POISON played its first concert in four years on Thursday (June 16) at the kickoff show of “The Stadium Tour” at Truist Park in Atlanta, Georgia.
The band’s setlist was as follows:
01. Look What The Cat Dragged In
02. Ride The Wind
03. I Want Action
04. Talk Dirty To Me
05. Something To Believe In
06. Your Mama Don’t Dance (Loggins & Messina cover)
07. Eruption (VAN HALEN cover)
08. Fallen Angel
09. Unskinny Bop
10. Drum Solo
11. Every Rose Has Its Thorn
12. Nothin’ But A Good Time
POISON‘s long-delayed North American trek with DEF LEPPARD, MÖTLEY CRÜE and JOAN JETT & THE BLACKHEARTS was originally planned for 2020 and later moved to 2021 and then to 2022. “The Stadium Tour” will conclude on September 9 in Las Vegas, Nevada.
“The Stadium Tour” marks the CRÜE‘s first live dates since wrapping its 2014/2015 farewell tour. CRÜE toured with POISON back in 2011 and DEF LEPPARD teamed up with POISON for a string of road dates in 2017, but this jaunt marks the first time all four acts have hit the road together for an extended tour.
In 2018, POISON completed the “Nothin’ But A Good Time” tour with CHEAP TRICK and POP EVIL.
POISON‘s last album of new material was 2002’s “Hollyweird”. An album of covers, “Poison’d”, followed in 2007.
Back in 2018, POISON bassist Bobby Dall said that the band “should” be making a new studio album but claimed that he didn’t know if it would happen. “I’m not going to bullshit you and say there’s any [new music] in the process [of being made],” he told All That Shreds. “Would I like there to be? Yes. But, it’s a matter of everyone having the time. Everybody in the band has other commitments. Some members have younger children than others. So between those two issues, it’s difficult, and, you know, [there are] health issues as we get older. Should we be making a new record? Yes, definitely. But will it happen? I don’t know.”
In a 2017 interview, POISON drummer Rikki Rockett acknowledged that part of the reason the band hasn’t been motivated to work on new music has been the fact that fans rarely show interest in hearing fresh material performed live when classic rock groups go on tour. “We could write the second coming of ‘Talk Dirty To Me’, and I don’t know if people wanna hear it or not, and that’s a frustrating thing; it really is,” he said. “AEROSMITH was able to do it, but not everybody is. I mean, even THE ROLLING STONES have had problems with that in the last few years. So… I don’t know. But I do think it’s important to stay viable. For the ‘über fans,’ it’s always a really, really good thing. And that’s what you do it for — you do it for you, you do it for the real fans, the real true fans.”
More recently, Rockett admitted that he and other members of POISON harbor some resentment toward singer Bret Michaels, whose frequent tours as a solo artist caused the band to take a five-year break from the road.
“I think we need to get away from each other and do other things, but at the same time, I think he spent a little too much time away,” Rockett said. “There’s definitely some resentment, but not resentment like I want him to fail. I want him to do good. I just want POISON to be important too, and I would like [him] to put a little more energy into POISON.”