By Gene Triplett
Entertainment Editor
Anyone who pines for the hair metal and glam rock of the ’80s will find a nostalgic field of dreams four miles north of Pryor off U.S. Highway 69 today through Sunday.


That’s where more than 20 bands from that bygone era will be playing under open skies to an expected crowd of more than 30,000 fans from across the country and around the world.

Rocklahoma, an official Oklahoma Centennial Event produced by Catch the Fever Music Festivals, is featuring such Spandex- and leather-clad veterans as Twisted Sister, Poison, Queensryche, Vince Neil, Ratt, Quiet Riot, Dokken, Winger, L.A. Guns, Bang Tango and Faster Pussycat, to name but a few.

“We knew that it was going to be big, but we didn’t realize it was going to be this big,” said Rob Miller, director of marketing and public relations for Catch the Fever.

“We have people coming in from all 50 states and every continent excluding Antarctica,” said Brad White, president of Creative Entertainment Unlimited. “It’s been very phenomenal in terms of the Internet. It’s been a very viral type of response, and the Internet has spread it to a degree that we had no way of even being able to gauge. At one point, Pryor was the most Googled city in the United States for about three or four days. People all around the world were trying to figure out where Pryor, Oklahoma, was.”

While in the Sooner state, Poison and Ratt will also share a concert bill at the Oklahoma City Zoo Amphitheatre Saturday night.

“We like to come through there every summer,” Poison lead singer Brett Michaels said in a phone interview. “It’s very cool and always a good experience (playing in Oklahoma). I tell you what, I’m really excited about Rocklahoma.”

With a new reality series, “Rock of Love With Brett Michaels,” debuting on VH1 Sunday, and a new Poison album of cover songs selling well, the singer is hard put to explain the long-lasting popularity of so-called hair metal bands such as his, whose chart and airplay power peaked 20 years ago.

“We’ve mostly always been hated by the critics, so it’s only been the fans,” he said. “We just went out and did what we like to do and put on a spectacular show, and all of a sudden one day when the smoke cleared, we were still standing.”

White admits Rocklahoma organizers were taking a risk when they decided to run with the idea of an all-’80s festival format, but it didn’t take long to discover the demand was out there.

“There were a few things that made me lean this way,” White said. “I’ve noticed over the last couple of years, with Poison and Cinderella doing their tour, that the groups that were going to the shows now were people my age who had good jobs and were able to spend money in the community and make decisions.”

The trick for White was persuading some of the bands to sign on, but any qualms on the part of the musicians were put to rest when the box office started booming.

“I think we were one of the first bands they got a hold of and we talked about it,” said Tracii Guns of L.A. Guns in a news conference this week. “It sounded like a great idea. We were a little nervous at first. I think we all were. But the proof’s in the pudding ... I think Oklahoma and all the bands are really pioneering this new event that should have been going on for years.

“The nervousness came from all the money that the promoters and the city are laying out to pay all these bands, crews, transportation and hotels,” Guns said. “It could have been a disaster, but at the end, and we’re not even there yet, it’s been real profitable, it’s great for the city, and it’s great for our kind of music. We’ve had 10 years of bad luck, so this is great.”

Like Twisted Sister’s Dee Snider has always said, you’ve got to “Stay Hungry.”