From: Chris Jackson

I guess the first thing I should start off saying is that I only consider myself a casual fan of KISS. While I enjoy most of their music, I don't quite understand how it got to Star Trek proportions of fanaticism with so many people. But, hearing that KISS was _the_ live show to see, and having missed the Reunion, I didn't pass up the chance when a ticket was offered to me for Toronto, December 2nd, 1998. Skydome/Skytent has a weird shape for concerts. Basically they chop the dome in half with a big curtain across the middle and then bump the stage up against it, approximately over where second base would be for a baseball game.

The permanent seating is then pinched in to form a tight oval shape, and what's left of the "field" is then filled up with floor seating. Paul would shout during one of his audience participation calls that he couldn't hear the crowd that well because the place was shaped kind of weird; I've heard that some bands actually refuse to play at Skydome because they don't like the acoustics. A few months from here and they could have played the brand-new Air Canada Centre down the street.

My own seat was 12 rows up from the floor, way over on the right; I couldn't see the logo on the bass drum, for example. I could see an opening through the big curtain to see what was going on immediately behind the stage.

Also, the crowd. 20,000 is the attendance figure bounced around for crowd capacity at Skytent, but I would estimate it was more like 15,000 tonight. The two far wings of each side of the stage were completely empty, so maybe they were never on sale. The rest was packed, though. In the crowd, there weren't really that many dressed up (maybe 5-10 percent), although there was an excellent Gene in a costume that was too good to be homemade, and another guy who wore a dress suit along with his Gene makeup to look like the "Dressed to Kill" cover. Most make-up in the audience was probably of Peter, probably because he's easy to do, but Paul and Gene could not have been far behind. Someone who looked just like Paul appeared on the balcony in the box section striking poses, which excited the early crowd.

Before Econoline Crush hit the stage for a half empty venue, one of the guys from the local Q-107 radio station announced that Econoline Crush would be playing their only Canadian date tonight, and with their ORIGINAL BASSIST! Yeah! Original bassist, never mentioned by name! Woo! At 7:30 they came on and played a 25 minute set. I'd never heard them before and I'll say that for a '90s band I didn't hate them as much as I thought I would, but that's not saying much. I didn't even get a good look at them because the two rhythm guys didn't make use of the riser on the side of the stage and stayed to the back. The singer looked like a cross between Pauly Shore and some extra from "That '70s Show", and let's just say that if the main guitarist had any soloing skills, he chose not to share them with us on this night. And people wonder why we spend money to see "old" bands - maybe because we like to hear guitar? Some of that irritating techno stuff added from tape didn't help my opinion.

Anyhow, even after seeing Econoline Crush with the _original_ bassist_, most people chose to stick around anyway and catch the KISS show before leaving :) There was a 35-40 minute gap between the opener and the headliner, which was WAY too long. But a little past 8:30 the lights dimmed and everyone got up off their seats. Through that gap in the curtain wall I actually saw the band members walking towards the stage. Then the stage curtain dropped with a blinding flash of light as they launched into "Psycho Circus". I follow the general consensus that this is the best track on the album, and it was just as good live.

From my angle to the stage I pretty much saw them from the side for most of the show, or from the back as they crowded around the main camera to take their close-ups. PC segued right into "Shout it Out Loud", which works just great in the beginning _or_ the end of a show. "Deuce" followed - I remember the songs played but not the order, so I assume it was the standard setlist. There was a lengthy rap beforehand where Paul said they had played Montreal the night before....getting a boo from the crowd. "Funny, they said the same thing about you," Paul said, encouraging the Toronto crowd to be louder. He asked if anyone had the first album before launching into the song. The 3-D thing kicked in after this song. I wonder if the band members think the crowd looks kind of silly looking back at them in those 3-D glasses like a 50's B-movie.

Paul waggled the head of his guitar at the camera while some people oohed and ahhed, then said "I have one question for you, Toronto...do....you....love....ME?" A great song, but as for the 3-D thing I'm not sure mine was working that well. Gene's tongue didn't seem to come out at me like I think it was supposed to. It was funny to see Peter do what looked like warm-up exercises or the back stroke though!

