KISS Hell's Nashville KISS Expo Review 3/15/98
The 1st Nashville KISS Expo. was recently held at the Nashville Armory (i/e- huge building with massive stage). Upon arriving you could see many fans with (rare) KISS shirts-(including the Ace Gibson shirt sold only in Nashville the day before at a guitar show.) Also many fans had KISS tatoos for the Expos' KISS tat contest.

Bruce did a short soundcheck before they opened the doors, basically testing his equipment. John Regan, Tod Howarth & Jamie Oldaker were at a table right near the entrance, as always all the Frehleys Comet guys were very cool. Also there for fans to check out was a KISS toys museum with some rare things on display, like a Firehouse Hat, record player, sleeping bag, Ace Washburn guitar, etc...

There were many dealer tables with great stuff, some at fair prices. The 70's KISS toys prices are getting VERY outrageous from what I saw. Also some 70's things were non existent (for sale) like not seeing any halloween costumes in boxes. Tons of new merchandise is quickly replacing the before common things at KISS Expo's. All the great things from the 70's are slowly & surely getting much more hard to find.

I arrived during the KISS Game show they had set up with game show signs & cool KISS prizes. The contestants were chosen from the crowd from a contest. The person with the most answered won some cool KISS things for questions ranging from easy to expert level.

Bruce & John came out on stage around 2:30 for their unplugged set which sounded incredible. Songs played were: "October Morning Wind", "Love", "Pain Behind Your Eyes", "Beth" (Bruce said John had wanted to do 'Beth' & they did cause Bruce never got a chance to in KISS), "Robins Song" & a Beatles cover called "Hide your Love Away." This unplugged set was the highlight of the day for me. After this John Corabi went to a table & started signing things casually at first, but it quickly turned into a huge line stretching into the hall. John was very nice to the fans & seemed a little impressed by it at times (the KISS fans).

Next Bruce did a Q&A with fans, taking quesions from the crowd, he told some funny Gene stories & was asked if KISS had ever told him which guitars to play & he said Paul did more than Gene & sometimes they would suggest a certain color but never told him to play a Les Paul or anything & he mentioned he never played any pink guitars!

Bruce's guitar clinic followed. The sound in the hall was EQ'ed a little loud on his guitar parts & a little quiet on the tracks he played to. His clinic included "Unholy", "Tough Love", "Heart Of Chrome", "495", "Liar", "Love" & "Star Spangled Banner." During the clinic Bruce would take guitar type questions & demonstrate any requested solos.

The autograph session went well. First the dealers got to see Bruce in a private room for autographs & photos, I got a Japan '88 tourbook & an 8/10 photo signed & a photo taken with Bruce & John. (I imagine the delaers got to do this because, you can't really leave your tables to go for an autograph usually, so this was a cool thing to do) Bruce asked about KISS HELL a little & I complimented him & John on the acoustic set & assured Bruce he will love the next cover of KISS HELL.

It didn't take long for the dealers to get their stuff signed & Bruce & John came out & signed for hours and hours & took photos with everyone. I'm sure noone left without being happy with Bruce's kindness to the fans. Later, there were really no lines & it was very easy just to walk up & talk with them. Chris & I went outside & saw the tribute band CREATURES OF THE NIGHT walking up & introduced myself & got a few photos (&of course the Q&A is in the works!)

Before CREATURES played there were a few more events including a Q&A with another special guest-Ron Leejack-from Wicked Lester, Ron seemed out of it & gave amusing forgetful answers. Then a cool Q&A with John Regan & Tod Howarth was conducted & there were some great Ace stories. Tod says he thinks Ace just see's better sideways!

CREATURES OF THE NIGHT hit the stage around 7:00. they started by closing the curtains & playing "Love Theme" as an intro. After the "You Wanted the Best" intro they blasted into "Creatures Of the Night", "Deuce", "Parasite", "Is That You?", "Rocket Ride", "All American Man", "Hotter Than Hell", "Firehouse", "New York Groove", "Cold Gin", "Carr Jam" & "I Love It Loud". They wore Creatures costumes (with an Ace) & had the tank stage & did a great job. We left before their set ended, but I later heard that they had to cut it short anyway since the convention ran pretty late.

Awesome EXPO. with many cool events-wasn't boring like some others tend to get. Thanks to Gary & Phil for promoting a great Expo. Lets do it again. Joe D.