WMMO 98.9 Free Concert with Lita Ford and Bret Michaels

Nothing But a Good Time with Lita Ford and Bret Michaels
November 3, 2018

WMMO 98.9 Free Concert at Lake Eola, in Orlando, Florida

Barry Nadler

The evening weather was perfect as the crowd gathered in Lake Eola for the free, monthly concert that the local classic rock radio station, 98.9 WMMO, puts on in downtown Orlando. The area in front of the stage was reserved for VIP seats (people that paid for seats), while there was a large crowd gathering behind the barriers (this was the free area). that surrounded the VIP area. Lines were forming at the beer tents and the night was going to be fun.

This crowd gathered to see this pair of nostalgia acts that still were crowd favorites. Lita Ford and Bret Michaels were performing what amounted to greatest hits sets. The crowd didn’t care. That’s what they were there to hear. The average age of the audience was between probably 35-50 years old. This was a crowd that were fans of both these artists when they were in their prime and having hits on mainstream rock radio.

The opening band was a local cover band, called Papa Wheelee. This band won the right to open the stage for the show by playing a battle of the bands. They won using a unique cover that was a mashup of the music from Motley Crue and the lyrics of the Allman Brothers. As far as a local bar cover band goes, this band was enjoyable and I would be happy to check them out again. The hit the stage about an hour late, which didn’t seem to affect the crowd much, as people were still showing up and it allowed the sun to set on the outside stage more, so the stage lights could better do their job. The crowd seemed to enjoy just listening to a few classic rock tunes that included songs from the Greg Kihn Band, Foreigner, Billy Squire, and Ozzy Osbourne.

After the opening act finished, the people in the front portion of the VIP area got excited and moved all their seats forward to the barrier, essentially eliminating any sense of seating order that may have been there before. It was nice to see the friendliness and respect many of the fans had for each other. Personally, I left my camera bag at my seat in this group of people with no fear of losing my seat or my camera bag. It was very easy to move in and out of this group of people.

Lita Ford was about to hit the stage and you could see her talking on the side stage with her guitar tech as he tuned her guitar. One of the things about her that was always an iconic element of hers, for me, was the red BC Rich guitar he played with her name in the frets on the neck. I was very excited to see her. I have been a fan of hers since the late 80’s when she had several big pop-rock radio hits. Given that I have never had the opportunity to see her, this simple act of seeing the guitar hit my imagination immediately. You could feel the audience getting excited.

She hit the stage to “Gotta Let Go.” Immediately, I could tell she still had the energy and voice that she had back in her heyday, which was nice to see. Too many of

the acts from the 80’s rock scene are starting to lose their vocal capabilities due to age. Not Lita! The other thing about her, that was fun to see, was that her legs were covered with studded biker chaps, along with boots to match.
Her third song in the set, “Relentless,” was from her 2012 album, “Living Like a Runaway.” This album represented a return to form for her. She hadn’t released a proper rock album for about a decade, due to a hiatus she took to spend time with her family. The only other song from this album she performed was the title track.

At age 16, she was recruited to join legendary punk band, The Runaways. This band rose to stardom in 1975. One of her co-members was another famous female rocker, Joan Jett. Ford represented this era of her life in her set by performing “Cherry Bomb”.

Another time period of her career that saw her hit success on rock radio was the late 80’s, when she released her self-titled album, Lita. This album included several singles, such as “Kiss Me Deadly,” “Back to the Cave,” and her duet with Ozzy Osbourne, “Close My Eyes Forever.”

Surprisingly, the song that didn’t make her setlist was one that I assumed was her second biggest hit – “Shot of Poison.” Personally, I feel that she could have dropped one of her less-familiar tunes for this one. I expected Lita to be the whole show, with a backing band that let her take front stage. That wasn’t what happened. Her guitarist, Patrick Kennison, was right there at the edge off the stage performing as if he was still in the 80’s, which was a nice surprise to still see. He also shared vocals with her on “Close My Eyes Forever.”

