Hell Yeah

[fallenangel]

Ok, I promised a few people I'd give them details, and this is the easiest way. If you've seen something lately, feel free to throw a review here, too. Buckle up, this is gonna be frickin' huge...

[b]KISS/Poison[/b]

[b]Poison[/b]

Let me just say, first of all, there's a reason C.C. DeVille is my favorite guitarist. But before I get into that, Poison is quite possibly one of the best openers for Kiss. As much as I prefer and think they're better at headlining, they set the perfect mood and have the entire crowd on their feet for the whole thing. A little disappointing to see the place only a little over half full during their set, but that's to be expected, I suppose. I had fuckin' awesome seats. Fifth row dead center. Just out of reach of Paul spitting into the audience, thank god. To make this easier to follow, I'll break it all up by subject...

[i]Bret[/i] - Since some people get off on such trivial details, he was wearing a Poison tank, blue pants, bandana, and cowboy hat. He was sounding great. We got there really early and listened to their soundcheck from outside before the gates opened (and for awhile afterwards. They played right up until the seating opened). His guitar tech is still completely useless, but his guitars were surprisingly close to being in tune. His acoustic was a tad off, but he let it slide. It was a little funny since he was giving the lead in and dedication to Something To Believe In, finished, paused for a little bit, then looked around and said "Yep, if I could get my guitar out here, that'd be great." It's no wonder why his are always out of tune. In the hour and a half we were sitting there his guitar tech tuned his electric then proceeded to bang it around and treat it none too gently.

[i]Bobby[/i] - Bobby was wearing a black Led Zep shirt and black pants. Bobby's my least favorite member of the four (sorry Bobs), but he puts on a good show. I'll give him that. Before the show I was giving one of my friends a quick run through of who was who, and I mentioned "C.C.'s nuts and Bobby's kinda boring". Figures afterwards she tells me her favorite is Bobby and she thought C.C. was boring and retarded. But that's ok. Someone has to love Bobby, too. He does put on a good show. Jumped up on the (furry) drum riser several times. And during the very last song C.C. was hamming it up after the solo, pouting for applause then bowing and blowing kisses to everyone. He started to walk across the stage to the side Bobby was on, and on his way Bob kicked him in the ass.

[i]Rikki[/i] - Black shirt, black and white striped pants, and gloves. He may not be the most talented, but he's definitely an entertaining drummer. He does a lot of stick throwing and spinning and standing up, etc. etc. Nice hair.

[i]C.C.[/i] - Wearing his usual vest and black pants. And a leather tophat at one point, and the furry pink hat during the encore. Like I said, there's a very good reason he's my favorite guitarist. He's not the most talented, most creative, best looking, but he's one of the best performers. The dude's fuckin' nuts. He throws picks like they're Halloween candy. The first time he did, he reached for another and found the (brilliant) techs hadn't put any on his guitar, so he had to run and grab one off an amp in the back and jump back in right before the solo. Probably not important or even make much sense to anyone here, but he looks 110% better than a month or so ago when he was being dragged out of clubs on his stomach and looking like a homeless man. I know the other guys stepped in after that, and he's really been trying to kick the coke habit again, so all the best to him on that. He was more or less on tune and not overly sloppy. Then again, I'm not a purist. It's rock n' roll, it ain't gotta be perfect. So what if he's a little out of tune or misses a couple notes during the solo.

[i]The Set[/i] - Same set they've been playing for the past five years, but I didn't expect anything different. As an opening act, I'm sure it's understood they'll play only their hits. Strong set, missing a few songs that would have been great (and are usually in their headlining setlist), but all in all they're doing all the big ones. Some people are thankful for this, but I quite like "I Hate Every Bone In Your Body (but mine)" and C.C. and Rikki's solos, but such is life. Always next year. The stage is decent. They've got a drum riser and backdrop. Kinda miss the pyro and confetti, but since they're not a co-headliner, it's understandable.

[i]Random Crap[/i] - This is probably better suited for one of the complaint threads, but there's a few things I can't stand at shows. One of them is annoying chicks who think they're the only ones in the entire venue. Look, honey, I know you think it's great when Bret laughs and waves at you, but must you stand on your chair throughout the entire god damn song? There were a few chicks like this. One was some old broad right in front of me who was the worst. Drunker than drunk, and security had to come over repeatedly to tell her to get down, and then a few songs later she was right back up again. Then there were two younger chicks who started out in the same row as me, a few seats down, then when there were a couple empty ones in the next row they jumped over. They annoyed me just because they were the complete opposite of a classy "groupie". You wanna sleep with the band, more power to ya, but have a little self respect. They spent a good twenty minutes talkin' up the local crew then stood on their chairs for a couple songs before security finally got their attention. Then they just hopped up every now and then to snap a picture (which I'll be surprised if any of them turn out because it was a cheap disposable one). After the set they disappeared for awhile and I assume found a member of Poison's crew and came prancing back with sticky passes. Great for them, they were after Bobby (which is good for him, he likes brunettes), but I'd be surprised to hear they made it. Gene's been cockblocking 'em just as much as they did to their own opening acts. So they deserve it. It's childish and stupid no matter who does it, but karma's a bitch. Please, ladies, yes be aggressive to get a pass, but there's no need to act like that.

