Wednesday, June 5, 2002 | 8:21 a.m.
Their hair isn't as long as it used to be -- and some of them are losing what little they have left.
No matter. The four rock bands that took the stage Tuesday night at The Joint at the Hard Rock Hotel played as though it was again 1989 -- when their music was topping the charts, and the locks topping their heads were long and plentiful.
The "hair band" lineup featured, in ascending order, Faster Pussycat, Winger, Cinderella and Poison, the latter in recent years having been named the Greatest Hair Band of All Time by cable music channel VH1.
The bands played a show that clocked in (including stage and instrument changes between groups) at an impressive 5 hours and 15 minutes. Sleaze rockers Faster Pussycat opened their set clad in black-vinyl Nazi-esque garb that was a blatant rip-off of shock rocker Marilyn Manson's schtick.
The group kicked its set off with an unlikely cover of Nancy Sinatra's '60s hit "These Boots Are Made for Walking," followed with a charming ditty about a whorehouse and the single "Slip of the Tongue."
Lead singer Taime Downe -- his face awash in garish white makeup and flanked by his stick-straight, jet-black hair -- donned a pair of black angel wings for Faster Pussycat's biggest hit, "House of Pain." Its 30-minute set ended with Downe ditching his pants for a tune called "Shut up and (Expletive)."
Next onstage was Winger, namesake band of one-time metal hottie Kip Winger. The tour marks the first time the group -- including bassist/keyboardist Paul Taylor, guitarist Reb Beach and drummer Rod Morgenstein -- has performed in nine years.
"Blind Revolution," from Winger's 1993 offering "Pull," led the way for the single "Madalaine" (off its self-titled 1988 debut). Then it was back to "Pull" for the little-remembered single "Incognito."
Kip Winger, who cropped his formerly flowing, sexy locks, tossed guitar picks into the audience throughout the band's set, which continued with the hit ballad "Miles Away" from the 1990 disc "In the Heart of the Young."
Also on that release were the little-heard tracks "Rainbow in the Rose" and "You Are the Saint, I Am the Sinner" -- both of which were featured during the concert. ("It's only for you connoisseur Winger fans," the frontman explained).
The hit singles "Headed for a Heartbreak," "Can't Get Enuff" and signature song "Seventeen" rounded out the set -- but not before Kip Winger made sure the audience wished Taylor (who sports a small bald spot atop his once-curly haired head) a happy birthday.
The crowd went wild when a massive Cinderella banner was unveiled prior to the band taking the stage.
Cinderella's set started with "Somebody Save Me," sung by front man Tom Keifer. The years may have shortened his hairdo a bit, but his trademark raspy, high-pitch wail is still intact.
The title track of 1986's "Night Songs" release followed after a few songs, with Keifer demonstrating his guitar prowess during a solo later in the show.
"Would you like to sing a song with us, people?" Keifer asked in urging the audience to sing along with the hit ballads "Last Train" and "Coming Home."
Three of Cinderella's biggest tunes -- "Shelter Me" (including an uncommon but welcome sax bit) "Nobody's Fool" and "Gypsy Road" -- were next up. The set wrapped with the power ballad "Don't Know What You've Got (Till It's Gone)" performed as a cascade of white confetti fell on the audience, and the rockin' "Shake Me."
Sure, fans had dutifully flicked their Bic lighters in homage and screamed for their favorite tunes throughout the evening. But the show failed to really get rolling until Pennsylvania quartet Poison took the stage amid a flurry of flashing strobe lights.
The tour promotes the group's ninth release, "Holly- weird." But there wasn't anything weird about Poison's presentation: a straight-forward, rock 'n' roll show with unapologetic, splendid excess.
Flamboyant guitarist C.C. DeVille, dressed in a white rhinestone-encrusted jacket, took the stage with drummer Rickki Rockett and bassist Bobby Dall, followed by still-hunky singer/songwriter (and sometimes movie maker/star) Bret Michaels -- who has maintained his lengthy blonde locks from the '80s -- for the title track of 1986's "Look What the Cat Dragged In."
Flames shot from that stage on either side of Rockett's drum kit during "Talk Dirty to Me." The pyro display continued throughout the show with seemingly every rock tune, including "Ride the Wind," a cover of The Who's "Squeeze Box" (the first single from "Hollyweird") and the, um, classic, "I Want Action."
DeVille embarked on a solid guitar solo and showed off his less-than-stellar vocal talents on the tasteless "I Hate Every Bone in your Body Except Mine."
Michaels returned to the stage, guitar in hand, to dedicate the power ballad "Something to Believe In" to the victims of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. Then he grabbed the harmonica for Poison's cover of "Your Momma Don't Dance," the group's first No. 1 single.
The rocking "Hollyweird" title track was followed by Rockett's pounding drum solo. Michaels once again picked up the guitar for his turn on yet another power ballad, "Every Rose Has Its Thorn," for which audience members -- some of them likely clad in the same leather getups they wore to a Poison show a decade ago -- gladly sang the chorus.
The sexually charged single "Unskinny Bop," and good girl-turned-bad saga "Fallen Angel" preceded the introduction of Motley Crue singer Vince Neil, who joined Michaels and Co. for a cover of Kiss' "Rock & Roll All Nite." A slew of multicolor streamers rained on the audience, setting up the raucous encore, "Nothin' But a Good Time."
As the song's lyrics remind, "It don't get better than this." For hair-band fans that certainly was the case.
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