From: Lawrence Sailus

What a way to start 1999! KISS made it's triumphant return to the Palace of Auburn Hills, MI to ring in the New Year. I have been a fan since their first album, and have seen them on the "Alive" tour, the "Love Gun" tour, and 3 tiimes on the "Reunion Tour". Here are my thoughts on the show:

Stage Setup: I liked the new open look of the stage and also the KISS light logos on both the left and right of the stage. Overall, I think the whole show is slightly scaled down from the last tour as far as lights and effects go, but it looks great and I think I like it even better than the "Reunion" tour stage.

3D effects: These were cool the first couple times, but the second half of the show, I found myself taking them off. I like the fact that I could (at least from where I was sitting) watch the band and also see the 3D effects at the same time, and not just have to look at the screen to get the 3D image. Overall, however I don't think it was that big of a deal.

Performance and sound: The band were pretty tight overall but seemed a little less energetic than the last tour. The sound mix was a little muddy, but the vocals cut through. The main problem was Peter's drums did not cut through enough.

Song list: Even though I love most of the songs they are doing, I really wish they would mix it up a bit. I wanted to hear more from the new album, like "Raise your Glasses", "Journey of 1000 years", and " We are One". In the past, KISS for every tour would, besides having a new stage, and usually new costumes, would have a different song list. KISS keeps saying that they don't want to appeal to just the diehards, however if you're just a casual fan, as long as you hear " R&R all night", "Beth", "Detroit Rock City", and "Shout it our Loud", you're going to go home happy. The KISS fans who know "Let me go R&Roll" , "Do you Love Me", "Love Gun", and "100,000 years" are also going to know songs like "Flaming Youth", "Got to Choose", "I Stole Your Love", "Take Me", " Hard Luck Woman" and "Ladies in Waiting"...all which would be nice additions to the show.

Overall experience: Despite some of the comments and suggestions above, it was still a great show, and I had a great time, which is the bottom line. I obviously would recommend it to everyone. Thanks everyone for tuning in for my review.

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