'It's an emotional moment for me': Bret Michaels, Brown County arena come full circle

When the walls come down on Brown County Veterans Memorial Arena, a little piece of Bret Michaels’ heart will go along with them.

Poison was fresh off a six-month tour opening for David Lee Roth when its then 25-year-old lead singer — flying high on the success of the band’s “Open Up and Say ... Ahh!” album and a proud owner of a 1963 Corvette — did an interview with the Green Bay Press-Gazette. It was 1988, just two days before the band was to kick off the first headlining tour in the building.

The story began like this ... “Bret Michaels probably will always think of Green Bay as a historic site.”

Thirty-three years later, in the kind of full-circle moment that sounds like something out of a song, that line still holds up. Michaels has never forgotten the role the city, the building or the night of Sept. 16, 1988, played in making Poison into one of the most iconic rock bands of the ’80s. 

Able to rent the building for a modest $2,500 a day, Poison spent several days in town rehearsing at the arena. On concert night, 6,500 fans poured in with $15 advance tickets in hand to hear hits “Look What the Cat Dragged In,” “Talk Dirty to Me” and “Nothin’ But a Good Time.” But it was a yet-to-be-released song, “Every Rose Has Its Thorn” (mistakenly referred to as “A Rose Among Thorns” in the 1988 story), that would go down in Green Bay music history.

The video for the power ballad, the biggest song of the band’s career, was filmed at Brown County arena that night. It captured a moment in time: screaming fans, long hair, loud guitars, backstage partying, band members and fans getting carried off the stage. Like the song, which spent multiple weeks at No. 1 and helped Poison to go on to sell 45 million albums, it became a classic. 

Randy Novak was a high school senior from Manitowoc when he and his best friend, Mike Marquardt, went to the concert. They waited in line six hours to ensure they got spots up front. All these decades later, Novak can point himself out to his nieces and nephews as the guy in the white hat at the 1:48 mark in the “Every Rose Has Its Thorn” video.

“I remember it was hot, as most Brown County arena shows were, and it was squished,” Novak said. “Once they announced they were shooting, because it was general admission, everybody rushed to the front to try to get on camera. It’s cool that I can see myself in the video. The guitar solo when C.C. (DeVille) was on his knees, he was directly in front of us.”

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His memories of time in Green Bay: Lambeau, Don Majkowski and 'a real dressing room' 

When Michaels returns to Brown County arena on Saturday night to play what will be the final concert in the 60-year-old building before it's demolished later this spring to make way for a new expo center, the memories will come flooding back for him.

“It’s really an emotional moment for me. I shot ‘Every Rose’ there. It was the kickoff,” he said. “I remember to this day walking in there and how excited and nervous I was to walk into that building. Before we did the show, the weeks of rehearsing and how excited I was to look at a real dressing room. It may have been no frills but for me it was big thrills.

“Trust me, I spent many, many years of my career moving the pool table out of the way in the corner to fit our gear in, so it felt good to be in an arena with real lights and sound.”

Poison would get to know the ins and outs of the building well. Convinced Green Bay was something of a good luck charm for them after the success of “Every Rose Has Its Thorn,” the band returned twice more to rehearse for and launch tours from the arena: the Flesh & Blood Tour in 1990 and Native Tongue World Tour in 1993. 

Michaels, DeVille, Rikki Rockett and Bobby Dall often spent weeks at a time in the city. They were spotted skateboarding in front of the arena and at record stores, strip clubs and Lambeau Field. They signed autographs at Henri’s Music, hosted rehearsal parties in the arena concourse and once invited Packers quarterback Don Majkowski onstage to sing.

Michaels, 56, looks back on all of it with fondness.

“Just incredible ... Not only the arena was a great experience but Green Bay, the people that make it work and make it rock, were absolutely great,” Michaels said. “So many good times there, so many good times.”

The band had fallen in love with Green Bay and its work ethic, Michaels said, but the location also made good logistical sense. It was convenient for launching a tour and then going on to play cities like Minneapolis, Des Moines and Detroit.

It didn’t hurt that it was an NFL city. Michaels, who grew up in Pittsburgh, is a self-described “football fanatic.” He’s been to Lambeau many times, is friends with former Packers linebacker A.J. Hawk and has had Packers players join him at some of his many sold-out solo shows at Green Bay Distillery and Oneida Casino.

“They had a big field across from the arena the first few times that we were there, and I’ll never forget ever going over there with our crew (to play football),” he said. “I still do it to this day. I make our buses pull over and we play football or baseball along the road at a truck stop.”

He laughs when he points out two of the most Googled people named Bret happen to be Brett Favre and Bret Michaels.

“Not bad company,” he says. 

He is bringing along famous friend Thomas Tull and a film crew on Saturday night

When a reunited Poison played a sold-out show with Def Leppard in 2017 at the Resch Center, Michaels made a point to ask arena management if he could go next door to Brown County Veterans Memorial Arena and have a look around. 

“This is part of me being here today. I need to go in there and see the arena. I went to the dressing rooms where we shot the video. It was just a really good feeling,” he said. “When I say played football (on the Green Bay Blizzard practice field set up in the building), I think I was in there for like two hours. Almost missed soundcheck throwing the ball around.”

