From: Cathy Calvert

I attended my second KISS show on Friday, December 4, 1998 at the Civic Arena in Pittsburgh. I am 24 years old and have been a KISS fan since age three. I saw the band two years ago on the Alive Worldwide Reunion Tour. It was a dream come true for me. I have loved all incarnations of KISS, makeup or no makeup, but I have to say it's great to see the original guys back again.

I went to this show with my fiance'. It was her first concert and she was not a KISS fan until I got her listening to them. I was very glad that she went with me and we both had a great time. Now on with the show!

First of all I'm skipping over reviewing the opening band Econoline Crush because we walked around outside during their set and judging from what we did hear of them we didn't miss anything.

The lights went down as blue spotlights roamed the hall, followed by the usual intro, "You Wanted The Best"... The curtain drops and were off into the show opener "Psycho Circus". Paul had some problems holding his breath during the chorus. Other than that it was performed very well. Great show opener! The song than segued into "Shout It Out Loud". After that Paul intros the next song, "Deuce", which is followed by "Do You Love Me?" in which Paul pulls a Gene and messes up lyrics in the second verse. This is followed by "Firehouse" complete with smoke, sirens, and a nice fireblast by Gene.

The show proceeds with "Shock Me", "Let Me Go, Rock N' Roll" and "Calling Dr. Love". On a side note, Ace was in great character for this show and his singing and playing were great. Which leads me to the next song "Into The Void", which had Ace's guitar solo tacked on to it. Let me say that his solo blew away the one on the Reunion Tour. This was followed by "King Of The Nighttime World" during which the end of the song some of the pyros screwed up.

Then came Gene's bass solo and massive blood spitting gag. After which he flew the rafters to sing "God Of Thunder". After descending, Gene and the boys performed "Within". Gene's voice screwed up on this song, probably because it's such a difficult song to sing. Then came Peter's drum solo with his levitating kit, followed by "Cold Gin".

After this was the highlight of the evening. They broke into "Love Gun" with Paul swinging out over the crowd. We had floor seats near the soundboard. Paul descended onto a platform by the soundboard and was no more than 5 feet from us.

Then came "100,000 Years" and "Rock And Roll All Nite" which ended the main set.

Peter returned to sing "Beth" and some moron near the front shined a laser sight in his face. After the song Paul responded by telling the crowd that "ther are always 1 or 2 idiots" in every crowd and reminded the person to leave there toys at home.

Then came "Detrot Rock City" and finally, "Black Diamond" to conclude the show. However, on "Black Diamond", only Peter went up in the air.

Overall, this was a great show. All four members were in great character and they all had their chops down pat. As always the pyros, effects, and showmanship were excellent. The crowd was alos good and loud. I have mixed feeling about the 3-D effects. Some of them were cool while others were stupid. I also would have liked to have heard "Makin' Love", "Nothin' To Lose", and other songs that rarely get played. I'd give this show a 10 for showmanship and an 8 for performance.

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