Poison’s Public Scuffle

Poison frontman Bret Michaels and bassist Bobby Dall had a Gallagher-brother-sized scuffle onstage during the band’s encore at HiFi Buys Amphitheatre in Atlanta August 25th, and it somehow turned into a press release.

Michaels threw his microphone at Dall, who responded by winding up and flinging his bass at the singer’s knee.

Michaels apologized and told the crowd it might be the last performance with that lineup. Still, the band finished with “Talk Dirty To Me.”

The next day’s show in Memphis reportedly went on with the usual Poison lineup without incident and the singer jokingly referenced the fight during an interview with Little Rock, Ark.’s KATV television.

This isn’t the first time a band has had an onstage scuffle (read: The Kinks, Everly Brothers), and sometimes the road crews of different bands have faced off during a show. It might be unusual, however, for a band to turn the uncomfortable moment into an opportunity.

“Atlanta’s still burning … it was striking hot on stage the other night when Poison’s show ended in a volatile fight … on stage,” read Poison’s statement, which was also added to its MySpace profile.

After noting the band’s tour and recent greatest hits CD release, the statement added, “Is this the end of Poison? Will the band break up after 20 years? Right now, it’s day to day, as their intense summer tour is scheduled to end September 2nd.”