Bret Michaels hints at Poison 30th anniversary summer tour

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By ( Classic Rock ) published

Frontman says his pain "goes away" when he hits the stage

Poison mainman Bret Michaels says that the band might play a “select” few dates next summer to celebrate their 30th anniversary.

The 52-year-old tells Las Vegas Magazine that he hopes to perform 10 to 30 “unbelievably awesome” shows – and that he has tentatively called it The XXX Tour.

Michaels, who has battled kidney problems and suffered from a brain haemorrhage in 2011, says: “I have three generations of fans from the 80s, 90s and 00s just partying, and it’s much more than a concert. Good, bad, ugly, pain – everything else goes away when I walk out on that stage. It’s a moment of pure energy and passion, and I feel blessed.”

The band last made a public appearance at the 2013 Indy 500 Miller Lite Carb Day in Indiana – and performed in the Rock of Ages tour alongside Lita Ford and Def Leppard.

Michaels has mainly been focusing on his country rock solo career in the past year, having recently written single Girls On Bars with Grammy Award-winning Luke Laird.

But he says he remains close with his bandmates, adding: “My best buddies in Poison – this is a true story – we grew up together.

“We loved playing music together, we had a lot of battles, things that we fought against, and I’ll never forget that. I’ll always remember that.

“But the truth of the matter is, as a solo artist, there are a lot of things I’d like to do that I get a chance to do, instruments I get to play onstage, stuff that I can change.”

In August, drummer Rikki Rockett said Poison could move forward without Michaels.

Christina O'Neill

Former TeamRock news desk member Christina joined our team in late 2015, and although her time working on online rock news was fairly brief, she made a huge impact by contributing close to 1500 stories. Christina also interviewed artists including Deftones frontman Chino Moreno and worked at the Download festival. In late 2016, Christina left rock journalism to pursue a career in current affairs. In 2021, she was named Local Weekly Feature Writer of the Year at the Scottish Press Awards.