Live: Poison in Noblesville

When Poison came out of a hiatus last year and hit the road with Def Leppard, shows started to sell out almost immediately and the buzz grew quick. Fans wanted more and more so the band is back this year for a massive summer tour with Cheap Trick and Pop Evil, which recently hit Indy’s Ruoff Home Mortgage Music Center for a night of rock and roll that brought the classics together with current rock. Pop Evil started the night off with a band, exactly how everyone familiar with them knew they would. It was definitely a surprise when the Michigan rockers were announced for the tour but wasted no time proving they weren’t only a good fit- but that they belonged on the tour all along. They played a blazing setlist of tracks from their newly-released self-titled record as well as at least one from each of their previous four records and the energy they brought rubbed off on the crowd and made for one hell of an experience. Cheap Trick followed suit by throwing hit after hit at the fans, who were dancing along in at their seats and up in the lawn and, if you’ve seen them before you knew what was coming. Even though it was starting to look like a massive storm was rolling in, the show went on and Poison took the stage quickly to destroy what was left of the fans, who had slowly started to leave the Lawn and migrating into the Pavillion. From the very start of “Look What the Cat Dragged In” to the ending of “Nothing But a Good Time’ and the encore of “Rock and Roll All Nite,” the crowd was deafening and the band was primed and ready to party. The band sounded outstanding and were visibly having loads of fun onstage, utilizing the extended stage to perfection, getting up close to every inch of the crowd. It was a set that included virtually every major song the band has had and showed the Poison faithful almost drowning out the band on many occasion. There are so many times when bands from Poison’s era continue to play live and just don’t meet expectations- either they sound like absolute garbage and washed up or they’re just going through the motions; Not Poison, though- they sound better than ever, they showed the Indianapolis crowd pure, genuine appreciation and enjoyed every minute of being able to play for them. We can only hope the Poison train keeps rolling just as strong and powerful as it is right now and that this is far far from the end. -Reggie Edwards Pop Evil Cheap Trick Poison