Arrived at the Palais Theature at aprox 6 pm to see a few die hard fans waiting outside the arena hoping to catch a glimpse of Gene as he arrived from The crown Casino. at aprox 6.50pm a green car arrived with Gene in the front seat, by this time the side entrance was swarmed by fans hence there was no chance for an autograph.

We all went to the front entrance whereby we were entertained by a 7 year old boy playing GOD of Thunder on an Ibanez Guitar and a piggy amp till the doors opened. Once the Doors opened at aprox 7.15pm I swarmed the memorabilia stand to see what was available. There was nothing special available. The list of items is as follows:

Standard re mastered Kiss CDs which retailed for $18.95
The new CD Greatest Hits which sold for $18.95
Gene Simmons Tongue Magazine which sold for $12.95
Speaking with tongue Gene Simmons Poster $5.00
Gene Autobiography (Soft Cover) $32.95

And that was it for the memorabilia stakes. Once we were in, we were kept waiting for a while till we were escorted to our seats at aprox 7.45pm Whilst we were waiting in the back ground, we all got to hear numerous un heard kiss cover songs of War machine, Getaway, Detroit rock city, Going Blind, and more......... The songs sounded actually weird to say but also good as they leashed a new life on the old classics.

At aprox 8.20pm the lights Dimmed, a video started which detailed Kiss as a marketing business and went though some of their merchandising, this went on for about 5 min. At the end of the video, The drums to I love it Loud began, people went crazy and Gene appeared unmasked with Black leather pants, White collar shirt and a black Dinner jacket with a red rose in his pocket.

As it was a full house, Gene seemed a little uneasy all by himself but then begin to speak about himself and his childhood. He stated that when he came to America he did not know any English and had a weird name, he was infect studying to be a rabbi. He then spoke about whilst studying to be a rabbi, he saw a 12 yo girl with her skipping rope and his dick went hard and did not know what was going on but liked the feeling and that was the end of his rabbi studies. He continued to say that he loves women but is not married and will never get married as he will not give up any of his hard earnt money and continued to say that every one makes his or hers own fortune This went on for about 45 min then after he showed us a video of his home and his children (This is off an MTV special) which went on for about 10 min.

After the lights came back on, He started to talk Kiss about Marketing etc. This went on for another 45 min.

He then commenced taking questions from the audience. He was infact walking amongst the fans!! One interesting question that arose was when a fan asked why Eric Carr was Fired whilst dying, You could tell that this was still an emotional subject but went to say that at first Eric was coughing up blood and he was referred to the kiss medics were at first the matter did not seem to be serious, he had open heart surgery and found the tumors. Gene and Paul were the only people there with Eric at the time. They allowed Eric all the time in the world to recover and re join the band. Once they were aware that the cancer had spread, and Gene and Paul know that Eric only had a matter of months to live, they sat down with him and told him that the band wants to move forward and that he had been replaced by Eric singer. Eric was upset about this decision and took it against Gene and Paul but when Eric was released from hospital and when doing the video for God gave rock and roll to you, he asked if he could be a part of the Video whereby Gene and Paul Agreed. At this time it was ominous that Eric had only months to live but struggled to meet the video demands and completed it. Months later, Eric died.

Gene did confirm that Kiss and Universal had departed ways and that they had been working on demos, whereby he played snippets of songs for us to hear. The songs played were all Gene Songs and were Awesome to say the least.

He went on to say that he is unsure if Ace will come to Melbourne but will get down on his hands and knees if he as too and beg him to do so. This was met with great applause.

After a growling 1 1/2 hr Audience question, he allowed every one to remain in the lobby whilst he signed signatures for "The Gold Ticket purchasers" and said that he will sign autographs for everyone!!

After about a 1 hr 15 min wait Gene came out to the lobby and was true to his word and signed autographs and posed for pics with his fans and again answered questions.

It was about 1.50pm whereby I got to speak to Gene and posed for a pic with me and signed memorabilia.

He is a true man of his word and a man of honor and dignity.

The night then ended for me and I drove home.

It was well worth the money spent and should the tour arrive on your shore, I advise you attend.