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Nothin’ but a good time; Poison frontman Bret Michaels promises rockin’ show Thursday

By Candice Black 4 min read

Concert-goers can expect "nothing but a good time" at the Bret Michaels show during the kickoff event for the Summer Concert Series at the Adelphia in Marietta.

Michaels, Poison's frontman, promises the ultimate party atmosphere with the Parti Gras, Mardi Gras theme featuring Poison's greatest hits, beads, bandanas and a rockin' mixtape.

"I give 1000% no matter where I play. I make sure people know I'm always playing the Poison hits. We're making a good experience that I would want to have if I were attending," he said.

"I'm such a hands-on person. When we take it on the road (I say) 'let's bring whatever the venue will allow.' I make it a big backyard BBQ (atmosphere). The minute they allow us to open the doors, we have great rock music, pop music and country music (playing)."

After all of these years, Michaels continues to make music and his most recent single "Back in the Day" came out in January. The song talks about nostalgia, roots and some of the integral parts of Michaels' life, starting from childhood and continuing through today. To really show this message, Michaels features home videos and photos from his younger days and now in the music video.

"I've never once considered stop recording music. I wanted to bring my life from then to now and take one shot of me under the Christmas tree playing my first guitar and all of a sudden a shot of me playing at a stadium," Michaels said.

He also recently released "Auto-Scrap-Ography; My Life's Scrapbook in Pictures and Stories, Vol. 1," as a way to talk about his journey and upbringing.

"I wanted people to see the garage or basement where I've been or the fire that affected my property. You can see different aspects of my life in my first volume," he said.

"I think the realness and down-to-earth-ness is what makes the story intriguing."

Thursday will not be Michaels' first trip to the Mid-Ohio Valley. He fondly remembers coming to Parkersburg for the opening of a new venue where attendance records were broken.

"It was such a great night. I always bring my mountain bike and my dirt bike with me if possible. We got out and played football with everybody and I went to the show. It was a great time," Michaels said.

No matter the size of the venue, he said every show is important to him and loves the opportunity to reach smaller audiences.

"I want fans to know I look at this show as a very important show for me to come and play and have a great time," Michaels said. "I grew up in a small town and I know the fans are going to show up and rock out. I'm just going to make this a lot of fun. Every community deserves that, if you can bring it to the town and people can literally go down the street and see a great concert, that's a good day."

During his shows, Michaels likes to honor veterans and local people.

"My dad is a veteran. We always honor our hometown heroes and hometown musicians at every show," he said.

Tickets are still available for Thursday's show at adelphia.com. General admission, pit passes and weekend passes including tickets to see Christone Kingfish Ingram on Friday and Craig Morgan on Saturday are available.

For more information about Michaels, visit bretmichaels.com.

Doors open at 6 p.m. and the show starts at 7 p.m.

"(I'm) honored to be here and we're going to bring an absolute party. We're turning a Thursday night into a Saturday night-feeling party. We will deliver, I promise you that," Michaels said.

Candice Black can be reached at cblack@newsandsentinel.com.

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