PHOTOS
Dustin Drevitch
Sunday night’s rain showers, gray skies and damp, cool conditions did not scare away more than 10,000 fans from the Toyota Pavilion at Montage Mountain to see the lineup of Cheap Trick, Poison and Def Leppard.
The crowd ranged from jean jacket, mullet rockin’, beer-breathed Leppard fans from the early days to teens sporting Britannia flag shirts popularized by Leppard itself in the early ’70s.
Cheap Trick started the night in true Cheap Trick fashion, loud, colorful and ... LOUD! Rick Nielsen sported his predictable suit with bow tie (he chose purple on this night), nerdy glasses, black and white checkered amp cabinets, and a different guitar for every song played with conviction and class, just as Nielsen does.
Singer Robin Zander sounded great as he blasted through hits “I Want You to Want Me,” a cover of Elvis’ “Don’t be Cruel” and “Surrender.”
Next up, Pennsylvania’s very own ’80s hair metal madmen Poison graced the stage of Montage rockin’ through their party anthems and acoustic ballads.
The band opened the set with “Look What the Cat Dragged In” with Bret Michaels in his typical garb — cowboy hat, bandana, tight jeans and cut off Poison shirt commanding the crowd and seemingly having a blast.
The band romped through a 50-minute set featuring 10 of its best tunes, including “Somethin’ to Believe In,” Talk Dirty to Me,” “Every Rose Has Its Thorn” and “Fallen Angel.”
Low points of the set included the guitar solo by C.C. Deville, which more or less sounded like Zakk Wylde on meth, and the lackluster drum solo by stick twirling Rikki Rocket, who was later shown up by the one-armed drumming machine Rick Allen of Def Leppard. Another cheesy moment came before the encore when Bret Michaels’ bodyguard, “Big John,” came out to plug Bret’s upcoming biography.
The band encored with “Nothin’ But a Good Time,” throwing the crowd into a tizzy. No matter how you feel about Poison, Bret and the boys may not be experienced jazz musicians but they know how to have a good time and treat every show here as a homecoming celebration.
There’s no doubt the 570 loves Poison.
Sunday night, however, belonged to Def Leppard. The English rock ’n -roll hit makers played the Pavilion with confidence, poise, talent and class.
With an impressive production that included multiple landings and risers, all aligned with screens displaying colorful images, not only did Def Leppard sound great but they also looked great.
The band stormed through its long list of hits including, “Foolin’,” “Animal,” “Hysteria” and an acoustic set on the front of the ego ramp which featured stripped down versions of “Two Steps Behind” and “Bringin’ On the Heartache.”
Singer Joe Elliot, although noticeably not as powerful as he once was, still sounds great, especially with the harmonic help from guitarists Phil Collen and Vivian Campbell, bassist Rick Savage and drummer Rick Allen.
The crowd went into an absolute frenzy when the band launched into “Pour Some Sugar on Me” and “Rock of Ages,” which included an awesome guitar neck cam view on the screens during Phil Collen’s solo.
The encore included “Lets Get Rocked,” concluding a night of good times and good tunes.