BANGOR, Maine — Everyone — from the people in the general admission lawn seats to the fist-pumping fans in the pit — got 100 percent rocked Wednesday at the Bangor Waterfront as Def Leppard, Poison and Lita Ford rolled into town. A seemingly capacity crowd, comprising people who were in high school when the three bands were at the height of the popularity as well as younger fans, spent nearly four hours rocking to some of the biggest bands of the 1980s.
“I’ve seen Poison three times and Def Leppard twice,” said Belinda Swett of Ellsworth, who sported a T-shirt reading “Property of Bret Michaels Party Crew.” “I’m a huge fan and I have been since high school. I got in line at 10 a.m. to buy tickets the day they went on sale.”
Def Leppard started out their headlining set with the song “Undefeated,” played many of their biggest hits, from “Animal” to “Foolin’,” and displayed some serious rock star cool, from lead singer Joe Elliott’s long black duster coat to guitarist Phil Collen’s shirtless shredding.
The audience sang along and raised the rock horns throughout the whole set. Leather pants, cheetah-print halter tops and countless well-worn band T-shirts could be seen throughout the crowd.
Poison gave Bangor the full rock ’n’ roll treatment, rolling out a hit parade of songs from set opener “Look What The Cat Dragged In” to “Every Rose Has Its Thorn” to “Unskinny Bop.”
Bret Michaels proved himself a consummate showman, constantly running around the stage, high-fiving fans and speaking of his band’s commitment to supporting and performing for the military and his personal crusade to raise awareness about Type 1 diabetes, from which he has suffered his whole life.
Guitarist C.C. Deville — who played a totally sweet turquoise Gibson Flying V guitar — and drummer Rikki Rockett each took extended solos before closing with “Nothing But a Good Time.”
“They’re all such great entertainers,” said Bob Danson of Saint John, New Brunswick. “You can’t have more fun than at a Poison show.”
Opener Lita Ford played a brief but satisfying set. She sported a pair of black-and-red leather pants and played a white double-necked guitar. She closed, naturally, on her biggest hit — the irresistibly catchy “Kiss Me Deadly.”
Up next for the Waterfront Concert Series is teen pop band Big Time Rush on Aug. 31, followed by Keith Urban on Sept. 1 and Jason Aldean on Sept. 2. For tickets and information, visit waterfrontconcerts.com.
it was great i could hear it from my bedroom window!! love Def Leppard!!!
I wish I could’ve heard it!
No, no you don’t.
Ayup! Can hear it over by Jefferson St.
They rocked it hard and loud. There’s a reason why the band’s name is a play on the word “deaf”: http://www.bangorbytes.com/2012/08/def-leppard-rocks-city-of-bangor-at.html
“They’re all such great entertainers,” said Bob Danson of Saint John, New Brunswick. “You can’t have more fun than at a Poison show.” I bet he picked up his Thanksgiving turkey at Walmart on his way back to NB.
Don’t forget a few gallons of milk.
Historic concert again tonight… The crowds were large… (the lawn just as packed). WFC pulls it off once again… Def Leppard: “We will be back!!”
Great time but dude give it up every concert you write in here like your the promotor in chief….we know already for god sakes u love the concerts so don’t I ..lol. oh wait this will get your blood pressure going…did any concert goers get run over this time?
Glad you had a great time bangor1234- just a supporter here. Very large crowd again last night, no problems once again. Many more to attend and review right here. (he he he)
LOL!!!. Terence2020, the check is in the mail…
I love kissing off the negative nellies. He he he.
that would be me. (-;
And you do it soooooo well. :) :) Don’t ever leave push, it would be so dull here.
Do you work for WFC or something?
BEST SHOW EVER!!!
i had to work but i wish i could’ve gone…
Bummer. You missed a great time. Def Leppard said they’d be back, so maybe next time!
I’m sure Maine was the only one to hear “we’ll be back” from Def Leppard.
Your point?
Then you would be wrong. Rarely do bands that used to sell out stadium tours not do well afterwards. Def Leppard especially w/ Poison on the bill is one of those bands. Like them or not, you must give them props for putting up capacity crowds everywhere they go.
As far as Live Nation/Waterfront Concerts go, those of you saying that we only get “red neck” entertainment because of who ” we are” in Bangor are grossly mis-guided. Live Nation and Alex Gray book shows that fit a demographic based on 1. Who is on tour and 2. Who will buy the tickets. The WEALTHIEST demo is the market that Alex is trying to get. Those of us who are in our 30’s to 50’s. Classic Rock and Country is what our demo generally likes EVERYWHERE, not just Bangor. There is $ to be made in this demo (which is a GOOD thing) with less risk to the City and to appease the whiners about noise, language and general crowd control etc.