The crowd was now ready for the headliner of the show. There are very few names that evoke the bright lights and big shows of the 80’s arena rock scene like that of Poison and Bret Michaels. Many modern fans know him from his time on the reality shows “Rock of Love,” “Rock My World,” or as a judge on “Nashville Star.” But, for many rock fans of the 80’s he and his band, Poison, were some of their first introductions to the party that was LA rock, alongside the likes of Ratt and Motley Crue. Hit Parader Magazine even ranks him as one of the 50 greatest rock vocalists of all time. I clearly remember one of my early concerts in the mid 80’s being the Ratt/Poison tour. I had the pleasure of seeing him with Poison several times since then. However, it had been a long while, so I was also excited to see him. But, I wasn’t sure what to expect with him as a solo artist. I actually wasn’t sure how many of the Poison hits would be in the setlist, due to his solo career as a cross-over country artist.

He likes to warm the audience up with two songs before he hits the stage – “Thunderstruck” by AC/DC and “Uptown Funk” by Bruno Mars. By this time, you can feel the energy in the crowd raise. By this time, he skillfully releases the pressure and explodes onto the stage to the huge Poison hit “Talk Dirty to Me.” I think this may have been Poison’s first radio hit. From that, his band rolled into the traditional opening song that Poison uses when they play live together “Look What the Cat Dragged In.” You could tell he and his solo band were having a good time together. He was jumping around and playing with the crowd and his other bandmates.

Bret Michaels is a master at crowd interactions and it showed. He was constantly pointing at people and holding out the microphone for people to sing along with him.

To his credit, he knows why the fans are there – to hear his rock hits. His setlist showed this and he left off many of his hits from his solo career that showed off his foray into the country music field.

However, showing off his country cross-over capability, he performed a cover of “Sweet Home Alabama” and then rolled right back with another Poison tune. At this point, the tone of the show became more serious, as he addressed some of the charitable causes he supports and called up several men and women of the US Military onto the stage while he performed a few songs.

It has been common knowledge for many years that he has had Type 1 Diabetes for most of his life and takes insulin injections daily. What a lot of people are not as familiar with him for is his various foundations and his support of the military. Through the Life Rocks Foundation, he teaches kids to manage their diabetes. With this foundation, he also supports Wounded Warriors and he honors the military by supporting USO events. This foundation also recently started supporting cancer patients and their families. Lastly, he also launched a line of pet products through PetSmart Charities, called Pets Rock, which donates to causes such as pet rescues and adoptions.

If you can’t respect him for selling 15 million records in the US, 45 million records worldwide, or 10 singles in the Billboard Top 40, surely you can respect for the work he is doing with his charitable foundation. Bret Michaels is surely a man that has done more in his career because of his music than most people do in a lifetime. He has impacted many people because of the good that his efforts generate.

For this portion of the show, he pulled out several black acoustic guitars and his cowboy hat. He proceeded to play two ballads that were huge hits for Poison –

“Something to Believe In” and “Every Rose Has It’s Thorn.” I have reason to believe that after the show, he sells these guitars and donates the proceeds to charity. However, I was unable to corroborate this rumor through internet research.

He proceeded to close out the night with one more Poison hit, “Nothing But a Good Time,” and a cover of the KISS classic “Rock and Roll all Night.”

Before the show, I didn’t do much research on who was in Bret’s solo band. I was very pleased to see an older face from another band of the ’80s. I am a fan of Cinderella and it was a bonus to see Eric Britingham perform. It turns out that he was also a fill-in Poison bassist when Bobby Dall was ill. It wasn’t until about half-way through the show that Bret called him out and I realized who he was.

If you are looking for an enjoyable show that has all the fun of a classic 80’s rock show, filled to the brim with radio hits, I recommend you grab a beer and check out this show when it hits your town.

http://www.litafordonline.com/
http://www.bretmichaels.com/
http://www.crowdrise.com/bretmichaelsliferocks

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Photo Gallery- LitaFord

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Photo Gallery- Bret Michaels

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