June 17, 2000

Poison/Cinderella/Dokken/Slaughter at the PNC Bank Arts Center, Holmdel, NJ

If you ever get the chance to go to a concert at this place, do it! It's really nice looking, well organized, and the stage is curved so that no matter where you sit, it's a great view. The roof is round and it looks like a flying saucer from the street.  The only problem we had was finding a parking spot that wasn't occupied by lawn chairs, grills, or people standing around.

Say what you want about Slaughter, but they do put on an energetic show. Too bad hardly anyone was there to see it. The new guitarist reminded me of Zakk Wylde looks wise, probably because of the way his guitar was slung low. I guess Mark got bored with being up on stage so he hopped down and started wandering up and down the isles while he was singing. 

Dokken switched around their set a little. I can't remember which song they added, but there was a different one in the mix. Don got the crowd going by having us cuss them out when he said that they had to go. It went like this:

Don - We gotta go!

Crowd - Fuck You!!!

Don - I said we gotta go!!

Crowd (louder) - FUCK YOU!!!

They did the same thing at all three shows we went to. It must have been funny to be outside the arena and hear the whole audience swearing in unison. Especially at Hersheypark. Imagine being on the tram going to the parking lot after a day of family fun and hearing that (LOL!!) "Mommy, what did those people just say?"

 Another great set from Cinderella. They seemed a little more energetic this time, most likely because they weren't getting rained on here. I was hoping to hear a bunch from "Still Climbing" like 'Free Wheelin' and 'All Comes Down', but I guess they wanted to mainly do their hit singles.

By the time Poison came out, I was pretty well buzzed from the big cup of beer I sucked down during Cinderella's set. I never know how beer is going to affect me from one time to the next, but this time it worked very well. The set was the same except they replaced "Can't Bring me Down" with "Let it Play". I don't know why, but it seems like they feel bad when they play songs that everyone doesn't know. The reason I say this is because after they finished playing the new songs at each show, Bret said "Nothing but hits from here on in!" I love hearing the old stuff, but I'd also love to hear some new stuff too. Hopefully next time!

Bret let tons of people on stage for 'Rock & Roll All Night'. It was pretty funny because there were so many people up there that you couldn't see where Bret, Bobby, or CC was!

The after show was much better this time. After some confusion about where exactly we were supposed to wait for Rikki, they led us into a tented area. I had Rikki sign my pass, as you can see above. Lori (Club Rockett) had this girl she knew take a picture of me, my boyfriend, and Rikki (Thanks Banana!!!!). Maybe someday when I'm brave enough I'll put it up here. I was still pretty lit when it was taken and it's very obvious - I look completely wrecked.