"Firehouse" followed....I was pretty far from the stage and still felt the heat from the flashpots - how did Peter feel? when the torch came out I had to make a quick decision to either keep my eye on Gene himself or watch the trick on the screen - I chose the stage and saw him do it from the back. Peter has flaming drumsticks in the pre-taped 3-D part on the screen. With the little knobs he has on the ends of his sticks, it looks like he over-roasted two marshmallows.

Somewhere in the early part of the show Paul did his now-standard stage rap about what he'll do to people with laser pointers, pointing a few out...the tail end of his speech got drowned out by a huge cheer. Everyone here is as sick of those things as everywhere else.

Ace's turn came on "Shock Me"....this entered a portion of the show that I thought Ace dominated. I really like his often conversational singing style - a lot of character. More exciting guitar work on "Let Me Go, Rock and Roll"; although it sounded especially squeaky. I never liked "Calling Dr. Love" much at all, but it sounds better live. Apparently Peter screwed up on this one, but I guess I couldn't tell.

That was only a short break in the Ace-dominated portion of the show, as "Into the Void" (best riff on the new album, easily) went into his awesome solo...the smoke, a missile, a second one "taking out" a piece of rigging....it's stuff like that people will call "cheesy" but I thought the guitar solo was good enough to stand on its own, so there's nothing wrong with throwing in something extra, is there? I have no idea if this was "good" or "difficult" playing or not but I thought it was a definite show highlight...The 3-D effects here worked the best of the whole show on my glasses, anyway.

At one point during the solo he announced the next bit was from the Year 2000 Symphony or something like that (I'm pretty sure he didn't say 2001 because I remember being confused).

When Ace emerged with a "new" guitar he was standing on the right riser, the only place people over by the far sides could get a really good look at band members. Occasionally throughout the show Gene would mount the riser, face the side of the stage and raise an arm in our general direction, which of course elicited a cheer from our section. Gene did a lot of "cheerleading" like this through the night, and was the only member who actually might have seen me in the crowd...glad to see we weren't totally "forgotten" on the edges.

Paul then said that after Alive, KISS wanted to make some really classic songs. He named "God of Thunder", "Do You Love Me", "Detroit Rock City" (but he didn't mention "Beth!"), as well the next song.... so "King of the Nighttime World" came and went, and then it was time for Gene's horror show...dry ice and a sinister green stage light; I couldn't see a thing on the stage, but this looked really good on the screen filmed from below. A couple of really young boys near me were very entertained by Gene's facial mugging - the sadistic leer, the bugged-out eyes expressing what, surprise? fear? they thought it was funny - and then the trickle of blood giving way to a full geyser....this played out really well on the screen but I couldn't see how much got on anybody in the front row.

After a while of shaking his head around, Gene was raised to the rafters to sing "God of Thunder"....cool, but can't piano wire be coloured black or something? That axe bass looks really cool with blood all over it, like it just got used to hack something up, before biting into it and slobbering all over his armour. Yeah!

Then came "Within"....I actually like this song from PC but I've heard a lot about how bad it is live...and it's true. I couldn't hear any of the singing at all and it just sounded like a lot of noise. Worst part of the show. I think the song was more "sinister" than on the album but it just wasn't happening- it's a "sludgy" song that might have been cool if Black Sabbath did it instead - can't you just hear Ozzy's voice doing the chorus?

Somewhere around this point in the show was Peter's drum solo as it rose up just over the lip of the stage....the smoke pouring out the bottom made it look a lot like....that play Cats, interestingly. When it started out slow I was worried but it got faster at the end which impressed the crowd. He stood up and did some work on just the cymbals as well.

"Cold Gin" was next... as Paul announced this as a song about "alcohol", Gene and Ace traded a high-five - I dunno, maybe it was unrelated. A public service announcement not to drink and drive, and Paul offered to drive you home himself....all night long. This got a really big reaction.

Then Paul announced it was his favourite part of the show...he announced that many years ago as a young man in New York City, he dreamed of playing in front of 20,000 people in Toronto (generous estimate, but it sounds good)....and as he urged the crowd to give itself a round of applause the noise meters came on the screen, and Paul announced he wanted to come out and be with the people, and had a "flying machine" built to do just that. "It's not much but it gets me where I wanna go"....so as his "flying machine" took him to the small stage in the middle of the crowd, "Love Gun" started up, the definite highlight of the show. I thought Ace was the runaway best performer until this point when Paul really kicked it up a notch and dominated the show from here to the end. Sparklers from the rigging exploded in time to the militaristic drum beat to bring this incredible song to an end...back to the stage and Paul kept up the pace with "100,000 Years", and announced "Rock and Roll All Nite" as something like what you just have to do when you're feeling down.....