Once the arena is done I’m sure there will be more hip-hop/rap, screamo/modern metal style bands for the younger folks who want that type of show. Whether they are succesful or not, only time will tell. I hope they are. One thing for sure is that Live Nation/Waterfront Concerts have done a great job filling the Bangor area with good customers. Another GOOD thing.
Great great show! Felt like a teenager again! Awesome crowd too.
Me, too! I was right back to being 16 and in love with hair bands! The crowd WAS great!
It was 1989 again! Loved it.
Amazing show. If you had told me 3 years ago that Def Leppard would be playing Bangor, I never would have believed it. This is the best show on the Waterfront I have attended.
Alex, thank you ! You keep them coming, and I think we have shown that we will be there!!!! The place was packed.
If you had told me 3 (or 30) years ago that Def Leppard would still be touring, I never would have believed it.
Troll bag!
It’s obvious there is still a market for the enjoyment of the music they did create (all on their own, without synthesizing, and voice-overs) as the place was packed full of people enjoying their creations…I still dig out my old Led Zepplin albums and they sound just as good today as they did when I was 15. If Led Zepplin were to show up on the waterfront, I would be there, even if they had to sit in rocking chairs to play (with no need for them to have a recent “hit”).
Def Leppard is no Led Zeppelin. It’s Zeppelin, not Zepplin, by the way.
If you were cool, friendship, you wouldn’t correct someone’s spelling…
I was not implying they were equal, just using Led Zeppelin as an example. And please excuse the incorrect spelling.
The drummer from Def Leppard’s only got one arm!
The drummer from Def Leppard’s only got one arm!
The drummer from Def Leppard’s only got one arm!
calm down dude….it will grow back…
Wonder how many people actually know what song this is from….. lol You made me giggle!
no wonder the world is full of bath salts more drugs and booze then you can shake your fist at , Look at what the youths grandparents are listening to.. They keep it up and I’m going to open up a adult diaper booth at the concerts.
Oh PLEASE. Don’t generalize. I listened to them growing up (as well as Lita Ford and Poison) and still listen to the modern version of that music today. I was at the Papa Roach and Shinedown concert in July.
I’m as clean as they come – I’ve been married nearly 20 years, don’t drink, smoke or do drugs. I work 40 hours a week and have a 13 year old that’s on the honor roll. Music is not the problem. Get a clue.
Well said Den- Pushtheredbutton was hired from the HaveAGreatTimeNO!! campaign people.
Good one T! He must be a riot at parties. That is, if he’s ever invited.
I am fun at parties. It is misleading Steve to think you must have a buzzed on to have fun.. All the while Obamas war is killing american 3 time the rate Bushes war did.
and that affects the price of meat in china why??
What the bleep are you talking about coach? Not everybody is drunk, drugged and disorderly at the concerts. I go to at least 12-20 shows per year and rarely do I see or encounter ANY problems. Bangor has been extremely fun and well-mannered everytime I’ve been up there. Compared to when I was a kid at the Auditorium it is downright TAME!
Good stuff Steve
drunkeness/drugs is not my idea of a party.. I like the old music, best stuff ever made. Bangor thinking that the party corridor is the best direction to take the city gets under my skin.
Again. You’re STILL making a very generalized statement with regards to the music and the people that listen to it and for those that don’t fit your stereotype, that’s incredibly insulting.
Were you there?
someone posted this on the BDN yesterday, was it you? (-;http://youtu.be/io6CmKJgnuM
lol.. good stuff.
I’d be more comfortable at a hard core rock show than at a religious revival (no hidden agendas or black and white world views). I’ve never been to a rock show where the performer is convinced of what’s best for me.
When I was growing up, the hard rock and metal crowd as pretty much beer and cigarettes…no hard drugs at all. Bath salts? I guess I missed all of the hard drug references in the music last night.
Maybe we should all listen to “rap”
Went to Wiz Khalifa recently-appalled at the atom-bomb size pot fumes, 4-letter words and references to sex, drinking, and drugs. I think I heard 1 swear word last night and the air was clear. I’m no prude, but really. We don’t have to be low-class to put on a good show.
Makes you frightened to think what the Wiz fans will be appalled at in 20 years, doesn’t it?!
When I went to concerts in the 70’s, when the lights went out, the lighters lit up and everyone held them up. Check out the cover to The Band’s Before the Flood album. That is what it looked like at every show. Just reminiscing…
Wasn’t it FUN?! We all had such a great time back then. Seeing Kiss, BOC, Aerosmith, Alice Cooper, Foghat, America, Styx, Ted Nugent, Ozzy, Def Leppard, George Thorogood, J. Geils Band etc. etc. was incredible at the BA!
