Poison
23rd March 2008
Westpac Stadium, Wellington, New Zealand
Words and Photography by Doug Peters.
I came into this Poison gig with an expectation of it not being one of my best experiences shooting. They were playing support (alongside Whitesnake) for Ozzy Osbourne and as the first act would be playing in full sunlight. I had had nearly no sleep and was feeling more than a little rough due to shooting Alice Cooper and Kiss the previous night. I had had to deal with editing the complete show before hitting a friends couch for a few hours of erratic sleep, so it was of no surprise I had somehow managed to fall asleep on a park bench outside the venue like some kind of vagrant clutching a camera with a big white lens. When I awoke I was surrounded by a sea of bogans of all kinds, my people! It was then that I realised this was going to be a concert for the ages for sure. This gig happened at the height of Poison’s lead singer Bret Michaels’ television career ‘Rock of Love’, and as such inside the gig there seemed to be a weird split of Poison fans mixed with a lot of teen girls not usually seen at hair metal gigs. Either way, there were a lot of people absolutely amped to be seeing Poison that afternoon, and the subsequent atmosphere in the stadium seemed to be much more happier than any other stadium shows I have ever shot. In the end Poison absolutely killed it, they pulled out all the stops and put on a great show despite playing in full sunlight (and in my opinion managed to blow both Whitesnake and Ozzy off the stage that day). I really hope I get the chance to shoot them again some time in the future, in the dark, under full stage lighting – I get the feeling that would be something special for sure!
Equipment: Canon EOS 5D, Canon EF 70-200mm f2.8L
Did you catch this amazing performance at the Cake Tin? Or have you seen Poison at another one of their shows? Tell me about it in the comments below!
For more information on Poison you can check out their website, or follow them on Facebook and Twitter.