their set to a more enthusiastic crowd. During DRFSR, the music stopped and it was silent so I yelled really loud and Jani turned around, pointed to me and said "Exactly!!" The crowd was really into singing along with Heaven and I Saw Red. Jani changed the one lyric in I Saw Red from 'I don't think I'm gonna love you anymore' to 'I don't think I'm gonna fuck you anymore' The crowd was amused and so was I. Jani then jumped offstage and started running around in the audience. That was pretty cool because I got to shake his hand.

It's cool that all the bands on this tour have kind of a 5 minute warning before they go on. Quiet Riot's is the James Bond theme, Warrant's is Lowrider, and Poison's is Highway to Hell. I can't remember what EZ'N's is but they have one too.

When Poison came on stage the crowd was totally ready for them. Bret was able to keep on his woolly mammoth jacket longer than usual because of the cool temperatures. I snuck my camera in without a problem so I took a bunch of pictures. CC's solo was really blistering. I couldn't figure out why he was going so crazy with it until Bret brought out a guy from Guitar World magazine. I guess CC was showing off for him. They let the guy join them for Every Rose, and they took some pictures. Rikki's solo was really bitchin' as well. The bass effect he was using was so intense that I could feel my hair moving with the beat. 

Same set list as usual. I'm glad they replaced Rock And Roll All Night with Let It Play. They are on stage for such a short time that I would much rather hear them do their own stuff instead of a cover tune. I could easily do without Mama Don't Dance also in favor of something like Good Love or Life Loves A Tragedy. Maybe next time.

 After the show, everyone was kind of just milling about waiting for the guys to come out when this guy in the banana suit shows up with a cardboard sign with prices for autographs, handshakes, and tongue-kisses. It was CC Banana. To read more about the adventures of CC Banana click here or here. He was cracking everyone up and helping to pass the time talking about the upcoming box set of Samanthas 1 through 6, and that if you are in the Bret Michaels fan club the handshakes cost more or if you're in Club Rockett he can't meet you. His CC impression was perfect and really funny.

Eventually Rikki came out and I had him sign the magazine the arena was handing out - he thought it was pretty funny that I had him sign a program. Click the picture on the right to enlarge. I took a picture with him too but it turned out really horrible. I'm looking off to the right and Rikki's eyes are half closed. 

 We had to leave right after since it was late and we had to drive 3 hours or so to get home. All in all, we had a great time at Jones Beach, and might go back again next time but we'll definitely leave earlier so we won't hit all that horrible traffic.