Poison infects crowd with entertainment

By Denise Neil
The Wichita Eagle

Wichitans proved that they have good memories -- and soft-spots for aging hairbands -- at Tuesday night's Glam Slam Metal Jam at the Kansas Coliseum.

The five-hour concert, which featured headliners Poison, as well as Warrant, Quiet Riot and Enuff Z'Nuff, drew about 4,100 fans, all brimming with enthusiasm and appreciation for their former glam-rock heroes.

Many loudly sang along with hit songs they probably hadn't heard in 10 years, never missing a lyric.

Others screamed, thrashed their heads in time with the music and hoisted high their cigarette lighters (the universal symbol of the rock ballad.)

And the most demonstrative fans, women hoisted on men's shoulders just in front of the stage, spent the latter-half of Poison's set flashing their chests at the band members, who giddily egged them on.

But in the end, the band deserved the adulation. Poison delivered the most high-energy, flashy, spectacle of a performance that Kansas audiences have seen in a while.

The stage show was a high-tech production that out-pizzazzed any performance the 16-year-old band put on in its prime. Fireworks exploded on cue throughout. Giant columns of fire periodically spouted from the floor of the four- level stage. Confetti rained onto the stage.

And the band's playing was actually rather good. Poison's brand of bubblegum-metal may not be in style anymore, but as the members tore through polished renditions of hits such as "Talk Dirty to Me," "Every Rose Has Its Thorn" and "Nothin' But a Good Time," it was hard to remember why not.

Not only was the show entertaining, but the band members looked good. Lead singer Bret Michaels, guitarist C.C. DeVille, drummer Rikki Rockett and bassist Bobby Dall were all in their early 20s when they hit it big. Now, they range in age from 37 to 39.

But they all look healthier than they did back then. They're grown-ups who have kicked their drug habits, cut their hair and lost their scary attitudes.

And their role as rock 'n' roll survivors, still touring and drawing fans despite the hairband backlash that ended their reign in the early 1990s, just made you want to root for them.

They didn't seem to be taking their resurgence in popularity for granted, either. Throughout the show, Michaels gushed with gratitude over the crowd's enthusiasm, and he begged audience members to call radio stations and request songs from Poison's new album when it is released next year.

Poison's effervescence, however, made the concert's opening bands seem sort of sad, particularly Warrant.

Despite a high-energy performance that included hits such as "Cherry Pie" and "Uncle Tom's Cabin," Warrant's members seemed like puffy, washed-up, chain-smoking potty mouths.

Back to Top


© The Wichita Eagle