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Web posted Friday, May 25, 2001
6:50 a.m. CT

ACTION: Poison guitarist C.C. Deville, left, and lead singer Bret Micaels perform "I Want Action" during the Glam Slam Metal Jam at the Amarillo civic Center on Wednesdy night. The concert tour kicked off in Amarillo. Steven Line/Globe-News

Groups still have plenty of juice

By Chip Chandler
cchandler@amarillonet.com

Poison kicked off its Glam Slam Metal Jam on Wednesday, proving that energetic rock never goes out of style.

Judging by the raucous reception from the near-sellout crowd in the Amarillo Civic Center Cal Farley Coliseum, the band's popularity has waned little since its heyday in the early '90s, despite the fact that they get little radio play these days.

It was easy to tell why Poison's still hot: The band never let up during its approximately 75 minute set, playing 11 of its biggest hits and its new single, "Rock Star," with enough power to put today's hottest acts to shame.

If the reaction Wednesday night is any indication, the tour should be a success for the band and tour mates Quiet Riot and Warrant. (Other '80s acts like Bullet Boys and Great White will join in on select dates.) And from the look of things on opening night, this won't be some big nostalgia fest; these guys - Poison and Quiet Riot in particular - still have plenty of juice left. Only Warrant was disappointing; most of its songs sounded numbingly the same, and the band was on cruise control through one of its biggest hits, "Heaven."

Poison lead singer Bret Michaels called the crowd's response "awesome," promised to return to Amarillo next year and said that the other tour stops have a lot to live up to.

"I think we could just (expletive deleted) end the tour tonight and it'd be all good," Michaels yelled.

Though he was a bit scratchy-voiced at times, Michaels led the band through the group's most-recognizable hits: "Look What the Cat Dragged In," "I Want Action," "Something to Believe In," "Your Mama Don't Dance," "Fallen Angel" and others. None of it was great music, in that frequently boring artistic sense, but none of it failed to please, either.

They handily proved their superiority to today's premanufactured pop swill, giving hope that the promised revival of '80s pleasure rock is around the corner.

Guitarist C.C. DeVille wailed on a nearly five-minute solo turn in "Eruption," and drummer Rikki Rockett pounded out his own solo to the accompaniment of multi-colored strobe lights. Only bass guitarist Bobby Dall was denied a solo shot in the spotlight, though he earned plenty of attention with his energetic playing.

The guys closed down the concert with a string of their best rockers - "Unskinny Bop," "Nothin' But a Good Time" and "Talk Dirty to Me" - and encored with the Kiss classic "Rock 'n Roll All Night."

That, they could have done. The crowd seemed more than ready.

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