Fans choose their Poison at PPL Center
One of the United States’ legendary rock bands, and Pennsylvania’s own, Poison, takes the stage with the “Nothin’ But A Good Time 2018 Tour,” 7 p.m. June 24, PPL Center, Allentown.
Opening the concert are Pop Evil and Cheap Trick. The tour is to conclude July 1 at the Hard Rock Event Center, Hollywood, Fla.
Poison, a glam, hard-rock, heavy-metal band that started out in Mechanicsburg, Cumberland County, has continued to be one of the top acts in the music industry with multi-platinum album sales and sold-out tours since bursting onto the music scene with its debut album in 1986, “Look What The Cat Dragged In.”
In 2012, VH1 ranked Poison No. 1 on its list of the “Top 5 Hair Bands of the ‘80s.”
Poison has sold more than 40 million records worldwide, charted six Top 10 singles, 10 singles in the Top 40 of the Billboard Hot 100, including the No. 1 hit, “Every Rose Has Its Thorn,” featured in the 2009 Broadway musical, “Rock Of Ages.”
The group’s second album, “Open Up and Say ... Ahh,” released in 1988, is the band’s most successful, having been certified five times platinum in the United States.
Poison’s hits include “Nothin’ But A Good Time,” “Talk Dirty To Me,” “Unskinny Bop” and “Something To Believe In.”
“In the beginning, there are lots of biggest accomplishments,” says Bobby Dall, Poison bass player and backing vocalist. “The first time you have a gold or platinum [selling album], you just have to keep moving the goal line, so to speak.
“The fact that we are still a band over 30 years later and we continue to tour and sell albums, that’s just an incredible thing.
“The fans are the ultimate part to us and without them we are nothing. Everything we do is for the fans,” says Dall in a phone interview.
Dall, along with Brett Michaels, lead vocals, rhythm guitar; Rikki Rockett, drummer, vocals, and C.C. Deville, lead guitar, backing vocals, have been with the band from its inception.
Poison’s concert tour lineup includes Will Doughty, keyboards, backing vocals; Nicholas Baum, guitars, and Will Champlin, keyboards, backing vocals.
“Poison’s Greatest Hits: 1986-1996,” the band’s compilation album, went double-platinum. In the 2000s with the original line up back together, the band found renewed success with a greatest-hits reunion tour.
The band celebrated its 20-year anniversary with “The Best of Poison: 20 Years of Rock” album and tour. The album, which was certified Gold, marked Poison’s return to the Billboard Top 20 charts for the first time since 1993.
“The honest truth is Poison really is all of us, which is the reason for us keeping it together,” says Dall. “You take out any one ingredient and it just isn’t the same. It really is like being in a marriage. You make it work. That and our catalogue is really the secret sauce.
“We are out here on this tour with Cheap Trick and Pop Evil. We have toured with Cheap Trick tons of times and are friends. We really get along well with them.
“You have bands from the 70s, 80s, and 90s on this tour and it’s just been a great success. As far as when we play live, every night it’s a different song because of the fans’ reaction.
“It’s very hard to say what a favorite of mine might be because we have so many Top 40 hits and most are Top 10. One of my favorites to play is ‘Ride The Wind.’ It really is a fan interaction-based answer. The one that gets the crowd up on their feet is the best.”
“Hollyweird,” Poison’s last album of new material, was released in 2002. Among the group’s seven studio albums, four live albums, and five compilation albums, “Poison’d!,” a live album with studio cover cuts, was released in 2007.
As for a new album, Dall says, “There presently is not anything in the works, but with this band it’s hard not to put together a hit success. Our fans love them, but I would like a new album or song to be made.
“I would like to give a big shout out to Allentown. It’s almost our hometown of Harrisburg, so we will have a lot of our family and friend there. I’ve always enjoyed playing Allentown, Dall says.
Tickets: PPL Center box office, 701 Hamilton St., Allentown; PPLCenter.com; 610-347-TIXX ; 610- 224-4625