Recommendations of the Editorial team
Put away the spandex, hairspray, and red bandana. Poison’s 40th anniversary – which Bret Michaels and other band members had been teasing for years – is no longer happening. Poison drummer Rikki Rockett has been clearly hinting at this for several months, “Page Six” now gave a very open assessment of the situation.
Dispute over income
“We had a great offer, I thought,” Rockett said. “But we got up from the table. It didn’t work… What it boiled down to was this [Gitarrist] C.C.C [DeVille], [Bassist] Bobby [Dall] and I were all there, and I thought Bret was too, but he wanted the lion’s share of the money – to a degree that made it impossible to even do that. It’s like 6 dollars for every dollar from us. You can’t work like that… I don’t do it just for the money. I absolutely love this. But at the same time, you don’t want to go out and work extremely hard just for someone else to make a bunch of money.”
Poison last toured in 2022 together with Mötley Crüe, Def Leppard and Joan Jett and the Blackhearts on a huge stadium tour. After it ended, Michaels returned to his solo band. This plays shows that consist almost exclusively of Poison hits. However, in September 2024, Michaels wrote a letter to fans explaining his future plans with Poison.
Michaels’ announcement and reservations
“In 2026, I’m happy to say that it will be Poison’s 40th anniversary since the release of ‘Look What the Cat Dragged’ In in 1986… so it would make perfect sense to have the possibility of a reunion in 2026,” he wrote. “In my opinion, it would be the perfect 40th Anniversary Tour, with 40 great, limited dates to get out there, play real live hits and see the world rock…Again, although none of this is confirmed and it takes a lot of coordination and planning to put together a successful tour…good things happen with Poison in foursome – 4 original members, 40th anniversary, 40 limited dates, Parti-Gras 4.0 and May The 4’s be with you!”
That sounded relatively clear at first, but Michaels hedged his bets with phrases like “it would make sense,” “in my opinion,” “none of this is confirmed,” and “it takes a lot of coordination.” In other words, he was willing to do it under the right conditions and with the right deal. Unequal distribution of income is not uncommon for bands. However, Poison are in the extremely rare situation where every single original member is still part of the cast. That’s great for the fans, but it makes the financial negotiations particularly tricky.
Silence from the band, clear signs
Rockett has no problem speaking openly to the press about the standoff, while the others have remained conspicuously quiet and appear to want to keep their business negotiations private. It’s also impossible to know exactly what the split of money Michaels offered was. Rockett told Page Six, “It’s like $6 for every dollar we make,” but that “like” could mean a lot, and he could be greatly exaggerating. We simply don’t know.
What we know: The concert calendar for summer 2026 is filling up rapidly – and there is not a single Poison date. Michaels, meanwhile, has announced a series of solo dates. And Rockett doesn’t want to sit at home either. He is planning a tour with his band Rockett Mafia, where “Look What the Cat Dragged In” will be played in its entirety every evening. All of this combined makes a Poison 40th anniversary tour extremely unlikely. There’s still the big 50th anniversary in 2036. Maybe they’ll have found a fair way to share the money by then.