From: Ron Ivanjack
I made the 2000 mile journey from Chicago to L.A. Friday night in time to see the Union show in Anaheim. Highly recommended.

Now for the main event.

Doors opened at 6:30 and I headed for the souvenir booth. In addition to all the merchandise available on Kissonline there was a Kiss Rocks Anaheim shirt which listed the date as well as the dates of Anaheim Stadium from ‘76 and the Anaheim Convention Center from 79-nice touch.

Skid Row played a tight 30 minute set drawing material exclusively from the first two albums.

Ted Nuggent played about 50 minutes and played all the expected crowd favorites. Tommy Aldridge is a drumming god.

9:15:.the lights go out, Alright Los Angelos

There was no video opening as there was for Phoenix, the curtain dropped and Kiss made their desent from the truss. The set list as follows is close to being in the right order

Detroit Rock City
Shout It Out Loud
Deuce
I Love It Loud
Shock Me
Do You Love Me
Dr. Love
Firehouse
Heaven’s On Fire
Let Me Go Rock and Roll
Psycho Circus
2000 Man (Ace solo w/Hard Times & Parasite)
Lick It Up
God Of Thunder
Cold Gin
Love Gun
100,000 Years
Black Diamond

Encores
Beth
Rock and Roll All Nite

In general, the band was in great spirits and quite animated. Paul danced around more than what was broadcast from the Phoenix show. Ace looked and played great. He seems to have lost 10 pounds. He played the 80’s songs quite comfortably. Peter handled them, to a bare minimum.

There were some interesting technical difficulties. When Gene tried to come down during the solo of God of Thunder, he didn’t come all the way down. The crew brought out the box Gene throws his fire-breathing sword into in order to unhook him. Paul sang the last verse.

When Paul tried to fly, he got stuck about 10 rows out. The band played on and Gene starting singing. I had a clear view from my seats on the side and Paul handled himself extremely well. You could tell his arm was getting tired but he kept his face calm. The crew bolted out to the floor under him to guide him back to the stage. They stopped the song midway, Paul apologized and they started over.

Ace used a new lighted guitar for RARAN with his signature stretched across the neck. It still shot sparks during the solo.

Seems like the set was cut a little short. Paul did not sing Forever during his solo and they cut I Stole Your Love from the encore.

All in all, no complaints, it was great to see them again for the first of hopefully 6 shows this tour. I will never get used to the laid back attitude of the California crowd though.

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