The high 100+ degree temperature didn’t detract concert goers from coming out on Friday, June 29 to see the “Rock of Ages” tour with Def Leppard, Poison, and Lita Ford. The venue was packed and the lawn had a decent turn out for the heat wave we’ve been experiencing in Atlanta. (Unfortunately, the traffic made it impossible for me to see Lita Ford’s opening set and that was totally tragic on my part because I was looking forward to singing, “Kiss Me Deadly” in my seat with her.)
Poison put on a good set and Bret Michaels was continuously showing gratitude for the Atlanta fans that made it out. Parts of the set were filled with C.C. DeVille wailing on his guitar. (And of course, the bass player Bobby Dall and drummer Rikki Rockett got a little bit of love too.) Towards the end of their set, Michaels announced that they were going play their best hits and ended with “Every Rose Has Its Thorn,” “Talk Dirty To Me,” and “Nothin’ But A Good Time.” One of the most interesting parts of the show was watching the two young (probably 18 or 19 year old) girls in front of me sing all the words to Poison’s songs and dance around in their neon green shredded-back Poison tees. I can only attribute this to possibly the band members appearances on TV shows – Deville was on VH1’s The Surreal Life and also appeared on Rock & Roll Jeopardy!; and Michael’s had his own show, VH1 show Rock of Love with Bret Michaels and also won NBC’s Celebrity Apprentice in 2010 – OR maybe their parents brought them up right? – You decide! Haha!!
British heavy metal headliner Def Leppard got everyone up and rockin’ out for their entire set. Wearing a little bit more glam attire than Poison, lead singer Joe Elliott wielded a sparkly mic and sang loud, proud, and rock ‘n’ rolled it all over the place. The infamous one-armed drummer Rick Allen was keeping the beat next to a big yellow sunflower. Phil Collen and Vivian Campbell played guitars and Rick Savage played bass. They had interesting visuals and videos on all screens and some fun pyrotechnics to enhance the show. Def Leppard closed out the set with “Pour Some Sugar on Me” and then an encore song – “Rock of Ages.”
