From: TCM2764@aol.com
First let me start by saying that I consider myself a seasoned veteran of Kiss concerts. I have seen every tour, in between and including the Dynasty tour and Psycho Circus. Last night was thrilling for me for various reasons......first was the fact that my eight and six year old sons got to see the original four in all their glory. Don't let their age fool you...they are as much into Kiss ( the music as well as the spectacle) as I am. They sang along with ALL the songs and were mesmerized by the special effects. They loved the show, although all their questions pertained to the girl who was "persuaded " to expose her chest to the crowd during intermission, and then promptly escorted backstage by the roadies. Can you imagine my mumbled response to "Daddy, what is that girl gonna do backstage?"
One question b4 my review....why is there a need for an opening act? At $85 per seat I deserve a three hour set. There is certainly enough material....maybe their age and amount of energy exerted on-stage limit them to two hours but I really think that they are capable of performing for three hours.
My review is mixed. I must admit I cheated and read all the reviews before I went to the show so I knew what to expect. I knew the play list and was QUITE upset that a few songs were left out of the set. I was totally looking forward to MAKIN LOVE.......but it was not played.... neither was I WAS MADE FOR LOVING YOU ( no big deal there but I really wanted to see MAKIN LOVE). I don't believe BETH should be an encore song....it should have gone into the mix of the main set....(just an opinion). The pyros were a little bit of a letdown.....what happened to the 30 foot flames that burned your face?....and at some points not all the pyros functioned properly. I guess it is true what I read in a previous review about veterans of Kiss shows being spoiled and expecting perfection.
Please don't misinterpret this as being all a negative review because all in all , the show was absolutely awesome. For those who thought Peter was weak in the past....I thought he was right on. His playing was strong and his vocals were excellent. I made a negative remark about the placement of BETH, but the song itself sounded incredible and Peter actually seemed to be having a ball while singing it( no laser pen incident). Paul's vocals were as good as 20 years ago and his youthful antics were high energy. Gene was ...well Gene was Gene. He was demonic but you could tell he was having the time of his life. His voice was perfect but his movements have definitely been toned down. His costume was also toned down....not in appearance but in shear weight. The armor seemed to be made of lightweight plastics and the boots looked to be foam. At points I could swear that I've never heard Ace sound better, and at other moments he has never sounded worse. It is hard to explain that. He would be in the middle of one of his smokin solo's sounding awesome.....then he would screw it up and he couldn't seem to get his way out of it. He is still the best though....his worst night is ten times better than anyone else's best night. My personal opinion.....Ace might be digging up some ghosts from his past.....he seemed to be either drunk off his ass or on some kind of mind altering chemical....his speech and body language definitely was being affected by something. (If anyone else was at this show,,,please email me with your opinion on this)
To summarize, I have to agree with a previous review from a prior show......If you have seen Kiss b4 then this is just another Kiss show, but it is your first kiss concert then this was the show to end all shows. Not that this is necessarily bad. An ordinary Kiss show by far is light-years more intense and entertaining than any other show you will ever see.