Poison

Pop Evil, Cheap Trick & Poison put on an absolutely amazing show but I am completely disenchanted with the promoters, venue and ticket sellers.

I purchased 200 level seats in row L @ $135/ticket for my wife and I via an American Express Presale, months in advance of the show.

While waiting for the gates to open at Ontario Place/Budweiser Stage, the usual assortment of scalpers were hanging around the front gates when we heard one of them offering half-price tickets to the show. I pulled out my phone and checked Live Nation and Ticketmaster's web sites to find that they were offering, amongst others, tickets two rows in front of our seats for $83.75. These were not resale tickets, and there were several of them.

To make matters worse, while standing in line at one of the food trucks, I overheard several people saying how fortunate they were that their $20 lawn tickets had been upgraded for FREE and yup....they were sitting two rows in front of us when the show started.

Apparently the show had not sold well, so the venue decided to close the lawn area and give everyone with $20 lawn tickets a free upgrade. Lucky for them, but what about those of us who paid full price for the tickets months in advance? Should we not have been offered a partial refund, or at the very least a gift certificate?

I understand that Labatt's and Live Nation (who also happens to own Ticketmaster) own the venue which was recently renamed from Molson Amphitheatre to Budweiser Stage and this was certainly not our first trip to this venue, but it was our first trip to the venue under it's new name.

As I said when I started this, we LOVED the show he bands put on, but if the promoters/venue/ticket sellers are going to continue this practice of shafting those of us who purchase tickets early, we will definitely thing twice before buying tickets to other shows.

We've typically attend 3-5 shows each summer and have definitely noticed a drop in attendance at most shows over the last couple of years. Despite the fact that music lovers will pay dearly to see their favourite bands, there comes a point where there are only so many dollars to go around. I realize that many bands demand higher compensation when touring, but perhaps the drop in attendance is directly related to the ticket prices for shows of late.
There have been several shows that we would love to have seen, but not even folks like us who have been life-long fans of certain bands can't afford $200-$300 for a ticket to see a band who's last hit record was 20-30 years ago.
If the venue's aren't selling out, maybe the ticket prices are too high......

Cheap Trick is my wife's all time favourite band and we've seen them every year for the past 20 years when they've passed through town, but for the price we paid this year, and then to find out that had we waited until the last minute, or purchased the cheap lawn seats and gotten a free upgrade to better seats, we definitely feel cheated this year and will almost certainly take our chances by waiting until the day of, or buying cheap lawn seats if they come through town again next year. Who knows, we may actually end up with better seats than someone else who shows their support for a band by buying tickets early...

If there’s such a thing as glam metal standards, does it really get any more classic than ‘Every Rose Has Its Thorn’? Poison have certainly earned themselves a place amongst the genuine titans of the genre, and like a handful of their contemporaries (I’m looking at you, Motley Crue), they’ve defied years of debauchery and excess and remain a going concern today. More recently, though, there’s every chance that the wider public are more familiar with frontman Bret Michaels for the slew of appearances that he’s made on reality TV shows - he won the third series of Celebrity Apprentice - or his recent health issues that put his life on the line and the band’s future in serious doubt. Happily, though, Michaels recovered, and Poison hit the road in the summer of 2011 for a tour with the Crue, as well as New York Dolls. The sets were typically silly affairs - big hair, big guitar solos and big, big volume and had Michaels rolling back the years, showcasing a voice that’s stood up remarkably well to the ravages of a rock n’ roll lifestyle. The band have yet to make it back to the UK since Michaels’ recovery, but the fact that Motley Crue still play arenas over here should demonstrate that there’s plenty of demand for this kind of show; it can only be a matter of time.

American rock outfit Poison really do set the bar high in the field of glam metal. Innovators of their time, the band who have been working for over thirty years amassed a huge following during their heyday and many of those fans still attend their shows to this day.

Having achieved a great deal of commercial success in the 80's and 90's, the band now tends to play a setlist featuring a selection of their hits as well as their own personal favourite material to showcase their abilities. The gig sways between these two mentalities, the crowd are loudly singing along to 'Unskinny Bop' before clapping along intently to coax on the musicians as they perform complex guitar and drum solos.

The biggest cheer of the evening is reserved for the encore of 'Every Rose Has Its Thorn' and 'Nothing But A Good Time' which both include extended instrumentals and those recognisable anthemic choruses. Despite the band no longer being a frequenter of the charts, their iconic glam rock status remains unchallenged.

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Awesome show!! I have seen a lot of concerts from 1980 forward, in all this time I have never seen a frontman so full of energy and get the crowd into the show the way Bret Michaels did! He is by far the best frontman I have seen. The band sounded great and the lighting show was fantastic. Tesla opened the show and the crowd remained sitting most of the show but when Bret came on stage everyone was standing and remained so all night. All in all it was a magnificent high energy show and I would go again!

The Poison,Cheap Trick & Pop Evil NJ show was amazing. They were all energetic and had great stage presence. All front men were great!Since this is a Poison review, I give them a 100%. From the opening flames, commentary,tribute dancing and singing.. til the very end,completely impressed. Hope they will continue to rock for many more years to come!

This band is amazing. I am a true fan and will always be. Win I was in high school back in 1989 my best friend had me listen to them. Since then he has past away. Your songs bring him back for just a short while. Thank you for this great gift that you share with us. Your friend and brother. Shane Cynova.

I’m so happy that Poison came back to UTAH, 5/22/18 @ USANA! We had so much fun. We love you guys so much. Please come back soon. Thank you so much USANA! Please keep the bands coming and thank you for reasonable prices. Safe Travels and Rock On..

Great as always. 4th time seeing them. Bret never disappoints. And hearing him talk about veterans and people serving in the military really touches my heart, as my son is on his third deployment for the Air Force.