After that visit, Michaels had floated the idea of someday coming back to play the arena. When PMI Entertainment Group, which manages both the arena and the Resch, was thinking about an act for the building’s final concert, Michaels was at the top of the list.

“When they came here and they rehearsed, it wasn’t just a one-day rehearsal, they really immersed themselves in the community, and I think our community is passionate about him and Poison,” said Kristie Haney, vice president of events and booking for PMI. “I think everyone here is excited for him to come and play, and I hope he’s as excited to play as we are to have him. When we were trying to come up with who would be the perfect person or perfect group to close the building, it was a no-brainer.”

“There was no arm twisting,” Michaels said. “I may have twisted their arm ... in a good way. I was excited to do it.”

Michaels felt so passionately about it he personally called Haney.

“In my almost 22 years in the business, I have never had an artist call me. That was definitely a first,” she said. 

The show, which is being produced by Red Rock Productions, is a sellout — one last chance to pack the place and bask in the nostalgia of more than a half-century of concert memories that span Van Halen and Fleetwood Mac to Elvis Presley and Johnny Cash.

In a nice twist, Lita Ford, who opened up for Poison that night in 1988, will be back to do it again on Saturday. So will Warrant, who opened on the Native Tongue Tour in 1990.

Michaels is bringing along some friends of his own. The Ghost Hounds from Los Angeles will play a few songs before his set. The band’s guitarist is Thomas Tull, founder and former CEO and chairman of Legendary Entertainment, the company behind such blockbuster movies as “The Dark Knight,” “The Hangover” and “Jurassic World.” They’ll be shooting video that night, including the performance of “Every Rose Has Its Thorn.”

“We’re filming the whole song, the whole show. We’re going to cut together an amazing piece,” said Michaels, who has a request for everyone going. “We need phones in the air, lighters in the air. Whether they go new tech or old tech, just bring it with you and light that place up.”

The show will have all the hallmarks of a Bret Michaels performance. That means a salute to veterans. “I’m a son of a veteran," he said, "and a lot of the crew that works with me are vets, so we’re going to honor our vets onstage that night.”

It also means a big dose of his age-defying energy when he hits the stage.

“I’m as passionate today as I was the first time I ever played at my high school auditorium for battle of the bands. I was excited then, and I’m just as excited now to do it. When I come out there it’s real,” he said. “My dad always said — let me say this right — I have a unique energy. He’s like, ‘Bret, you have a unique energy. There’s a lot of it, but you’re not all over the place. When it’s focused, it’s a good day.’ I think when I hit that stage, it’s a combination of passion and gratefulness. I’m grateful I get to do what I love to do.”

His Life Rocks Foundation will have memorabilia and collectibles, including some from his new single “Unbroken,” co-written and performed with his youngest daughter, Jorja Bleu. Items will be up for donations when the doors open at 5:30 p.m. Money raised will go back to Make a Wish Wisconsin, Happily Every After Animal Sanctuary and JDRF of Northeast Wisconsin. (Michaels, insulin dependent since age 6, has been a tireless supporter of diabetes awareness and fundraising.)

He’s encouraging people to come early (yes, Novak will be there), make it a tailgate party and keep the celebratory vibe going all night.

“It’s not just a concert where you come in and go. ... It’s going to be an event,” Michaels said. “We’re going to make this really, really exciting.”

Sept. 16, 1988: Open Up and Say ... Ahh! Tour 

Openers: Lita Ford and Britny Fox

What happened at the show: The video “Every Rose Has Its Thorn” was filmed during the concert. Cream Cheese Productions of Beverly Hills, California, had been in town earlier in the week to scout locations (a vacant warehouse was also used). 

What happened before the show: When a couple of hundred people gathered to listen to the band rehearse from outside the building the night before the concert, they were invited to come in and watch.

Sept. 19, 1990: Flesh & Blood Tour 

Opener: Warrant 

What happened at the show: Packers quarterback Don Majkowski, who had recorded his own version of “Every Rose Has Its Thorn” for charity in 1988, joined Poison onstage to sing it with Bret Michaels. The photo made the front page of the Green Bay Press-Gazette, but the review of the concert called the “Majik Man” out for being off key and off cue.

What happened before the show: The band signed autographs at Henri’s Music the day of the concert.

May 14, 1993: Native Tongue World Tour 

Openers: Damn Yankees, Life, Sex & Death and FireHouse

What happened at the show: Thirty St. Norbert College choir members joined Poison for “Stand.”

What happened before the show: The band hosted an afternoon rehearsal party for people who won invitations through radio stations. Fans got to listen to the band’s set, hang out with the guys and enjoy burgers, hot dogs, beer and soda. A party room was decked out with lava lamps, black lights, candles and rugs.

DO IT

Who: Bret Michaels, with Lita Ford and Warrant

What: Nothin' But a Good Time — For the Last Time

When: Doors at 5:30 p.m., show at 7 p.m. Saturday

Where: Brown County Veterans Memorial Arena, Ashwaubenon

Tickets: $68-$28; sold out but check availability as additional seats have been released; ticketstaronline.com and 800-895-0071

Contact Kendra Meinert at 920-431-8347 or kmeinert@greenbay.gannett.com. Follow her on Twitter @KendraMeinert.