From: Mikedrac@aol.com

Just wanted to give you a brief review of the Hartford show. I'd seen the 2 Boston shows a couple of weeks ago, and gave a review for the 2nd show 11/13/98. But I was excited for this show because I'd seen them in Hartford on the reunion tour and found the acoustics at the Hartford Civic Center to be incredible. I definately recommend seeing shows in Hartford if you're around there because the sound that bands pump out is heavy and loud the way a rock concert should be. I hate seeing shows at the Boston Fleet center. It''s a brand new arena, state of the art, and the sound sucks there!

Set list
Psycho, Shout it, Deuce, Do you love Me, Firehouse, Shock me, Let me go, Cold Gin, Calling Dr love, Into the Void (ace solo), King of the nite time world, God of Thunder, Within(peter solo), I was made for lovin you, Love Gun, 100,000 Years, Rock and roll all nite, Beth, Detroit, Black Diamond

That's the exact order they played them in. From what I've been reading of other reviews they do the same songs, but they just change the order of songs to keep it fresh. But, a big difference tonight is that they dropped Makin Love! Big dissappointment for me because it is my favorite live song. I don't why they dropped it since I thought they did a great job playing it live in Boston. All the reviews I've read concerning Makin Love are that it is a surprise to hear the band play it. So why drop it and not replace it? Oh well, I've seen Kiss so many times before that I know on the first leg of a tour they never change or do different songs from night to night, rather, they perfect the songs in their list. Hopefully, by the 2nd leg (next spring/summer) they'll do new songs i.e. Love em leave em, You wanted the best, etc. I'm just enjoying what they have to offer me now.

The band was very, very tight and very loud. They sounded soooooo good! The sound system in Hartford really enhanced their rhythm and they just rocked. All four of them were in top form musically. They all had smiles on their faces and really enjoyed playing for the audience.

During Into the void, right before the solo started, Ace stepped on something that a fan threw on the stage and almost fell backwards. But he caught himself in time.

After Gene spits blood, and flies to the top of the rig, he starts to drool blood through the steel grid that's supporting him. It's fun to watch him on the big screen when he's doing this, because he's almost spitting at the crowd below him!

Within sounded good, but I noticed that the crowd, just like in boston, wasn't into it. Perhaps as people get used to the song they will enjoy it more. I think it's cool to see the four of them play a song like this that seems complicated to play. It sounds powerful and I think that it should be included on Alive 4 when they decide to record it.

The crowd in Hartford was very wild and very loud, even in the rafters where I was sitting. I'd say that the arena was 3/4 to 80% filled. The crowd was lively until the encores. By that point, it seemed everyone was a little tired. By the time Paul started Black Diamond he was looking at the crowd to see why they were so quiet. Though I like Black Diamond as the encore closer I think maybe it's better to have R & R all nite to close because everyone is waiting for that one song--it'll keep the audience wild until the very end. You also have to keep in mind that a great deal of the fans are in the 30's and 40's and do not jump around like they did in the 70's. I know that I don't; however, it does not mean that I am not enjoying the show.

A few new items--they now have a live 3-d camera to project their live movements. This is fun to watch and it adds to the already pre-recored video 3-d stuff. They didn't have this in boston. Also, the 3-d glasses now have the Psycho Circus images and the Kiss logo on them. And, as we were walking in the arena, there were signs saying that anyone caught using a laser pointer would be ejected from the arena.

During God of Thunder and 100, 000 years, the flames they used during the songs were the smaller Reunion tour flames and not the huge columns of fire that they used in Boston. Maybe, the civic center had a restriction on certain pyro.

There were some pyro mistakes, but nothing big. You have to expect with a show this huge some things won't work all the time.

Another thing I noticed on this tour, is that Ace doesn't go down on his knees during the Black Diamond solo. I knew he had some knee problems on the last tour so I'm sure his doctors said to exclude this from the show. Instead, Ace went up to the circular set of amplifiers and played the solo from there while Paul and Gene stood below him.

All in all, another great performance, with the exception of dropping Makin love. I can't wait to see what they do song wise on the next leg.

I hope everyone enjoys the show. Kiss is the only rock band that puts their heart and soul into every performance and gives the crowd their monies worth. I hope you all enjoy the show.

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