From: Andy Frueh

Here's my review of the December 9th show in Lexington KY.

I've been going to KISS shows since the Revenge tour. I guess the easiest way to review a KISS show (NEVER, EVER call it a "concert") is to break it down:

Gene - At his absolute demonic best! I've really never seen him quite so enthusiastic at a show before. He seemed VERY comfortable with his "new" bandmates. He forgot the words to "Let me go, Rock 'n' Roll" (which seems to have become part of the show - I know on one of the videos, there's a clip of Gene forgetting the words to this song. Maybe it should just get dropped from the set list?) I have NEVER seen a better version of "God of Thunder." The tempo was slower than normal, which made this song all the more bone-crushing. The green and red lighting was particularly effective.

Paul - Another EXCELLENT performance from our Starchild! "Psycho Circus" wasn't all that great. The album version is SO much better than the way they do it live. It's a great song, just hard to sing I guess. In the middle of show, Paul gave this great rap about how he has always wanted to come out into the crowd - and then he DID. He climbed onto this rope and pulley setup (he called it his "flying machine"), and flew out over the crowd. Then, he dropped right down onto a platform they had set in the middle of the floor! That was just incredible. Paul was singing "Love Gun" and I was only 7 or 8 feet away!

Ace - He sang "Shock Me" and "Into the Void." I'm kind of surprised "New York Groove" or "2,000 Man" didn't get put into the set list somewhere, but he really did a great job, especially on "Void." His solo left me wanting, however. It's pretty much the same solo we've been hearing for years. Ace - you're a GREAT guitar player, but PLEASE give us a totally new solo!

Peter - All I can say is he's been practicing! I know that a lot of people rank Peter as last in the ranking of their favorite KISS members, and I've done that as well. I never thought of Peter as even a good drummer. However, he really smoked the skins that night. I would prefer some more complicated fills ala the two Erics, but his solo was really top notch.

The band & show as a whole: It really was a great show. The 3D effects were "novel" but hardly spectacular. I got bored with them pretty quickly. For "Detroit Rock City" they had this neat computer generated KISS Prowler crashing into a truck. I would like to see more of THAT kind of thing on screen. Not just the guys standing around throwing guitars at me. That's neat the first time or two, but to have a screen showing something that's NOT the band but that actually matches the song they're doing seems more effective. I could think of a LOT of neat effects they could have on screen for songs like "Firehouse" and "God of Thunder."

I know they really worked out hard for the Reunion Tour, but I don't think they worked out or practiced quite as hard for this show. They were fine until the encores, but at that point, they seemed to be getting really tired. They screwed up the beginning of Detroit Rock City as well as Black Diamond.

What do I as a fan want on the next tour? Well, I'd love a return of the 3D with brand new scenes like I mentioned. If "God of Thunder" is based loosely on Norse mythology, why not have us take some horrific grand tour of the Hall of Asgard or something? With Gene popping up in unexpected places. THAT would be cool. I'm also getting just a bit bored with the set list. Don't get me wrong - some songs are staples. I can't imagine a KISS tour without Detroit Rock City, Shout it out Loud, or Rock and Roll all Nite. But I think it's a terrible shame and a waste of good material to completely miss songs from the post-Peter and post-Ace eras. "I Love it Loud", "Lick it Up" and a few others shouldn't be hard to do, and Ace and Peter shouldn't feel strange or bad in any way for playing them. Those ARE KISS songs, and Peter and Ace ARE in KISS.

I'll be anxiously awaiting the 2000 Tour!

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