In 6th grade I loved hair bands, I knew them all: Guns and Roses, Bon Jovi, Motley Crew and even the less prominent Europe, White Lion or Winger, dreadful awful Winger. And while I enjoyed all those mentioned (except Winger, they were terrible), the hair band I enjoyed above the rest was Poison.

So, when Poison was coming to town with Def Leppard and Cheap Trick, I wanted to go. Selena liked the idea, convinced me it wasn’t frivolous, and off we went.

Selena and Greg at the concert.

The concert began with Cheap Trick who Wikipedia shockingly calls the American Beatles. Surely not for notoriety, because they even were aware enough of their obscurity to say “Most of you don’t know us, but we’re Cheap Trick, here’s a song you will know though…” and then played something Selena had never heard of (it was Dream Police). They also played I Want You to Want Me, Surrender and The Flame, which I’ve come to realize will forever remind me of Junior High Catholic School dances – the epitome of the “make room for the Holy Spirit” songs.

I’m going to go out of order here, jumping to the headliners – Def Leppard. They played Rockit, Love Bites and Armaggedon It, (and I realized that they use a lot of lame puns in their song titles). They continued with Photograph, Animal and Pour Some Sugar on Me. It was a good set, and they made the most of using the full stage and video and light effects, but it felt a like they were going through the motions, especially in contrast to Poison.

Greg is so happy.

The middle set was Poison. They rocked. Bret Michaels has so much showmanship. He was polite and humble and connecting – thanking the crowd, referencing local hotspots they played back in the day, alerting what song was coming up next, and just energizing the band and the whole crowd. They played Cat Dragged In, Your Mama Don’t Dance, Ride the Wind, Unskinny Bop, Something to Believe In, Every Rose Has It’s Thorn, Nothing But a Good Time and Talk Dirty to Me. By the end of the set, Selena and I were dancing like fools across the lawn. It was a party.

I was 20 years overdue to see Poison in concert, and they did not disappoint. Hearing all those songs from my youth finally performed live had me smiling from ear to ear. I was a kid again.