From: X442Driver@aol.com

About the Nassau Coliseum concert on Long Island - GREAT, but before I go into detail, I want to say something I never thought I'd say, and I might be the first to say it. I'm pretty damn positive about this - Paul does NOT play guitar for the entire concert, and instead uses an off-stage man. More on that later.

Many people couldn't get 3-D glasses at the close-to-sold-out Coliseum, but don't blame KISS. Anyone familiar with the Nassau Coliseum (and the hockey team from there The New York Islanders) knows the place does everything totally half-assed. Instead of passing out 3-D glasses where the fans can get them easy, they caused a scramble among thousands of fans trying to get glasses from a few men. They say they 'ran out' but I assure you KISS knows to bring a set of glasses for every seat. The Nassau Coliseum, for any kind of event, is a complete unprofessional joke.

I didn't watch the opening act, but between the bands the crowd was taken by a big-busted blonde who for 14,000 screaming fans, got more applause than the opening band by revealing her chest. Even the spotlight men gave her the light, but turned it off when she wasn't going to do a strip. Seeing the countless reactions of the men/boys in the crowd this girl got, no wonder so many men are p----whipped! Sorry guys :) If KISS had tits they'd be bigger than the Stones.

About the show, having seen the Madison Square Garden show four days earlier, there were two massive disappointments tonight- the exclusion of "Makin' Love" and "I Was Made For Lovin' You". These two songs rocked the Garden and the crowd loved them, certainly alot more than the very boring-live and very un- KISS-like "Within" for instance. I have no idea why KISS would take away from the fans these two excellent and proven concert-driving songs. The exclusion not only deprived the fans, but effected the pacing. BIG downer here.

But the show all in all was up to KISS par, and it was ACE'S show all the way. He was more mobile and seemed to have more fun than usual, even so much as to risk the wrath of Gene and Paul by starting to play "New York Groove" when it was time to play "Detroit Rock City" (of course Paul "playfully" warned Ace, 'don't start what you can't finish'). Peter and Gene even jumped in (Gene for appearances I'm sure) and for a second it looked like KISS would jump into the song! Ace's vocals were great on "Shock Me" and "Into The Void", and his playing, except for the very beginning, was right on the mark. Ace showed why he is so valuable to the KISS magic tonight.

The 3-D was surprisingly great, and extremely entertaining. KISS succeeds in bringing this deliciously schlocky effect back to popularity, and the first to use it in rock and roll. Everyone seemed to love it!

However, 'make-up' KISS is starting to get like 'non-make-up' KISS in the fact that they aren't using their wealth of material. Every single song (except for the 3 new ones) at this concert was played on the reunion tour here two years ago. Every single one. And the one two years ago here at least had "C'mon And Love Me", nothing like that to be found here tonight.

But the band was very tight and played better than 2 years ago, if that's any consolation. They JAMMED on stuff like "Let Me Go Rock And Roll", "Cold Gin", "Love Gun" (with Paul flying to the middle of course), and others. Gene's platform for "God Of Thunder" was better positioned than last time for the crowd, and Peter's drum kit went a bit further towards the crowd it seemed than the Garden show. Peter improved a lot from the last tour, which helped build his stamina for this tour I'm sure.

Now about Paul. I love Paul, he's been my favorite member forever. But I noticed a few things at The Garden show, and purposely looked closer at Paul during this show. I'm totally convinced Paul doesn't play guitar much during the concert.

The guitar mix deliberately had Paul much lower than past years, it was obvious. But when Paul would play a guitar part alone, his sound would rise. But when it was the whole band, for one the mix sounded EXACTLY the same when you can see Paul NOT strumming as it was when he was strumming. This was extremely evident during songs like "Love Gun" and "Duece". I feel Paul was so low in the mix so it wouldn't look so obvious he wasn't playing at certain points. Paul did more "tricks" than usual too - like playing the guitar behind his head, which he did A LOT, but it was obvious he wasn't playing.

Paul even broke a thick string for the beginning of "Black Diamond" but made no effort to change guitars until after the intro was finished, and his guitar sound was not affected at all by the missing thick string. It didn't sound like there were any strings missing at all, let alone one of the first three strings. It was the same intro to the song we've heard a million times, unaffected.

I thought I finally saw the clincher. At the end of "100,000 Years" I believe, Paul was late for a chord, but we still heard the chord! Paul seemed to realize he was late and rushed a "chord-playing motion" but when he did this, no new chord sounded. It's like he tried to cover himself up, and in doing so made it obvious he wasn't really playing. If anyone gets a hold of this show on video, take a very close look here.

Now I would like to believe Paul plays the whole concert, I LOVE Paul, and I always believed he did, but on this particular tour, the two concerts I've seen so far show what might (or might not) be Paul using off-stage guitar assistance so he can strut his stuff. I can be wrong, but it's what I thought I've been seeing.

The absence of heavy confetti took away from "Rock And Roll All Night" a bit (it POURED down at The Garden), and the absence of hydrolics definitely diminished "Black Diamond", the final encore. It seems KISS is trying to save a little money - both concerts even had less pyro than the previous tour. Word about the song-list must be getting around - I heard a number of people say they were there for the 3-D mainly, because they knew KISS played nothing new from the last tour, probably from news over the internet. KISS, especially Paul and Gene, even seemed downright annoyed at times during the show that the crowd wasn't going into total hysterics over the sight of them, rather than just applauding very loudly (and very enthusiastically).

While this show still totally destroyed every other concert out there, by KISS standards there can be improvements. If they see the crowd is getting a bit underwhelmed, maybe it's time to expand that set list a bit and throw in some shockers. Before this tour, I guessed there would be ten "must-play" classics, maybe 4 from the new album, and 4-6 totally picked out of the hat. In the recent Goldmine interview, KISS says they were working on and considering songs like "Flaming Youth", "Rocket Ride", "Love 'Em And Leave 'Em", "Larger Than Life" and more. Either they are full of baloney, or they are dead wrong thinking the fans would rather hear "Within" or any number of constantly- played songs over these. To me, there is no reason at all why we had to see the exact songs from two years ago, minus the comeback magic and with a little less spectacle. If they give the fans what they want FOR REAL, it's time to get some new blood in that setlist.

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