Poison has fond, fuzzy memories of Green Bay

The Posion-Green Bay love affair has always been about a good time.

The rock band that ruled during the hair metal era rehearsed for and launched three tours at Brown County Veterans Memorial Arena in the late ’80s and early ’90s. The video for the hit ballad “Every Rose Has Its Thorn” was filmed during a 1988 concert at BCVMA and at a vacant warehouse on Broadway. Former Packers quarterback Don Majkowski once got onstage with the band to sing “Every Rose” with frontman Bret Michaels during a sold-out show. In 1993, while in town to kick off its Native Tongue World Tour, band members joined Packers players in a workout and were spotted a local sports bar and strip club.

In the decades since, a Poison visit — or a solo Michaels stop — still sells out. The band returns Wednesday to the Resch Center for its first Green Bay concert since 2006 on a bill with headliners Def Leppard and openers Tesla. And just like old times, ticket availability is limited.

“Green Bay is, the Midwest is, Poison’s strongest market,” says bassist Bobby Dall, who has been in the Pittsburgh band from the beginning. “The Green Bays, the Wisconsins, the Michigans, the Ohios, Indiana. All that area is Poison’s strongest market.”

He talked by phone about Poison’s first tour in five years with its original lineup, what he remembers (or doesn’t) about hanging out in Green Bay and why he’s the guy onstage in glasses.

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» On the rehearsals and tour launches in Green Bay: Early in its career, Poison had worked with a promoter in the area who booked shows for them when they were still an opening band. After opening the Skyscraper Tour for David Lee Roth in 1988, Poison had graduated to headliner status. The band hired that promoter as their first production manager, Dall said.

Brown County Arena was a user-friendly rehearsal space, because it was available and affordable.

“They would literally rent us the building for like a $1,000 a day and just pay for the employees and the air-conditioning. That’s why we used to rehearse in that building, because no one else was using it but us.”

He remembers one of the fall tour launches in which the band had a chance to catch a Packers preseason game and hang out with the players. “That was a whole lot of fun. I have many fond memories of Green Bay, Wisconsin.”

» On shooting the “Every Rose” video at BCVMA: “There’s a scene where you see me where I’m wasted and I fall down, and I’m literally being picked up by my guy that worked for me at the time. His name was RV. That was filmed in Green Bay in that building right there along the football field. That scene, I am drunk and wasted in. That’s not fake. That’s my favorite scene of any that’s ever been in any video, at least from back in that time. It’s not what I would like to present myself as today, because I’m clean and sober and today.”

» On getting the original lineup (Dall, Michaels, C.C. DeVille and Rikki Rockett)  on board for this tour: “It’s very difficult to get this band to tour. Let’s just say it like that.”

» On the rush of playing live: “I’m a recovering alcoholic and a drug addict, so my only adrenaline rush I have anymore is that stage. As far as the playing part goes, I love the hour onstage, and I love to work. Those are my two favorite passions in life beyond my children. They’re No. 1. No. 1 is my children, No. 2 is my work ethic, and No. 3 is the adrenaline rush I get on that stage.

“That’s the only high I get to have anymore. If we don’t do it, I miss it very much. I do. It’s not necessary for me to have it, either, let me just say it that way. God has been good to me. I have been blessed and graced. This band has won the lottery, and I hit my knees every day and pray and thank Him for that.”

» On meeting fans during the meet and greets: For the first time, Poison is doing 40 VIP meet-and-greet packages ($600) with the entire band in each city. “You get couples that are in their 30s and 40s that are just huge fans of the band. You get the mom that’s 45 with her daughter that’s 18, 16, 20, whatever age she is. They come in all sizes, varieties and ages. At this point, Poison has three generations of fans. We have the mothers, the daughters and the grandmothers. It’s a wonderful feeling.”

» What he misses about the ’80s: “What I miss about the ’80s the music was about being fun. That’s what this tour brings to the road. Between Def Leppard, Poison and Tesla you’re going to hear ... at least 25 Top 10 hits. We’re calling it the Reunion Tour XXX. Technically, our 30th anniversary was last year, but we did not tour.”

» On everyone getting older: Dall started wearing glasses 10 years ago, but this is the first tour he has them on onstage. He needs them to be able to see the fans. “I do not like looking into a blur,” he said. “I could play without them. It’s not a matter of the playing. It’s the simple fact of I want to see who I’m playing to.”

You won’t catch the 53-year-old complaining about wearing them. “I don’t mind at all. I’m not trying to hide my age. I am who I am. The other members of my band are just as blind as me and they refuse to wear them.”

» On where he gets his work ethic: “I was born dirt broke. I got my first job at 7, and I’ve never stopped working since. My mother was on welfare, and she went back to school to become a registered nurse. She was divorced from my father. My father was not in my life, and my mother took the four years of welfare and got educated and became a registered nurse and supported me for my entire life until we made it, and then I supported my mother. My mother has been retired for the last 20 years and, God rest her soul, she just passed this last year in November. I just want to send my love out to my mother.”

(His grandmother, who helped raise him, is 100 and got a shout-out this year on the Smucker’s jar from the “Today” show’s Al Roker. She attributes her longevity to having bacon and eggs for breakfast every morning.)

kmeinert@pressgazettemedia.com and follow her on Twitter @KendraMeinert

DO IT

Who: Def Leppard, with Poison and Tesla

When: 7 p.m. Wednesday

Where: Resch Center, Ashwaubenon

Tickets: $129.50, $89.50, $69.50, $49.50; check availability at ticketstaronline.com, (800) 895-0071 and Resch box office

Security measures: Wanding and bag checks outside the venue; arrive early. Doors open at 5:30 p.m.