It was a little rowdier back then with the ” festival” seating and all, but we were young and didn’t care. It’s cool to note that many of these bands have recently or will soon be returning to Bangor. It goes to show that the crowds always showed up then and do now. Reminiscing is a GOOD thing. Thanks for reminding me!
PS. I love The Band! Losing Levon Helm this year hurt…. Sad.
I saw j. Geils in Bangor years ago, in the 70’s, either at Husson or EMVTI, as it was known back then. It probably cost $3, and it was when The J. Geils band was at its best. I can still hear Magic Dick on the harmonica – I just can’t quite recall where it was…
They played a killer show at the “Pit” at UMaine in late ’81. Easily in the top 5 shows I’ve ever seen by anyone!
Those were the days weren’t they?
damn youz good got 2 pictures
first rate pictures howbout seconds
“The seemingly capacity crowd”?
Editors and English teachers everywhere are rotating in their graves,even if they’re still alive.
The Nuge, Poison, Def Leppard… what’s next a tour stop by the Monkees and The Doors?
Note to concert promoters in Bangor: there are bands making music today, in 2012, check it out….
Yeah but they don’t sell out in Bangor like crappy redneck 80’s bands do. These bands wouldn’t even draw a crowd in real markets.
“Redneck” bands? Since both Poison and especially Def Leppard were huge bands in the 80s (countless millions of albums sold), just how many rednecks are out there (in the entire world)?
I bet those bands are drawing just fine everywhere. Of course there are bands making music today…and some of them have come to Bangor. Of course I think most of what is represented as “music” for the past 15-20 years is pretty bad.
Exactly. These bands were good 25 years ago. They are a redneck nostalgia act now. Same canned crap every show.
You must be too young to even know the history of these bands. The attitude and ignorance that you show is exactly how some young punk will feel about your music in 20 years.
I’m 39 and helped make these guys rich. They havnt produced anything decent in over 20 years. Thanks to WTOS and WBLM these guys are still legends in Maine…..Especially Bangor
Billy Joel, from the 70’s, recently sold out four, maybe five, consecutive shows at the 10,000 seat Mohegan Sun Arena, in Connecticut. Springsteen just played in Fenway. I doubt they’d be doing it if nobody cared anymore. I’m not going to bother to check out the other venues that Poison is visiting, but I’ll bet they’re stopping in “real” markets and doing just fine.
Thank you for proving my point. You’ll never see Springsteen or billy Joel in bangor.
I can’t imagine the price tag on them either. Springsteen of all people, fighting for the working man and charging three figures per ticket.
Def Leppard are British so they don’t qualify as redneck. And I’m pretty sure Poison are Liberal for the most part.
Ummmm, the Monkee’s (or what’s left of them) were here last month.
Who is to say they have not tried to get other acts? They can only get whoever agrees to come. You can’t honestly say they are not making an effort to get more modern acts. I personally would like to see a lot less country, but understand a ton of people around here love country and I seem to be in the minority.
The Monkees played there last month actually….
Grannies and Great Grannies get out to the concerts I see. All this time I thought Bangor wanted to attract the youth..
Was it something they
said or something they did, did the words not come out right?
Maybe you’re just
out of touch, out of reach yeah
you could try to get closer…
You really don’t like to see ANYONE enjoy their lives, do you?
I don’t think that’s what was being said. redbutton was just pointing out that these acts won’t attract the kind of youth Bangor should want to attract. And it’s more Live Nation’s “fault” than Bangor’s fault. Live Nation picks the bands, based on who lives in Bangor. And the people in Bangor aren’t particularly cool, don’t pay attention to contemporary music. Kahbang just put Bassnectar on, and Live Nation, right after that, announced that Bassnectar would be playing the CCCC in Portland. If you want a cool show, Kahbang is your best bet in Bangor.
I don’t think redbutton cares what acts come to Bangor. He would rather they don’t come at all, if they attract fun-seeking music lovers who, to him, all do drugs and get drunk. He would feel the same way about contemporary musicians. I stick by my comment. Oh, and once the civic center starts lining up acts, I think you will get the groups you hope for, friendship220.
I like good music. not stuff you need to eat mushrooms to like.
What music do you like?
Music by the Boston Pops or the New York Philharmonic Orchestra? That’s fine… I like that, too, from time to time. But, not all “good” music is like that. Music is “art”, and if it stirs the soul of the person listening, it has merit. And, if Poison makes Grannies forget their troubles for a few hours and have fun and remember their youth, I can’t quite grasp why that is distasteful to you.
