From: John F

What a let down! KISS' 2nd night show in Boston was a let down from before the show even started. Unlike the Reunion, I read nothing about the Psycho Circus show from the LA Dodger Stadium or other Reviews. I taped the FOX special, but didn't watch it. I wanted as much spontaneity as possible for the show. I didn't want to have the setlist memorized or know the sequence of explosions. So I set myself up to enjoy all the surprises. Anything I would call a surprise was for the worse. For instance, Boston night two was NO WHERE near sold-out. Only about 70% of the arena was filled. That took away some of the atmosphere. The opening band was typically poor - where is the carnival sideshow?? I put in the FOX video after the show and although it sucked as a whole, a couple of the acts were pretty cool (i.e, The Sphere of Fear motorcycles). That alone would have been much more fun than Econoline Crush or whatever their name is.

Well, the show started with 'Psycho Circus' which I expected. That was a definite highlight. The 3-D effects from the video were on display and were enjoyable. I would soon learn that if you've seen the Psycho Circus video, you've seen KISS in 3-D. That's pretty much all it was for the entire show. Letdown #1.

The set list order was o.k., but did seem to need some tinkering. They only played 3 Psycho Circus songs. Letdown #2. I actually like this album and would have liked to hear 'You Wanted the Best', 'Raise Your Glasses' (which I expected to coincide with 3-D effects), 'I Pledge Allegiance' and even "I Finally Found My Way' as a change from 'Beth'.

The overall effects were weak. Letdown #3. There were NO lasers and nothing that appeared to be new or different. A little more smoke and fire than the reunion tour, but I think there was one 5 or 6 song stretch where virtually nothing happened with effects or they were so small, I wasn't amazed. The stage had more like and the screen appeared bigger, but it was as bear and uninteresting to look at as the Reunion stage. Outside of the 'Psycho Circus' curtain, there was nothing that said 'carnival' to me anywhere.

Letdown #4. The band was fairly sloppy. Gene and Peter played a decent show from a musical stand-point, but Gene and Paul appeared obviously bored with the show since it wasn't a sell-out. The moved around the stage much less than I'm used to seeing. Ace was way off. His solo was a waste of time because he played so poorly. I know Ace always looks like he's fallen off the wagon, but I didn't sense that he was completely sober this time like I did on the Reunion tour. The first half of Peter's drum solo was fun and the off-the-ground drum riser was a highlight. Peter was the one member who appeared genuinely happy, and his heartfelt "God Bless each and every one of you!" after 'Beth' was a nice moment.

Letdown #5. Can it be any more predictable? 'Firehouse' fire-breathing. 'God of Thunder' flying. Paul's trapeze like the 'Lost Cities' tour. Same flames, etc. during 100,000 Years. I knew nothing about the show going and in and I still could have predicted 90% of it. I know it's KISS, but come on.

Letdown #6. Closing with 'Black Diamond' (with an incredibly sloppy Paul intro) instead of 'Rock and Roll All Night'. That's the one given that I didn't want tinkered with unless it was with another high energy song ("You Wanted the Best" would even work - extend the Ace solo, have some audience participation, etc.)

HIGHLIGHT #1- Three girls in the front row were complete topless and they garnered a fair amount of camera time during the end of the show. That brought the boys alive a little.

I never thought I'd say this, but I left the show not feeling I got my $55 worth and seriously debating whether I would follow them to Montreal (which is a closer show for me by over 2 hours). If you want to see how positive I was about the reunion tour, go read my Boston/Montreal review from two years ago.

Please don't let this discourage you, however. Go to the show. Have a good time. But don't let your expectations get as high as mine were before this show. Boy, I hope the 'Second Comng' video meets my expectations.

KISS ASYLUM -- KISS Museum News Archive Features Tour Dates Photos