Surf's up at Centennial; hair metal hits the zoo

The Beach Boys perform at Centennial Terrace this Thursday night.

It's rockin' with the oldies Thursday, July 28, in the Toledo area with the Beach Boys coming to Centennial Terrace and hair-metal dudes Poison and Warrant at the Toledo Zoo.

And before you take offense at the latter bands being cast under the oldies umbrella, consider this: Poison formed in 1983, a full 28 years ago. And Warrant started in 1984, which means that if you were 20 when you first started listening to those bands, well, let's just say you're "middle-aged" and leave it at that.

Both groups who came of age in the free-wheeling hair-metal era banging out anthems like "Cherry Pie" and "Down Boys" (Warrant), and "Nothin' But a Good Time," "Unskinny Bop," and of course the uber-power ballad "Every Rose Has Its Thorn," (Poison) are still kicking.

Poison is composed of band members from its heyday --Bret Michaels, Rikki Rockett, Bobby Dall, and C.C. DeVille. Former Warrant frontman Jani Lane is no longer with the band; the current lead singer is Robert Mason.

Poison and Warrant will be at the zoo amphitheater at 7:30 p.m. Thursday. Tickets are $50 and $89.90 and can be purchased at all TicketMaster locations, livenation.com, by phone at 800-745-3000 or 419-385-5721, or the zoo's main box office, which is open from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. The box office is in the Visitor Service/Guest Information Building. Enter from the Anthony Wayne Trail side of the Toledo Zoo.

The Beach Boys, of course, have been around forever. They're known for a ton of hits in the '60s -- "Barbara Ann," "Help Me Rhonda," "Surfin' U.S.A.," "Good Vibrations"-- and at one time were considered contemporaries of the Beatles. Mike Love and Bruce Johnston are the only core members left in the band.

Brian Wilson, the band's creative force from that time, no longer plays with the group.

The Beach Boys will be at Centennial Terrace, 5773 Centennial Rd., Sylvania, at 7:30 p.m. July 28. Reserved seating is $53.50. General admission tickets the day of the show are $32.50.Tickets are on sale at the Stranahan Theater box office, 4645 Heatherdowns Blvd.; TicketMaster outlets, and by phone at 800-745-3000.