I'll start at the beginning.... Yes!! It'll be long... but you did say *DETAILS* right?! :)
THE NIGHT BEFORE THE CONCERT: I'm sitting on the inflatable bed in the basement of the place we're staying for the concert (me and a good friend). I packed pretty much my whole wardrobe the night before because I had NO idea what to wear - so I brought EVERYTHING :) Deciding to get things ready for the BIG day tomorrow, I painted my nails a metallic-looking *Heavy Metal* colour - suitable for the occasion, lol. Thats pretty much what happened on that June 27th. night - except that I was too excited to sleep and had POISON songs playing in my mind!
JUNE 28TH: MORNING OF THE BIG DAY:What Morning??!! lmao. I didn't wake up until noon because I was too tired from the night before. No worries! - there were still 5 and a half hours till the show.
JUNE 28TH: AFTERNOON:First on the list: Pick up my new leather jacket from a downtown store. Not too much to say about that - everything went good, pretty un-eventful. At 3:30pm we were off to the venue: The Molson Ampitheatre - to look around before the show, get a snack, and wait in anticipation of what was to come!! The Ampitheatre is a pretty big place.... we were lucky to get such good seats! Section 301, right at the front... its a little closer than the halfway point between the last seats at the back, and the stage! One of the first things I noticed (besides the wide variety of people) was the wide variety of band T-shirts: lots of Kiss, Slaughter, Poison, Dokken, Ozzy, Van Halen, Skid Row, etc... Although, I did have to question the single male wearing a business suit!, lmao.
JUNE 28: 5:30PM - CONCERT: SLAUGHTER:The gates open and the place starts to fill up. There are still quite a few empty seats, but what can you expect on a weekday at 5:30pm when work hasn't even let out yet? The first band (aka: opening act) is Slaughter. They play approx. 6 songs, 1 of which the lead singer Mark Slaughter jumps off the stage (still singing) and runs through the audience like a mad-man, slapping people high 5's and giving them handshakes. If you've been to my Souvenir page, you know what happens next! If not, GO SEE IT!!, lol. Okay...I *know* you don't want to leave right now. Thats fine! Visit it later :) Okay.. so Mark Slaughter is running through the crowd and he turns down my isle!!!!! After 1 frozen second in time, I kick it into high-gear, get up, dash forward and lean over the rail with my hand sticking out (this was at about eye-level to him, since we were up on a platform). He looks at me and smiles (STILL singing!) gives me a high 5, and runs off to greet more fans! I turn around and sit back down in my chair - stunned! My friend looks over at me and smiles, knowing that I will ALWAYS remember this day!! So Slaughter finishes up their impressive gig, exit the stage and the roadies all hustle to set things up for the next act: Dokken! (note: I LOVE one of the sayings on Slaughters souvenir T-shirts: 'If it isn't hard, It ain't worth a F**K!!')
JUNE 28TH: CONCERT: DOKKEN:Dokken appears on the stage after the first of 3 intermissions and launches into a song. Out of all 4 bands, this is the one I don't know a thing about. Their music sounds okay, but not something I'd just jump up and buy tomorrow. I still make an effort to listen to them and give them my attention because they tried hard, put on a good show and got my attention halfway through! The band gets the audience to sing *Happy Birthday* to Don Dokken (his b-day is June 29th.). After the tune was over, a band member walks over to Don and lands a cake SMACK right in the middle of his face!! As you can imagine, Don was very surprised!! Through a blur of sponge cake and icing, he managed to throw the remainder of his drink in the direction of the now-running-away bandmate, lmao. GOOD TRY DON!!!! but you missed!!! Got the drums instead,lmao!!! At the close of the set, one of Dons kids came out to stand with his daddy. Don tried to get him to sing a bit of their last song, but to no avail! As his child turned to walk away, the guitarist turned him around and put his guitar infront of the kid!! They finished the song like that. Awwwwwwwwww *my heart melts everytime I think about that!*
Later on...during Cinderellas set, Don Dokken came over to 2 disabled ladies seated beside us. I over-heard him thank them for coming to the show and going through all that hassle to see the band. He shook each of their hands and headed off towards an exit ramp. Its nice to know that he took the time out of his busy schedule to show his sincere appreciation to his fans!! Kudos to Don!!
