25 years ago I saw Ratt as a four-piece on the Collage tour at the 4th & B in downtown San Diego. The band had a lot of success for about a decade, going 3X Platinum/2X Platinum/Platinum/Platinum/Gold on their studio records and then having a 1991 greatest hits album go gold. After that, it’s played out like a lot of bands from the era with lineup changes, a few albums with limited success and a lot of touring. in 1997, they put out Collage, which was an odd mix of B-sides, stuff from Mickey Ratt and Arcade and an extremely funky version of “Lovin’ You’s A Dirty Job” from Detonator.
Stephen Pearcy, Bobby Blotzer, Warren De Martini and Robbie Crane hit the road and I got to see them in the town where the band was formed. Pearcy had been off doing Arcade for a few years so this was a chance to see one of the heavyweights of the 1980’s back in action after a few years of 1990’s changeover in the music industry.
The band was in fine form and it was great to hear the songs played live with the audience eating it up. I do remember thinking how odd it was to see them in a 1,500 seat venue. I had seen them three times previously, all in much bigger places. The first time was in 1985 when they opened for the Scorpions at the Tacoma Dome in Tacoma, WA. The second time, just a few months later, was a New Years Eve show at the San Diego Sports Arena where Ratt headlined and Bon Jovi opened. Both of those shows were for Invasion Of Your Privacy. On the Dancing Undercover tour I saw them headline with Poison opening.
Now, here we were and I was seeing them much closer up than any of those other shows. In fact, we showed up in the middle of the day and caught the band going in for soundcheck. I remember Warren coming through and letting a couple of girls go in with him. I also remember Don Dokken was hanging out with them.
After the show, as soon as they left the stage, I ran outside and went around back and caught Pearcy at the back door where I got him to autograph my ticket.
The next time I saw Ratt was just two years later at the Universal Amphitheater the way I was used to seeing them. Poison, Ratt, Great White and LA Guns tore the house down that night and it seemed like all was right with the world. I saw them many years later when it was just Warren, Blotz and the likes of Jizzy Pearl and John Corabi. I don’t remember who was on bass, probably Crane again.
But on this night in San Diego it was 3/5 of the Out Of The Cellar gang, with Juan Croucier and Robbin Crosby out of the band.
I remember going to Tower Records the day Collage came out and being unable to find it. Because they didn’t have it. That underscored what had been going on for the music I loved for most of the 90’s. The venue for the show was a little more of the same. Just a few miles from the Sports Arena where I had seen them headline, Ratt was playing a theater. I decided to take the bad with the good. I got to hang out with a bunch of cool people, saw Ratt play live and got an autograph. In 1997, that felt like about as good as you could do.