Poison, Ratt, and Vains of Jenna in Tinley Park, IL 07.17.07

It has always been a curiosity of mine to see a heavy metal hair band live in concert, but until now, I have never been provoked to actually do so.  Although this is not music I listen to on a daily basis, I definitely enjoyed seeing the glam band Poison play live, and even recognized most of their songs... I'm not surprised considering they were at the peak of their popularity while I was growing up.  My most favorite part of going to a show that I wouldn't ordinarily attend is recognizing the crowd's enthusiasm and even fanaticism.  When you're a big fan yourself, you don't usually notice these things.  So let me tell you, there are more than a few HUGE poison fans out there.

There is no doubt that Poison definitely rocked the entire crowd during their set which included "Talk Dirty to Me," "Fallen Angel," and "I Hate Every Bone in Your Body Except Mine" to name a few.  My favorite, of course, was their hit single power ballad "Every Rose Has Its Thorn."  Even I had to make a call during that one and hold up the cell phone.

Throughout the set were a number of guitar solos by C.C. DeVille, my personal favorite in the band, and even one introduced by Bret Michaels who started a crowd wide chant of "C.C., C.C., C.C.!"  What seemed to be one of the most crowd pleasing moments was what had to have been at least a five minute drum solo by Rikki Rockett whose entire drum platform was continuously lifted higher and higher into the air.  On a sidenote, I was definitely impressed that Bret Michaels was wearing True Religions, the same brand of jeans I had on.  I guess the glam rocker still has a little fashionista in him.   And according to my roommate,  he has his own reality show starting up pretty soon on VH1.

Although headliners Poison are, or at least one time were, the largest band on the tour, both opening bands Ratt and Vains of Jenna began the show strong and successfully set the stage for who most people were there to see.  As a fellow American 80's glam metal band, Ratt played well alongside Poison, with many of their own fans in the crowd cheering them on, especially during original member Warren DeMartini's guitar solos.  A most interesting addition to the night was Swedish hard rock band Vains of Jenna who have recently moved to Los Angeles after quickly winning over the Europe scene and continuing on to pursue the attention of the US.  Probably most known as the band who played Bam Margera's wedding on "Unholy Union," these young 21 year old Swedes are definitely making their mark in the states.  Although much of this crowd was an older fanbase, it was obvious that their set was still enjoyed by many.  They had an interesting and more unique sound for the hard rock genre which they are classified into, and I think as they continue to reach the younger scene, they will soon blow up.

All in all, it was definitely an awesome show.  It introduced me to a different type of concert, and I'm now eager to see some more METAL!

Comments

[Rokstrmentality]

Awesome pic of Bret! Was at the concert as well, and totally agree that they will blow up...he is so hot! Seems like you are able to grasp the important influence that the 80's metal scene still has on music today. I think that the 80's combined both style and rock into one genre...you see that too!