On Tuesday night August 14th, I braved yet another three hour trip to beautiful San Diego, California to catch the summer tour of Poison with the reunited line-up of 80’s Metal legends RATT. As it stands I’ve locked in quite a few more dates way down in South Town in the coming months, and if this trend keeps up I may just have to move there! This trek was originally supposed to include White Lion on the bill, whom I’ve yet to see in concert, but due to some poor planning on the part of the promoter they were eventually replaced with Veins of Jena of whom I have never heard but did manage to check out their myspace long enough to figure out that I had absolutely no interest in covering them. So, needless to say, I missed the opening set but arrived in plenty of time to grab my credentials and head to the stage for RATT’s performance.

The venue was filling up nicely and there was just a little bit of daylight left as RATT took the stage. The weather unfortunately was exceptionally hot and muggy which did present a little discomfort but after the show began I pretty much forgot all about it and was able to enjoy the performance. Truth be told RATT were the main reason I wanted to see this show as I’ve never seen the band perform with original vocalist Stephen Pearcy. So here is my reaction: I was very pleased to have been given the opportunity to be present and hearing all of the old RATT songs was almost surreal. They sound very different in a live setting and aren’t quite the polished masterpieces I remember growing up to. Pearcy is definitely the voice of RATT and he performed solidly throughout their hour-long set. His stage presence, however, was not very impressive and I felt as though I was watching somewhat of a glorified bar band. Nevertheless, fan fav's such as “You're In Love”, “Back For More”, “Lack of Communication”, “Body Talk”, “Lay It Down”, “Wanted Man” and of course “Round and Round“, were all present and once again stirred up those ever welcome feelings of nostalgia within me. I figure this reunion is still pretty fresh and it might take a little time for the guys to get back into the swing of things. I do hope to see them again maybe in a smaller club type setting and look forward to them recording some new material in the not too distant future as well.

After a brief intermission it was Poison’s turn to step up to the plate and as always they hit one hell of a home run. These guys may be getting older every year but you couldn’t tell it from the energy that they pour out. This year the band are touring in support of their most recent CD, Poison’d, a set of new and previously released covers. Included in their set were renditions of “What I Like About You” (Romantics) and “Your Mamma Don’t Dance” (Loggins and Messina), as well as the horde of hits that made them who they are today including: “I Want Action”, “Every Rose Has Its Thorn”, “Unskinny Bop”, “Look What The Cat Dragged In”, “Somethin' To Believe In, “Talk Dirty To Me" and more. Now don’t get me wrong, I am a huge fan of this band and am all for the hits but I would like to have heard fewer covers and more originals. Also it would be nice to hear the band come out with some present day hits. One other side note – I and a lot of other fans I talked to could do without hearing C.C. do “I Hate Every Bone in Your Body But Mine” for the umpteenth time. If he has to sing why not do something from his Samantha 7 release?

Despite Bret having injured his hand and suffering from a touch of the flu, he was his usual self and sounded great. Rikki’s drum solo was impressively rockin’ as always and C.C. really surprised me with his soloing. Was that some classical riffing I heard? The stage set-up was fantastic: with so many lights it reminded me of the space ship in Close Encounters (I’m showing my age now). It was also really cool to have been so close especially when all the pyro went off. Overall, the band’s performance was well worth the trek and they truly know how to throw a party! They are and always have been Nothin' But A Good Time!!

-Priest