Wednesday, July 19, 2006

POISON w/ Special Guests Cinderella

Ah, petchulli...it has been a year since I have smelled your scent. Maybe that's a good thing...

Concert season is upon us once again, and this year began with a trip down memory lane...well, not my memory lane, as I am of the alternative generation, but a trip down my older friend's memory lane.

Our first stop...Poison and Cinderella.

The night began with a pretty cool sounding band, whose name I forget. Do you think that playing your music in front of tens of thousands of people makes it any easier to swallow the fact that hardly any of them are listening? I hope so. They weren't bad, but I find it hard to embrace an '80's sounding band that is coming out in the 2000's. It's just creepy.

While the opener was playing, we decided to play a little game.

Which concert goer had the most out of place concert shirt on? The rules were simple: Find the person at a Hair Metal Concert that had a shirt on depicting a musical act that was the furthest away from hair metal. I quickly gave an exemption to classic artists, such as The Who, Led Zep, Jimi Hendrix and The Beatles.

I was really hoping for a Raffi shirt...but no luck.


"Do you have any Raffi? Reefer? NO, RAFFI!!"

The search was not going very well...Poison, Cinderella, Poison, Ratt, Guns and Roses...then, Becky spotted the winner.

RAY CHARLES!!

Come on, dude, Ray Charles at a Poison show? That's wack!! (consolation prize goes to the girl wearing the Hello Kitty shirt...ok, technically that's not a music shirt, and she was only about 7 years old...but damn, Hello Kitty at a Rock concert?!?)

CINDERELLA



After a brief intermission, a large Cinderella curtain dropped in front of the stage. The speakers blasted out the sound of lightning, and ironically, at the same moment, it started raining. Very strange, huh?

The band blasted full force into...

I was going to try and pretend I knew any of the Cinderella songs, but in reality, I just don't. I knew Nobody's Fool, but that is the extent of my Cinderella knowledge. Sorry, folks!!

I was very impressed, however, that their lead singer (again, I don't know who he is, sorry '80's fans!) played:

Piano
Saxophone
Slide, lap guitar thing

and

Lead Guitar.

That takes some talent. (no, he didn't play them all at the same time!!) I was left wondering, however, do you think this dude really thought Cinderella was a cool band name? I bet when he was 20, he never thought he'd still be singing for Cinderella when he was 40!!

The rain stopped, and so did Cinderella. They were overall ok, but just not my bag really.

INTERMISSION


While we have this break in the action, let me take a minute to tell you, dear readers, about hand signs at concerts. When you are rocking out to your favorite 80's band, metal band, or harder hitting band, the correct hand signage is:




This hand symbol:



Means "Hang Loose" and is NOT COOL at a concert (unless you are in Hawaii).

This hand symbol:



Means "I Love You" and is also NOT COOL at a concert...in fact, it's never cool, loser!!

POISON



Before Poison took the stage, we tried to predict if CC DeVille would have normal, calm hair or crazy CC hair. When they took the stage and broke into "Look at What the Cat Dragged In," our question was answered...CRAZY CC HAIR!! Bret was running around the stage, CC was doing his CC thang, and the band sounded great!

I was surprised that I actually knew all the songs, as I was never one to pop in a Poison CD. I couldn't sing along to most, but I still grooved out and enjoyed myself. The band played hit after hit, after hit...the energy was very high, the pyrotechnics were blasting, and Bret's voice sounded really smooth and strong. I did get a bit frustrated with Bret having to seemingly tell CC when he was to solo...everytime before the solo, Bret would scream, "Hit it CC!" or "Do it, CC!" or "CC!!"

Half way through the set, the band left CC to embark on some wicked guitar solos which had me wondering if he had an extra finger or two on his left hand. He doesn't, but wouldn't that be cool if you DID have an extra working finger, and could play stuff no one else could because of it? I mean even if the extra finger didn't work, but you could use it to hold down barre chords and stuff it would be cool...

Sorry, I got sidetracked there.

He then went into a song of his own called "I Hate Every Bone in Your Body, Except Mine." I think it was a love song. Aww, how sweet!! You could really tell CC really likes himself, as he asked the crowd for applause, and during the song, he yelled out his own name before the solo..."Hit it, CC!"

The night rocked long and hard, with a few classics like Unskinny Bop, Every Rose, and Nothin' But a Good Time closing the show. There was time for an encore...Talk Dirty to Me. Sweet. Then we herded out with the rest of the cattle to our cars, and we drove out (rather quickly for Verizon) and headed to the after concert stop...White Castle. It's tradition!!

Next stop on the concert scene...DEF LEP!!





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