Article published: Feb 7, 2009
REVIEW: Poison's Michaels continues comeback in Dubuque

DUBUQUE — Bret Michaels is a marketing genius.

The Poison singer's recent comeback — courtesy of his gig as a reality TV star on VH1's "Rock of Love" dating shows — has had more to do with marketing than music.

Michaels, 45, led Poison to massive popularity in the '80s with hair-metal hits like "Talk Dirty to Me," "Nothin' But a Good Time" and "Every Rose Has Its Thorn." But Michaels became a has-been as soon as grunge hit in the early '90s.

Fifteen or so years later, Michaels is capitalizing on the success of "Rock of Love" and the recent surge of '80s nostalgia by playing his old hits with his new group, The Bret Michaels Band.

Michaels' sold-out concert Friday night at the Mississippi Moon Bar in Diamond Jo Casino proved that he's back in a big way. The show had all the energy and excitement of a white-hot young band's debut tour, despite the fact that Michaels has been performing for about 25 years.

Michaels, wearing tight bluejeans, a curled gray cowboy hat and a black tank top adorned with skulls, clearly seemed revitalized by his surging popularity. His four bandmates brought plenty of exuberance as well, highlighted by drummer Lucky Chucky's blue mohawk and expressive pounding and guitarist Dirty Ray's spin dancing and wild-eyed facial expressions.

"Talk Dirty to Me" opened the show with a bang. But that turned into a whimper when the next song was a cover of "Sweet Home Alabama." The crowd seemed to like it, but it got me thinking the show might turn into a glorified cover fest. Thankfully, Michaels played only one other cover, the more appropriate "Knockin' on Heaven's Door."

Michaels' set was lean and mean, barely breaking an hour. But he stuffed it with just about every Poison hit, including "Unskinny Bop," "Something to Believe In," "Look What the Cat Dragged In" and show closer "Nothin' But a Good Time."

There even were a few new songs in the set from Michaels' most recent solo album, last year's "Rock My World." Current single "Driven" actually is pretty good, sounding catchier and more palatable than most songs you'd hear on today's hard-rock radio.

Michaels' voice has become raspier with age, but that's a good thing, as far as I'm concerned, since I always thought he sounded a little shrill on most of Poison's big hits.

In the end, Michaels' show surprised me. I had no idea it would be this good.

Contact the writer: (319) 368-8809 or eric.clark@gazcomm.com