Ahead of Bret Michaels show this Saturday (September 21) at Talking Stick Resort in Scottsdale, AZ, Bret Michaels spoke to The Arizona Republic about his current tour, and life in general. An excerpt from the chat follows:
The Arizona Republic: You've said you're looking at maybe doing a Poison 40th anniversary tour in 2026?
Bret Michaels: "Yeah, that would be incredible. We've just got to work out all the moving parts. But all original members. There's so much planning goes behind that. When I'm out as Bret Michaels, it's simpler because I'm making all the end decisions. When you're in a band like Poison, it's a committee. You go in there, and you figure it out together. You make sure everyone's good. And hopefully, we can make that work in '26."
The Arizona Republic: Were things good between you guys on the Stadium Tour?
Michaels: "Absolutely. I want to be very clear. Other than an occasional throw down fistfight - I'm not making this up - we're like best friends. But there's no gray area. All of a sudden, we'll get in a fistfight. But the next day, we'll go out and play. We'll work it out like a band of brothers. The Stadium Tour was amazing. We were having fun.
"We didn't get too many soundchecks. We just dealt with what we were given and were grateful to be there. Def Leppard and Motley, they were amazing. They played great. But we just came out, and we knew we had one hour at 6 o'clock to go out there and give it everything we had. And it was one of the only stadium tours that from Live Nation's lips to everyone's ears, it was 98 to 100% filled when Poison went on."
The Arizona Republic: If we could backtrack just a second, you said fistfights. There weren't fistfights on that 2022 tour, were there?
Michaels: "No. This is early on. There would be an occasional fistfight. Then we'd work it out. And our fist fights, I want to be very clear, they're never over diva items. It's never over Evian water or which dressing room. It's always about what songs are we putting in the set? What would we like to take out? And then it gets tense over trying to make it better, which is actually, in the end, pretty admirable."
Read the full interview at The Arizona Republic.
(Photo - Mark Weiss)
