Bret Michaels Rocks Des Moines

Bret's first club show in Des Moines was a sold out success. He probably could have sold out Val-Air Ballroom in Des Moines. The owner sold 300 tickets and maybe a few more for this show and mentioned that he could have sold a thousand if he'd had the room. The owner, John, was cool enough to let the first 50 ticket buyers into the club at 6pm for a meet and greet. This basically consisted of a soundcheck set and Bret finished it by signing about everything offered and taking pictures.

Before Bret came out to soundcheck, we were treated to his backing band, Evick. Pete Evick seemed to be in charge of making sure the stage sound was just right so that Bret would be pleased when he came out for soundcheck. While I was hoping we'd here an Evick original, we were treated to covers we all knew. They played tight versions of Ain't Talkin' 'Bout Love, Cold Gin, and Walk This Way. Pete handled both lead guitar and lead vocals while Ray and Chuck held down the bottom end groove. I hope that John was listening because Evick is a group that needs to be playing Keyster's with their own show.

Bret came out for a four song soundcheck and the sound was good. Your Mama Don't Dance got things rolling so he could here what the harmonica would sound like and he grabbed his acoustic to hear how things sounded on Every Rose Has Its Thorn. Bret brought out his electric guitar for Fallen Angel and then rocked us all with Nothin' But A Good Time. The sound system sounded great and he touched on a few things with the band before coming to the front of the stage for signatures and pictures. I was fortunate enough to get the newest CD signed as well as get a picture. I also asked when we would here something newer from him. Bret said that POISON ENTERS THE STUDIO AFTER THE FIRST OF THE YEAR! This was news to me as I hadn't heard for sure if Poison would be doing any new recording from any online source. Of course Poison is taking their show back on the road for the summer and Bret wants to come back to Keyster's next year.

During the break, I visited with Pete Evick a bit and he asked a favor. Bret has a video camera and he's just getting into the internet a bit more. He would like to take video from every night and put it on YouTube. They were having trouble getting what Pete described as a firewire cable to get the camera to hook up to the PC. Being a computer guy, I was able to grab a couple of cables from CompUSA for them and I'm sure the USB2 cable I found should be proved to be the right cable today. I had it looked up online, so that helped.

The Gibbs Brothers opened the show this night and they sounded great as they did last week. It seemed like a very similar set and they should be doing their own shows at Keyster's, too. While their cover or Kickstart My Heart seems a tad loose and Roll With The Changes picks up and slows down in spots for my taste, the originals sound great and the guys do a good job of getting the people in attendance into their stuff and ready for the headliner.

Evick came out after the house tape had played You Shook Me All Nite Long and Welcome To The Jungle. Evick started up with some noise and after the opening chords of Talk Dirty To Me were played, Bret came bounding out on stage ready to start the party. Bret got a feel for this sold out crowd and adjusted his expected set list in some major ways. He just had a feel for what we wanted and when it was time to deliver it, which meant he delivered all night. The set list that was supposed to happen is below what was actually played:

SETLIST

Talk Dirty To Me
Rock N Roll All Nite
Bittersweet
Sweet Home Alabama
Driven
I Won't Forget You
Your Mama Don't Dance
Knockin' On Heaven's Door
Unskinny Bop
Raine
Something To Believe In
American Band
Every Rose Has Its Thorn
Fallen Angel

ENCORE

Nothin' But A Good Time

WRITTEN SETLIST

Talk Dirty To Me
Rock N Roll All Nite
Look What The Cat Dragged In
Driven
I Won't Forget You
Party Rock Band
Your Mama Don't Dance
Raine
Sweet Home Alabama
Bittersweet
Something To Believe In
Knockin' On Heaven's Door
Unskinny Bop
Every Rose Has Its Thorn
Fallen Angel

ENCORE

Nothin' But A Good Time

As shown above we didn't get to hear Look What The Cat Dragged In or Party Rock Band, but we did get American Band. Chuck told me that he had played that song twice before and was shocked when Bret called it out, but he didn't miss a beat or a break in the song.

I've seen Bret 3 times with Evick as the Bret Michaels Band and they just keep getting better and tighter. The breaks, the breakdowns, the solos, the backing vocals, and the show were spot on. Chuck was singing along and adding backing vocals while holding down the beat. Ray was adding a few backing vocals and rocking out at the front of the stage while manhandling his bass. Pete was playing the solos spot on as we all grew up on them while providing backing vocals and a guitar foil to Bret for the show. The party was led by Bret Michaels calling the plays as any great quarterback. Bret and Evick make for a tighter combination than seeing Poison live. I'm not saying it's better as Poison is a classic and they play a pretty loose show that allows for each member to do something a bit different if they want. Bret's led Evick to be a very tight band playing the Poison classics tighter and cleaner than Poison while making this a Bret Michaels show.

One of the things I was really looking forward to for this particular show was taking Becky to the show. It's always fun to attend concerts, but when you go alone or with a group you tend to enjoy just about everything except the slow songs and when you get excited about something during or after the show, you don't have anyone to really enjoy and share it with. Concert buddies are great, but swaying with your loved one to a great ballad is a better way to experience things in my opinion. I can't wait to take her to Guns N Roses in Ames, IA.

Go see Bret on the nearest tour stop and enjoy the party he brings. Also, keep your ears peeled for some possible information about an upcoming show!