Alright, y'all are probably bored by this point. But I gotta admit, I went for Poison. Yeah, I dig Kiss, but...I probably wouldn't have gone were Poison not opening. I at least wouldn't have paid for good seats.

[b]KISS[/b]

Can you expect anything less from Kiss than tons of lights, pyro, spandex, spikes, blood spitting, fire breathing, and ass shaking? The place may have had several empty seats during Poison, but for Kiss the seats were PACKED. I'd be surprised if it wasn't close to sold out (for the seats, anyway, though the lawn seating was pretty full as well). The set list was pretty good. It's cool they're playing some lesser heard tunes, even if I don't know them. I'm a casual fan, and the old set list would be better for me, but oh well. They still played the really popular ones, of course, and even though I didn't know all the songs they were all easy to get into and enjoy. My ears are gonna be ringing for a week, and my voice is completely shot (eh, the voice thing is from Poison, I could barely talk after their set). They wired Gene up and lifted him onto a platform nearly directly above my head. Hurt my neck, but cool nonetheless. Paul also was lifted out over the audience waaaay back to a platform near the back. I'm sure that was cool for the people in the not-so-cheap cheap seats.

A few chicks got their tits on the big screen. The annoying Poison fanatics whored it up for the camera guy, winking and blowing kisses at him, so my mother finally yelled "Just take your shirt off already!". I doubt they heard her, but it was fuckin' funny for those who did. My friends n' I were on the big screen (for like two seconds) during Rock n' Roll All Nite. Excessive closeups of Paul's ass. Nice platform shoes, though. The Peter and Ace replacements did well, in my opinion. I'm not devoted to the original lineup, so perhaps those who are feel differently, but I thought they were good.

Now for something even better, for humor's sake, than the skanky chicks (and I'm not trying to be mean or catty, there were just plenty of girls there who conducted themselves better and a couple got Poison passes as well. Not that the boys care. A piece of ass is a piece of ass)...

[b]Adventures of the drunken Kiss fan[/b] - Ok, so Poison's set is finished, they're tearin' down their minimal set and putting up the Kiss curtain. The lights go out (it was still light out at this time, so you could still see), they're about to go on, and this rather large and incredibly drunk man stumbles into our row and smacks me in the arm "What row is this?" (completely slurred and he's wobbling back and forth). "H!" He didn't say anything, just stayed there at the seat next to me, struggling to hold his full beer steady. The guy and his friend who were originally next to me during Poison come back and don't say anything, just move over to give the sloppy drunk guy space. He was ok for awhile. At least he was a happy drunk. Then when Kiss started to play he lost it. Absolutely insane. Headbanging, stumbling back and forth, bumping into me. He smacked me in the arm again and goes "DUDE IT'S KISS!!!!" No shit, dude, I know what I bought a ticket for. I could deal with the stumbling around and dodging his elbow. Then he decided to throw his arms in the air, turn around towards the crowd, and cheer. Would've been fine had he not had that full beer in his hand that wasn't full for long. Half of it splashed out right over my head and down my arm. I still smell like watered down, overpriced Budweiser as I type this. He didn't even notice. And I admit it was incredibly funny, I laughed at the time.

So a song or two into it, he's getting even worse. Stumbling back and forth into both me and the guy whose seat he took. I ended up smashing both my friends over to stay out of his way. Eventually he'd gotten so bad I grabbed my much shorter friend, stuck her in front of me, and shared the space in front of her seat. He started grabbing on the drunk chick in the row in front of us, smacking her ass, rubbing her shoulder, petting her hair. And smacking another guy in the arm. Then he turned around to high five people in the row behind us, and as he turned around and brought his arm down, he smacked me right on top of the head. <_< Again, funny, but still annoying. Didn't hurt, and he did say sorry, but a few seconds later he completely fell forward over the seats ahead of us and threw up on the drunk chick's feet and seat. That was it. The guy on the other side of him had his friend finally go get security, and they escorted the guy out. Where they took him I have no idea, but holy crap... Good entertainment. After that all was well. The two guys next to me were kinda scary Kiss fans. They spent the whole show playing really enthusiastic air guitar and trying to guess the songs as Paul introduced 'em. The one had his cell phone the whole time with a friend or someone on the other end listening to the show. That's gonna be one hell of a bill.

So other than the sloppy drunk, who [i]was[/i] funny, it was a great show. I don't know if I'd want to see it without great seats because it's just not the same, but I may end up convincing the folks to make a trip up to Seattle tomorrow for lawn seats. Probably not, but I think my parents (even mother) really liked it. Poison, at least. She wasn't too hot on Kiss, and my dad said Poison was better as well (and he's a [i]huge[/i] fan of stuff like Kiss and Sabbath and Led Zep, so...), but lawn seats aren't that bad price-wise. Actual seats, I'm sure, are insane at this point ($115 ain't exactly cheap to begin with, I guess). If you get a chance, definitely check this out. It's a great show, kiss fan or not, poison fan or not.

