From: Bjorn Hoglund

Kiss started their european tour last night at Helsinki's Hartwall Arena (12000 seater). The show was almost a sell-out, my guess is that about 10 000 people were present. No comments on the opening band, Buckcherry, since during their show I was concentrating on getting rid of my thirst. Kiss hit the stage a little after 9 p.m. This being the first time I see them on the current tour, it's difficult to say if they had changed anything for the european tour. The setlist was not changed, at least not for the better. The played the 3 songs from Psycho circus like in the U.S, but otherwise the set was excactly the same as on the reunion tour, just performed in a different order. They did not play Nothin to lose, She, Makin love, which was a great disappointment at least for me.

After reading the reviews of the U.S shows, I didn't expect much of the 3D effects. However, they were great! Especially the images used during Ace's solo were amazing. It was also a good idea the instruct the crowd when to put the glasses on and when to take them off, since the 3D thing was not used in every song. During Peters solo his drum kit rose up, but I was surprised that it did not move forward over the audience.

The band seemed to be a bit stiff, even Paul only occasionally acted like I'm used to see him. He made a minor blunder trying to make the crowd scream as loud as possible: "We will be playing Sweden, Norway and Denmark, but you can now make sure that we will remember Helsinki!" The only problem is that they will not be playing Denmark on this tour. Paul didn't speak much to the audience, expect for the usual "Does everybody feel good?" etc. They closed the ordinary set with Rock 'n roll all nite, with Beth, DRC, and Black Diamond as encores. Personally I think that Black Diamond and Rock n' roll... should change places, like on the last tour.

This was the 8th time I saw the band, and I can't say it was the best one. I know it's a cliche, but they should use their imagination more when choosing the songs. Excellent show anyway!

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