Poison in Omaha 8/23/03

Part 9 in my review series... Paige's first concert and Brittany's second. Brittany was on the front row for Poison. I didn't expect to take them that day, but they had a blast and it was great to spend the time with them. They even got in for free!

"What an awesome show! It started at 3pm with these bands. I missed the opener, some local band named Xtend, but I do have a CD here of them that I haven't popped in, yet. I could hear, but missed the first two Skid Row tunes as the place was packed. Z92 from Omaha was having this birthday bash and had a huge turnout. They did have tickets discounted to two admissions per ticket. I even got my two kids in free.

We got down toward the front of the stage during Skid Row. They sounded great, just like when I saw them in KC a couple months ago. They did New Generation and Thick Is The Skin from their new CD and Johnny's rap was similar about how there are no samples, "just guitar, bass, and f$cking drums". Rachel sang Psychotherapy, too. The crowd was into them from the start and the breasts were bountiful. Skid Row was tight and having a blast on stage.

Vince Neil had the plug pulled on him during two songs in his set. The opener Live Wire was going right along and then the power went out on him. It sucked but Vince handled it surprisingly well. It also went out one more time a couple more tunes into the set. He threw out You're Invited But Your Friend Can't Come in order to add Girl Don't Go Away Mad. I kinda wish he had kept the solo tune. In fact, I wish he would do more of his solo music. I don't think 3 solo tunes would be too much. He closed with Teaser and Kickstart My Heart. I'm one of those that actually likes seeing him do Teaser. Again, Vince got as much out of the show as we did. The crowd was fighting for him and even chanting BS while the power was being figured out. Vince still got to play a full set, so that was cool. Vince's voice wasn't as good as it was in KC, but he still had the same energy and worked the crowd really well. He made sure to thank the sound guy at the end of the show, which made me wonder if that was the guy causing the problems or fixing them.

Poison came out to a huge roar. The crowd certainly came to see them. CC didn't do any songs during his solo, but did play licks from various other guitarists as well as messing one up. I kinda wondered if he wasn't just a little toasted or in a bad mood. He turned to his side of the stage and got a face full of smoke at one point and seemed a bit ticked. He also seemed to be forcing things a tad bit. He even fell off the stage on Bobby's side during one song that they had to restart. Bobby did look like he was having a blast and so did Bret. Rikki must have been having fun because he seemed to stand up more than usual while playing. It might have been to see the women on shoulders during their entire set.

It was an unusual time for them all to play so I think they were all a bit excited about the party they were having afterward. They had a huge area fenced off backstage and it seemed like tons of people made it back there. J-Dub, my daughters, and I walked around to the back side of that area and got to meet 4 of the guys from Skid Row. We had a fence between us, but Scotti Hill came around and said hello to us. He even made an impression on my daughters with his kindness and humor. My youngest daughter, she's 5 and this is her first concert, thought he was very funny because he took off his hat and shook his hair in front of her. J-Dub got pics with everyone but Rachel and I got everyone to autograph their new CD, except for Rachel. I guess Rachel was on the bus watching a race. I was able to buy the new CD after the show from one of their crew. He was so kind when I inquired about where to get a CD. I work at Best Buy in Des Moines and our inventory count shows 0 for Thickskin CD's in the entire Iowa Best Buy district. They sold it to me for $15 after the show and they were kind enough to autograph it. Johnny, Snake, Scotti, and Phil were all very kind. Skid Row, if for some reason you are reading this, the new CD rocks! I can't get the groove for Thick Is The Skin out of my head. I did download most of the tunes, but I'm a collector and had to have the CD. I'm making sure a couple of the tunes get played over our sound system where I work. I hope that's ok! I just want everyone else to hear this stuff! GO BUY THE CD!

Just an extra note, as I know this has gone on long enough, but we also saw some idiot get Vince riled up afterwards. Vince and his band were milling about in the same area as Skid Row. Vince was taking pictures and visiting with a few people next to his bus and some guy just had to say something that was probably very stupid. Vince lunged forward and started cussing the guy. Some really tall guy stepped in between and finally got Vince ushered onto his bus. I don't know what was said, but after a show be nice to the guys who just put on a show for you. Don't say things that will provoke them. I was thankful to meet the guys I did and let them know it.

J-Dub and I may go again this Saturday to the show in Cedar Rapids. This is one tour worth seeing, so get out there and support all of these bands!"