Bret Michaels, Hard Rock Cafe - Pittsburgh, PA
October 14, 2003

The Bret Michaels show kicked off just before 9:30 p.m. with an opening performance by Cleveland’s own Billy Morris and his band, who offered a set of hard rocking originals fueled by flashy guitar solos.  Second on the bill, American Anthem tore things up immediately with a tight cover of Thin Lizzy’s “Boys are Back in Town,”  threw in a few very strong originals, and then made way for  Bret Michaels to join in on the fifth song, Poison’s “Nothin But a Good Time.”

Keeping the momentum going Michaels appropriately continued on with “Menace to Society,” the opening cut from his new solo album Songs of Life.  And, while pre-tour interviews alluded to a story-tellers type performance, nobody seemed to complain as Michaels flew through a high energy set of new material, rarely heard Poison songs, and acoustic versions of Poison’s signature ballads, seldom leaving time to catch his breath, let alone tell the stories behind them.

However, Michaels did leave room for plenty of interaction with the audience.  In fact, when he doubled up on the acoustic with Poison classics “Something to Believe In” and “Every Rose Has its Thorn,” the entire first verse of the latter was sung in unison by the entire audience with little cue from Michaels.  But the real interaction came from the high energy party vibe that fans gave off in reaction to favorites like “Talk Dirty to Me” and “Unkskinny Bop,” as well as the equally raunchy solo tune “Loaded Gun.”

Unexpected highlights included noteworthy performances of Poison’s “Good Love” and “I Won’t Forget You,”  a revamped version of “Fallen Angel” with an awesome two-part harmony introduction, and a high-energy finale of The Rollling Stone’s “Honky Tonk Woman.”

Overall, it was refreshing to see that despite the stripped down club performance, one of the most flamboyant rock stars still around delivered a memorable, high-energy, and without a doubt fun performance backed by the very talented Hollywood newcomers American Anthem that left everyone wanting more.  And for Pittsburgh at least, they are going to get it.  The sold out show was such a success, Michaels has opted to return to Pittsburgh’s Hard Rock Café for an encore performance on December 5.  For more information about the tour and Songs of Life visit www.bretmichaels.com.   

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