I know a lot of people are sick of this song, but where I was standing the crowd REALLY came alive for it, especially these guys beside me that left the show and came back a couple of times for some reason. Ace's "pinwheel" of fireworks on his guitar head made him hard to see from my vantage point; he looked like he was a shield of sparks. I was juuuust far enough back to miss getting any confetti drifting on me...it just kept pouring out the whole time like it was New Year's Eve.

I can't remember exactly which number this was, but one of the last songs near the climax Paul had a neat little trick where he swung the microphone around like a lasso, at one point swinging it right around his own neck and then swinging it back around.

Paul smashed his breakaway guitar, although the first three shots he just pretended to try and practically just tapped it lightly against the floor which looked kind of lame. Tossing the shards into the crowd started a near catfight as the camera picked up two grimacing people with an equally strong hold on a piece as security tried to separate them. Someone else in the floor held up an Ontario KISS license plate.

Then all was dark for a while and the "KISS, KISS, KISS" chant went up; it sounded like it started way over to my right. Some people were trying a "We Want KISS" chant before they came out to start the show - which one is more common?

For the first encore, Peter came out to toss out some roses and do his karaoke of "Beth"... the tape accompaniment sounded really bad, very tinny. The screen caught a Cheshire-size smile on the Catman which was great to see, though. "God Bless You", he said at the end.

Once again I don't remember exactly when this was (I wasn't taking down notes) but late in the show the four KISS members were brought to the front of the stage to recieve their gold awards for PC. The presenter said that PC was "the fastest selling KISS album in Canada in the 90s" which I didn't think was saying very much, but oh well. The awards were tall vertical boards with an inset of the actual CD at the top, the lettering on a plaque and a copy of the album cover underneath that.

Paul then had another rap about how everyone was invited to go on a trip with them, and on the KISS jet you don't need a passport, etc. Travelling to Michigan: in every state, in every country, every province, there's a core of the best fans....Toronto, meet your sisters in Detroit! After DRC, Paul had a great guitar solo with all the notes bleeding into one another...it led to the closer "Black Diamond", which was great to have Peter on vocals. A final pyrothechnical flash, and the show ended after a little over two hours.

All in all, to this casual fan KISS' reputation for legendary live shows did not disappoint. A lot of people don't like the 3-D thing, and it didn't seem to work too well for me, but the glasses make a good souvenir if nothing else (I sure couldn't afford any of the t-shirts, $38 Canadian plus tax is near extortion! The program went for $25) and I'm actually surprised no band has thought of doing it already. If anyone was topless, no shots made it to the screen (even though it's actually legal here), although one surprised-looking female did get to give Paul an invited peck when he leaned over the stage at one point late in the show. "Makin Love" and "I Was Made For Loving You" were still MIA, although I don't think anyone would really miss the second one anyway.

So I don't have a lot to compare it to, but I would say KISS really show up a lot of these jaded, cynical young guys playing nowadays. I'm not familiar enough with the material to know of any mistakes they made, but to my mind they all played great (no "for their age" qualifier necessary, though it makes Paul's ability even more amazing) even though I only liked about half the new album. I knew I would have problems with it the minute I heard the name "Bruce Fairbairn"....the live performance is still where it's at in 1998-99! I was glad to be able to see them once in my lifetime, even if the venue and seat location was suspect. If anyone is even curious but hasn't seen them before, I would certainly recommend it to them! Coming out of the show I saw a great pair, probably a mother in her twenties, hand-in-hand with a daughter who was knee-high, in very well-done matching Paul costumes that still had a carefully crafted home-made look to them. With just having fun becoming a lost art these days, I hope the little kids like that will be able to remember the night many years from now, because there will never be another band with a live show like this one!

Best Performance: Paul by a hair over Ace. Even when another member was doing his "own" song, Paul was still kicking around with a lot of energy the whole time. Strong voice as well.

Best Moments: Firehouse, Ace's solo, Love Gun, Black Diamond.

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