JUNE 28TH: CONCERT: CINDERELLA:From my observations, the intermissions between bands got longer as the night progressed (sure! there were only 3, but there was a noticeable difference in time). This was because the more elaborate acts needed more time to set up. Thankfully, the Molson Ampitheatre had 4 big screens set up at various places around the venue so that people further away could see the same things that people closer to the stage could see. The Ampitheatre played music videos (ranging from Marilyn Manson to Guns N' Roses) during the band set-up time. This also helped to keep my mind off of the unfortunate young woman who puked infront of the isle, close to where I was sitting. In 10 minutes, it was cleaned up and things were pleasant again, lol.
Cinderella comes on and places an amazing set consisting of songs like 'Night Songs' and 'Nobody's Fool' - dedicated (by Tom Keifer) to all the 'f**kin a**holes'. More loud songs, signature guitar spinning, a wardrobe change, etc.... Tom Keifer sits down at the baby grand piano to play/sing "Don't Know What You've Got Till It's Gone". Some drunken idiot throws a water bottle at Tom, narrowly missing him. Tom looks at the jerk, points and gives him the finger. Security soon responded by pulling the guy from the crowd. Not letting this silly outburst get to him, Tom, being the professional he is, finished the song and than stood up facing the audience. I can't remember exactly what he said, but I'll try my best.... It was something like this: 'I'll tell ya.... we still got a ways to go in the show. If you see anyone throwin anymore s**t up on the stage, I want you to kick the livin s**t outta them!' I hear a lesson in that somewhere....
If you go to a concert, DO NOT THROW ANYTHING UP ONTO THE STAGE!!! These guys are professionals.... you PAY to see them do what they do best. It also shows what immature people you are!! Geez!!!! Didn't your mamma teach you anything???!!!
After Tom was finished showing that he has zero tolerance for bulls**t, the crowd roared and the show went on....so did the mass consumption of alcohol by the audience, lmao (this was most evident when a drunk guy was clutching to the wall, trying....trying to walk back to his seat! Personnel spotted him and security came to the rescue again!) Cinderellas awesome set unfortunately came to an end and once again, roadies were scurrying around like mice.... setting up for POISON!!!! This next intermission was the longest.My butt was numb by now, so I walked around a little, avoiding the stumbling party-goers! I also felt an urge that meant I needed to use the 'little girls' room... Did I do it, you ask?? NO!! OF COURSE NOT!!! I refused to miss one second of the action, so I waited!
JUNE 28TH: CONCERT: POISON:I bought a package of fresh gummy bears and sat down again, watching the Poison gear being set-up: bright green steps, spotlights, Poison logo risers/ramps and the massive Poison backdrop! I look up above the stage - theres a huge banner that reads 'Power To The People' in green letters. I presume that it had been up there since before the concert started, but I had just noticed it then. There was also a disco ball attached to the ceiling of the stage, which would later throw off an amazing array of colourful dots circulating around the Ampitheatre. (I found out afterwards that this disco ball weighs in excess of 300 pounds!) All the while, I can hear the rest of the crowd chanting 'POI-SON, POI-SON, POI-SON'. By this time, the Ampitheatre really fills up for the big show!
The lights suddenly go out, swallowing the Ampitheatre in darkness. The music blares and the band comes screaming out, into their opening song 'Look What the Cat Dragged In'. Wow!!! I used to dream of seeing Poison play live and now it was finally happening!! Their performance didn't disappoint me in the slightest. My first concert - and I'll remember it till the day I croak!! I had my eyes on Rikki Rockett for a good part of the performance.... SORRY!, but what can I say??? I was mesmerized! From my vantage point, I could see his upper body (kinda on an angle) and I had a perfect view of his arms and drumsticks (the very objects that mesmerized me!) I couldn't help but stare as he'd twirl the drumsticks and than hit the drum, or throw them up in the air and catch them just in time to hit the drum... never ever missed a beat!!! This show also included some pyrotechnics - kinda like mini fireworks on stage!! Very nice touch :) There were also 2 cannons that fired out sparkles into the crowd (they looked purple and green, but that could have been the many spotlights!)A screaming fan handed Bret a Canada flag. He waved it around a little and than placed it on Rikkis bass drum - only to move it a few minutes later when the vibrations made it fall to the ground.
