From: John Stivala

Well, after nine years of waiting (since I bought my first Kiss album - Smashes, Thrashes and Hits), I finally made it to my first Kiss show tonight at London's Wembley Arena. As expected, there was plenty of merchandise on offer with some of the more dedicated fans purchasing one of every t-shirt as well as other items such as baseball caps and signed posters. Even Kisstory had sold out at one of the stalls before the support band had taken to the stage.

BuckCherry opened the show and, I must admit, were somewhat better than what the general opinion seemed to imply in the previous reviews. Nothing outstanding, but some catchy songs and reasonable energy - at least we didn't have to sit through some modern down tuned crap. Having said all that, everyone was there for one reason alone - Kiss - so whilst they received a reasonable amount of polite applause, they really were nothing more than a sideshow.

Buckcherry's sound was rather muddy in places, and I'd hoped that would improve for Kiss. Initially it didn't - I only knew that Psycho Circus had kicked in from Paul's scream and the flashes of pyro. In fact, the sound only improved towards the middle of the show, and was still a little muddled right through to the end. I think the main culprit was slightly too much bass - when a solo was played during a song, the guitar sound was crystal clear.

In terms of the setlist, I wouldn't have any major complaints, although I'd personally remove Within and replace it with something with a little less plodding, such as I Pledge Allegiance or You Wanted The Best. It might also have been nice to hear Nothing To Lose or I Stole Your Love, but beggars can't be choosers - I'm just glad that I've finally had the chance to witness the Kiss phenomenon in person. Ace's solo could have been considerably shorter - maybe just the 2001 bit and a few widdles either side, but Gene's solo is an integral part of the act, and Peter's was surprisingly enjoyable, considering how monotonous drum solos often are. However, Paul's solo was badly misplaced - between the last two songs and lost valuable momentum that was building up towards the finale (it wasn't that tuneful either!) I would also agree with the point made previously about Black Diamond and Rock and Roll All Nite needing to be switched - everyone was going crazy during RARAN, but whilst Black Diamond is a great song, its stop start and generally slower nature almost creates an anti climax. Here's the setlist (I'm a bit unsure if IWMFLY is in the right place - this is where its appeared at all the recent shows, but I'm not sure if it came a couple of songs earlier at Wembley.)

1. Psycho Circus
2. Shout It Out Loud
3. Deuce
4. Do You Love Me
5. Firehouse
6. Shock Me
7. Let Me Go, Rock & Roll
8. Calling Dr. Love
9. Into The Void
Ace Solo
10. King of the Night Time World
Gene Solo
11. God of Thunder
12. Within
Peter Solo
13. Love Gun
14. 100,000 Years
15. I Was Made For Loving You
16. Rock & Roll All Nite
----------------------
17. Beth
18. Detroit Rock City
Paul Solo
19. Black Diamond

Before RARAN, Paul tried to get everybody to sing the National Anthem - quite amusingly, the first attempt resulting in different parts of the audience being out of time with each other, before Paul co-ordinated a second attempt which he abruptly brought to an end commenting that we were unlikely to get a record deal! This was really representative of the whole evening's mood - the band were enjoying themselves and in great form and this rubbed off on the audience who gave their all when encouraged to participate.

The actual stage show was, to be perfectly honest, incredible. In the course of the show I witnessed every stunt that I've ever seen pulled off in rock videos from the late 1980s (I missed seeing them in person due to being so young!) - Paul flying over the crowd like Jon Bon Jovi, and Peter's drum riser flying out towards the crowd a la Tommy Lee (Motley Crue) on the DR. Feelgood tour. In fact, Paul's flying manoeuvre was probably the highlight of the show for me - the action of flying through the air fitted perfectly with the opening bars of Love Gun and brought Paul level with where I was sitting, giving me a great view, albeit from a distance. The pyro was astounding - would have been sufficient to see in the new millennium - how they persuaded the local council to allow them to use it all is beyond me! Usually the odd bit of pyro during a show will catch me by surprise, but by the end of this show, my senses had given up protesting at this aural assault! The catherine wheels (Ace's and rear of stage) were an interesting variation on the normal pyro effects, as were the multi-coloured flames. I thought the 3D stuff worked very well, although at times you found yourself concentrating on the screens as opposed to the stage! The best bits weren't the parts taken from the Psycho Circus video, but instead were the pieces of footage of objects flying through space.

All in all, a thoroughly enjoyable night that will stay with me for a long time to come. Paul, Gene, Ace and Peter delivered exactly what was expected of them - no more, no less. Whilst as fans we may always be looking for that little bit extra on each subsequent tour, lets face it - no other band comes close to presenting such a spectacle. Lets just be grateful that Kiss are presenting us with an opportunity to enjoy ourselves in a time where bands are constantly reflecting on the downside of life and record companies are constantly looking for the cheap option.

The Hottest Band In The World - quite literally!

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