Judging by the tidal wave of flab going on in the crowd last night, I would say the Grannies were having a great time.
If you’re talking about the Bangor Civic Center, I would argue that they would NOT be bringing in acts that I would want to see. Bangor needs a stage, with lights and sound, with a capacity of somewhere between 100-500, that can be open, and having bands as many as 7 days a week. Bangor is still a lower income, lower education rural area, and Live Nation is not going to start putting in acts in Bangor that the people in Portland would buy. Live Nation is going to give Bangor music that, basically, stupid and poor people like. Will the David Byrne / St Vincent tour be stopping in Bangor? Even Portland doesn’t get all the good shows the way New York, and ususally Boston does. But there is a lot of good music that Bangor can get. It’d be nice for When Particles Collide to have a stage with lights to play on consistently. Bands who are good, but not famous, on tour. Bands from Portland.
Here’s a recent Space Gallery show. Silver Mt. Zion, AWASS, Correspondences. Silver Mt Zion was on tour, AWAAS and Correspondences are in Portland. Bangor isn’t going to get Silver Mt Zion, but they could get AWAAS and Correspondences. And they were good. Not famous like Silver Mt Zion (ok, indie famous), but good. And Bangor gets 2/3ds of a high quality Portland Indie show. And having that quality indie rock might keep some of your better young people from leaving quite as quickly. Give Emily Burnham a job picking out these bands for this venue. A fairly simple way to accomplish booking at this venue is to, again, get the bands that Space Gallery gets. Get the bands that play at Belfast Free Range Music Festival. Perhaps not the “whisper folk” acts at midnight on Friday, but What Cheer Brigade could tear it up, MV and EE, Curious Mystery, about half the acts would be suitable. Of course, a seated Arborea show at 7pm would be advantageous to Bangor. Point being that so many slots can be filled just by looking at what Space Gallery has had and Belfast Free Range Music Festival. Add The Kahbang bands. Instead of having the Gay Blades play Kahbang 4 years in a row, have the Gay Blades play the new venue 4 times a year. Have the Bad Rabbits play the venue, Lady Lamb the Beekeeper, who is also a Belfast Free Range and probably played Space Gallery at one time or another. Ros Raskin, Late Cambrian, The Box Tiger from Montreal. Have When Particles Collide do a residency, where they bring in bands they like, play with them, and then play with them in their hometowns. Find other quality bands to do the residency after WPC.
You’re brilliant! You’re avant-garde! The culture police should be arriving to move you to New York City any moment. Funny how the things that happen in the large metropolitan areas of the world don’t seem so prevalent in the more rural communities. Maybe out of 6 million people you can find 4000 people who would spend money to listen to the music you speak of. If you extrapolate those figures it would leave an audience of about 25 people in this area. Bangor is a community consisting of many highly educated, professional people, no less than the ratio found in any other area of the United States. I believe the problem is demographics, not education and culture.
I saw plenty of youth there.. mostly up front close to the band, the place was pounding with rock, and the crowd turnout was way better than an appearance of “your” favorite “hanna montanna ” I’ll take the def leppard any day of the week..
No, Bangor doesn’t even have a real music venue. It ain’t Portland, and Rockland, and Belfast, tiny little places, really, have Bangor beat.
Excellent concert…as good as any I’ve seen, and it was a perfect volume level I thought. The crowd seemed involved and the bands came out in front of the stage a lot, nice fan interaction. And of course, seeing Rick Allen do his thing on the drums was amazing (and inspiring, as I have a physical disability myself..though not an amputee as Rick is).
Doesn’t take much to amuse the masses, throw a handfull of nickels on the ground and you’ll get the same reaction
You don’t like that music simple don’t go .
I suspect you would be doing cartwheels for pennies.
we get the lamest acts up here. 1 decent show, maybe, a year.
Kahbang always contains at least some worthwhile stuff, but they could do better. They’re the best in Bangor, but they are limited by the general uncoolness of people in the Bangor area. Bangor needs a venue, with a stage, lights, and sound. Portland has a lot of stages on Congress Street. Port City, Space Gallery, Empire, State Theatre, Genos, to name but 5. Bangor has none.
16,000+ people in attendance would surely disagree with you.
you know the devil plays guitar for Posion. he goes by the name CC Devil.
I might be a grannie and have flab but There’s Nothin’ But a Good Time at the Bangor Waterfront. Can’t wait for Journey,Loverboy and Pat Benatar. Keep them coming!