I was kind of upset that I missed a similar 80's fest last year. But, I had a good excuse, I was in Florida. Luckily, Firehouse was there at the time and I got my fix of some great music. Anyway, Slaughter kicked off this night of great "Hair Bands". Unfortunately, we arrived a little late and had to get some tailgating in. So, the only perspective I had on their set was from the parking lot. As usual, they sounded very tight and Mark was in true form. Jeff is starting to sound more like Zakk Wylde though. There must be an influence in there somewhere. I have seen them several times with Jeff now, so I can attest to the fact that they probably played very well and Rocked the House. We did make it in for Dokken who, in my opinion, did not play long enough. But you have to expect that when you have four bands playing. Someone has to get the short end of the stick. That doesn't mean that they don't perform. Don's voice was a little scratchy, but he still knows how to work a crowd, Jeff is still a wild man on stage even with short hair (somehow, he still manages to toss it around while headbanging), Mick was solid as ever, and hometown boy Reb was making the locals very proud of him. Mixing old and new songs like The Hunter, In My Dreams and Maddest Hatter, gave the crowd a little something of everything to enjoy. Next up, Cinderella. I could have sworn it was still 1989. Tom still sounds exactly the same, guys till have long hair, guitars still get swung around the shoulders and music and vocals are as tight as ever. What a performance by the quintet from Philly. The surprise of the night. And finally, we come to Poison. Talk about a band that knows how to work the crowd. Brett and company had the thousands of headbangers eating from the palms of their hands. And by the end of the night, they could have literally done so. Pulling up about 25-30 people from the crowd to sing Nothing But A Good Time and Rock And Roll All Night, they could have done anything to the palms of their hands and then some. The only downside of the performance would have been C.C. threatening to go back on drugs if they wouldn't let him sing a song. He said it in a joking manner, but one never knows if he was serious. One thing seemed like old times, they actually seemed like they wanted to promote their new album by talking about it and they played about three songs from it as well. Proving they don't have to rely on all of their old material anymore. So, overall, I am going to have to rate this whole show an 8.5. I came away from this show feeling very entertained. If you grew up with this music, you'll love the show. If you are a younger individual who happens to like to go to shows just to get rowdy, not pay attention to the music, start fires and riots, this might not be the show for you. In fact, there should be no shows for you! (Oops, I went a little too far there-sorry.)