The next thing I know, Bret Michaels pulls out a mini camcorder and tells people that he's making a home-video!!!! He pans around the crowd to capture the roaring, screaming fans - Poisons fans!!!! I'd sure like to see that video, lmao. It would prove to be quite interesting!!!! More songs - he played all of my favorites from the 'Open up and Say Ahhh' album. Than the songs stopped. I almost freaked because I thought the concert was over...actually, 'freaked' is an understatement! Turns out that Bret is just thanking the crowd for spending their 'hard-earned' money at the gig and coming to see them! He also referred to the band as a 'bunch of f**kheads' for not coming to Canada in 5 years and promised to come back every summer! He also added that the 3 other bands wanted to thank the crowd greatly for coming to see them! More songs and Bret pulled a few awe-struck people up onto stage. They walked around with big smiles on their faces, looking so un-believeably nervous, lol. The show is still going smoothly... more people get up on stage...LOTS more! I look back at Rikki and see this girl shaking his right hand... I look over at his left hand - hes keeping the beat with it perfectly! Than I look back over at his right hand again and hes wiping his face with a towel! Kinda seemed like he was doing 3 things at once, lol. Rikki also dedicated one of his many Awesome drum solos to his canadian-born drum hero (and Rush drummer) 'Neil Peart'. After another song or so, the lights focused on C.C. Deville and his guitar. He announced that he'd sing a song called 'I Hate Every Bone in your Body, But Mine!' The crowd, once again, went WILD!!!! Another few songs go by.... Poison does a Kiss cover - 'Rock and Roll All Nite', after which they exit the stage without saying goodbye. I thought that was pretty mean, until I realized that they'd be back in a minute and do an encore!! I WAS RIGHT!!!! They came back and brought the house down with "Talk Dirty To Me"! Than more pyrotechnics - this time, an amazing waterfall-like display that spread across the whole stage - turning the once colourful rockers into black momentary silhouettes. All 4 of them stood together after the song and did a well-deserved bow, waved their hands, said their goodbyes and left!
JUNE 28TH: 10:40PM: AFTER THE CONCERT:As all of you concert-goers know, the loud music makes you feel near-deaf afterwards for about an hour! Well, this being my first concert - I didn't really expect that. As I was walking through the Ampitheatre grounds, I was trying to talk to my friend who had been with me the whole time. The conversation consisted of us yelling at each other and trying to hear each other, lmao! Kinda like this: 'WHAT AN AWESOME CONCERT!' 'HUH?' 'THE CONCERT WAS F**KING AMAZING!!!!!!!!!' 'YEAH!' 'WHAT WAS YOUR FAVORITE PART?' 'HUH??', etc... etc... People were actually starring at us cause we were 'talking' so loud! By now I really had to use the 'little girls' room and went on the great search for one! After 5 agonizingly slow minutes, I got lucky! On my venture out of the can, I met an intoxicated, but extremely happy girl. From what I could understand, she had thrown her bra and a red rose up on stage and was ecstatic that they were missing when she looked back! (I'm assuming that she thought a band member had taken it.) Poor girl! I didn't have the heart, nor the patience, to inform her of what a roadies job is! I just smiled. Her attention was diverted by her friend, she turned away and I went in the opposite direction! Didn't want to get too caught up in that! The concert let out in perfect time because the 'Symphony of Fire' had started. Its a huge fireworks competition involving people from all around the world. We stayed for a couple more minutes to watch the fireworks and than left the venue.
Well, thats it! I hope you enjoyed reading this review - because I had fun writing it and re-living the best day of my life!!!!