When we saw this show announced we knew we were in for a ride, quite literally, a very led-footed ride from the Meadowlands Casino Racetrack to Jergels in Warrendale, PA as we successfully captured headlining performances by both the Bret Michaels Band and Slaughter at two different venues on one very fun Friday night!
While we make sure that we catch Slaughter a few times a year with festival shows like The Mountain, M3 Rock Festival, and the Monsters of Rock Cruise giving us plenty of chances, this was the first time that we’ve actually seen Slaughter in our home town in a few years.
Their absence was noted and the venue was packed when we arrived. When given instructions to shoot the first three songs from down front and the rest from elsewhere, I laughed and said “if I can get down front.” Somehow with a little help from my friends and a few kind fans, I managed to do so and was even caught up in a game of target practice with Mark Slaughter (who has great aim as you can see below) before making my way to the balcony for the rest of the show in hopes of catching some shots of drummer Jordan Cannata through the sea of fog.
While I arrived to catch Slaughter, I did miss a few things earlier in the evening. The band had support from Post Traumatik and one of our favorite’s Truckstop out of WV, who make their way to the ‘Burgh quite often these days. Slaughter had also used the monitors to the right and the left of the stage for video, but I missed the imagery as well given they were not behind the band like at the larger shows and my focus on snagging photos around the many heads (and raised cell phones) in the crowd. But, I am proud to say that I did not miss a single minute of Slaughter’s seventy-five minute set, which began with “Mad About You” and concluded with “Up All Night” and a little bit of the Who to end things right!
The energy from the crowd was only intensified by the band as they fed off the surge and got them into the action with Mark Slaughter (lead vocals and guitar), Dana Strum (bass), and Jeff Blando (guitar) all tossing picks and hoisting guitars, and with Jordan Cannata entertaining us with stick twirling and some acrobatics from the drum solo to the finale.
Things were definitely heating up as the flash bang of the pyro erupted behind the band, in fact, we even saw Mark pull his hair back during the show to cool off. The set list covered all the classic favorites from “Desperately” and “Real Love” and the ballads “Spend My Life” and “Fly to the Angels.”
Yet, we were naturally left wanting more, and hope to get another Slaughter show on the calendar between now and next April’s Monsters of Rock Cruise (as I’m sure we will)!
Review and photos by Kara Uhrlen for The Pure Rock Shop. Posted on 6/30/2025
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