And the merch is cool. I'm glad Poison at least got their own little line of stuff and not a lame little logo on the back of a few Kiss items, as some openers get. And yes, I said "fuck Kiss" and bought a Poison shirt. Bite me.

Sorry for the novel, but better to write it once instead of deal with multiple people wanting to hear about it over IM. C.C.'s a spaz, but a very entertaining one. Now I'm gonna go try to get the booze smell out of my hair.

EDIT: I didn't take pictures, but HERE's some that are [i]not mine[/i] from a show earlier this month. Pretty good ones, too. Much better than would have been from a crappy disposable camera I'd have had. Bret looks kinda puffy in some of them them...doesn't look so in person. He's wearing the shirt I bought, except mine has sleeves. He was wearing one with their photo in blue tonight. Insult the pink hat and I'll hurt you. My friend made that mistake once tonight. She made it [i]once[/i]. No one insults C.C.'s pink hat when I'm around. You can call him a sloppy, no talent, coked up hack, but leave the pink fur out of it.
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"I care about people as much as I care about lawn furniture" - Dexter/Michael C. Hall

[Lasher]

One of the best things to read first thing in the morning

Awesome concert Fallen! God damn! i wish these guys weren't openers you know? that pisses me off that they have to do that s**t. I wish we were still in their glory days so to speak


And C.C is looking good baby So is rikki, you know i love Rikki. :wub:



THANK YOU FALLEN FOR THE GREAT REVIEW! Awesome job babe!

[Sirius]

This is poison you're talking about ?????

[Lasher]

<_< Yes, we're talking about Poison, why do you ask?

[Sirius]

Well i don't think they're that good sorry.

[fallenangel]

It's ok, I'm not surprised. They're...not for everyone. But I will say that even those who had their arms crossed and were looking entirely bored in the beginning were into it by the end. Whether you like their music or not, they put on one fuck of a show. The people who don't like their shows are the ones who have a liking of the Rock Gods (Bowie, Queen, U2...) who are very precise, polished... Poison just throws a hell of a party. If you're expecting to be blown away by their skill, you're at the wrong show. They're not a serious band. I have a billion quotes somewhere from various members about that very issue. They're not out to write deep, meaningful songs (though there are a few)...they're a party rock band. Simple as that. And if you don't dig it, fine, but you gotta respect them for what they do. They write their songs, play their tunes, and have their own thing. And are still doing it in huge venues (with or without kiss) after nearly 20 years.

The party scene - thats us! Poison is not going to solve the famine in Africa or the war in Ireland...but I think we can party pretty good! - C.C.

[quote]And C.C is looking good baby [/quote]

He is. Healthier, at least, than the past couple years up until a month ago (which was freakin' creepy). And he didn't fall off the stage or fall over once, so at least he's on less substances than last year.

And of course Rik looks good. Always has.

They don't really [i]have[/i] to be an opening act. They still packed pretty big venues for the past few years. I mean, opening for Kiss is better than opening for Faster Pussycat or Cinderella. It's a great opportunity, and I'm glad they took it, since otherwise I doubt they'd have played anywhere in Oregon (and haven't for some time. Bret finished with "Portland, Oregon...I want all of you to personally kick my ass if it ever takes us this long to get back here."). Would've been even better had Nikki Sixx and Tracii Guns not been such pricks and let Brides of Destruction be the second opening act. But their specific response was if Poison was doing it, they wouldn't because they didn't want to be seen as a "retro" band. Uh huh.

(and in case you never noticed, Sirius, my sn is after the Poison song Fallen Angel...Rikki Rockett is my avatar...there's a number of Poison fanart pieces in my gallery...a good part of the time in the "what are you listening to" thread it's a Poison-related song...I own every album related to them in any way...I have the DVD...I have unauthorized DVDs...it's really no surprise I would speak highly of them )
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"I care about people as much as I care about lawn furniture" - Dexter/Michael C. Hall

[Sirius]

I want to go to Slash's new band hear good things about them.

[fallenangel]

Velvet Revolver? I picked up the album the day it came out. It's good. They played here last night, too. Figures. Always two things at the same time. <_< Duff and Slash are as good as ever. Scott's doing well if you like him to begin with. But I'll shut up now since I've already written massive amounts about them in their own thread and the "rate it" thread.


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"I care about people as much as I care about lawn furniture" - Dexter/Michael C. Hall

[fallenangel]

Pardon the double post, but it's been a bit since I posted that last one and some people may not notice if I edited. Thought perhaps Lasher or someone else would be interested in a bit of backstage action. Watching it at least.

Click Click

If you wanna see Rik wandering around with a video camera, hopefully it'll work for ya. It's quicktime, so it should. If not, just download the player. C.C. does clean up pretty good (Dallas), as does Bobby. Funny stuff.
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"I care about people as much as I care about lawn furniture" - Dexter/Michael C. Hall