From: Erik Rupp
What can I say that hasn't already been said? Ok, how about, I SAW THIS SHOW FROM THE LAST ROW AND IT WAS STILL GREAT!!! I had seen the "Opening Night Live," special on VH1, so I knew about the entrance - it was nice to see them pull out the old ANIMALIZE Tour trick coming down out of the lighting rig on a descending platorm. For those of us that saw the ANIMALIZE tour it was a nice touch. The set list was well chosen. "Detroit Rock City" opened, and highlights included "100,000 Years," "Calling Dr. Love," "Heaven's On Fire," (which sounded really good, and ewnt over very well with the crowd thanks in part to some well-synched pyro), "Firehouse," (with Gene's obligatory fire-breathing, which has kind of turned into a KISS ritual/tradition), "Deuce," and, oh, hell - almost all of the songs were highlights! A rip-roaring version of "Psycho Circus" got a rousing ovation from the crowd, even if they were less than enthusiastic when Paul introduced the song. (Why is it that some of the older fans don't want to admit that some of the newer KISS material is just as good as the old stuff? That's ok, once the band was into the song, so was the crowd.) Maybe Paul should drop the intro to this one and just tear into it. The stage-set design was very familiar. A little Psycho Circus stage design here, a little Reunion tour stage design there, and a LOT of the LOVE GUN stage design. There was plenty of PYRO and FIREWORKS during the show, and it was all synched up to the accents in the music. As to the infamous TECHNICAL DIFFICULTIES - it's all been a little overblown. Yeah GENE did get stuck, but he was only 2 feet off the stage (so close, yet so far), and besides, Paul sounded great singing the last verse of "God Of Thunder." Paul's hang-up was a little more problematic. He went out on his flying rig to hit the mini stage in the middle of the crowd and...got about 3 feet from the main stage before his rig got stuck. Gene sang "Love Gun," making up half of the lyrics, (it's hilarious that after 23 years he still doesn't have those lyrics memorized). They got Paul back to the stage, and he signalled for the band to stop the song. He then apologized to the crowd, and was genuinely disappointed that he couldn't get out into the crowd. In a way, these difficulties energized the band, because Paul & Gene played much more aggressively after that point, as if to try to make up for the problems. The bottom line? The Crowd loved the show, and the technical problems just made it more memorable and fun. The San Diego show was just as good. Review on that show to follow.....

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