From: T. Holder
Friday night on my way to visit four old friends I went through some sort of time warp that transported me back twenty years, because when I made my way into SIU Arena to see Gene, Paul, Ace and Peter they looked as if they hadn't aged a bit from the first time that I saw them in 1979.

First appearing on stage was Skid Row. Musically they did a fine job. Although my wife was disappointed that Sebastian Bach is no longer the frontman, the current lead singer did a good job hitting the notes. Skid Row played for about 30 minutes then they moved out the gear for the next act.

Next up we had Ted Nugent, or Uncle Ted as he asked to be called. I have long enjoyed most of the songs that he played Friday night, being 37 years old and having grown up with his music. His guitar playing is as good as ever, and his current drummer was excellent. His instrument volume was a bit loud and overshadowed his vocals, which I would have called a bad thing until he got to one song in particular. When he got to that song they could have shut his mic off completely. Although I like the song Kiss My Ass on the cd and find it somewhat humorous, his live version went a bit too far considering the number of people that brought their children to see KISS for the final time. I will say that his bad choice of language was his only negative, because his showmanship was in good form. Ted played for about 45 minutes including him centering the back of his guitar with an arrow that he shot from his compound bow from across the stage.

Next up was the reason we all came. KISS!!! The KISS set lasted about 2 hours long and it included: Detroit Rock City- Deuce- Shout It Out Loud- I Love It Loud- Shock Me- Firehouse w/Gene spitting fire- Do You Love Me- Dr. Love- Heavens On Fire- Let Me Go Rock n Roll- 2000 Man w/Aces solo including his smoking and levitating guitar, then the shooting guitar that hit the confetti balloons- Psycho Circus- Lick It Up- then Gene spit blood, flew to the light rigging, slightly chastised a spot light tech for shining the light in his eyes and then did God Of Thunder- Cold Gin- 100,000 Years- Love Gun w/Paul flying out over the crowd to the rear of the arena- I Still Love You w/Paul solo- Black Diamond then they encored with Peter singing Beth and the finale of Rock n Roll All Night with more confetti that I have ever seen at any of the previous 9 KISS concerts that I have attended.

The stage was as large as the venue would allow with a large video screen in the middle of 2 KISS logos with 2 more smaller video screens on the outside of them. They had excellent sound quality, vocally and instrumentally. Only one flaw was Aces wireless unit cut out a couple of times during his guitar solo. No biggy. Paul did a lot of talking, always thanking the crowd for the 27 years of fun. During one of the songs the video screens showed a montage of clips from the early days to the present, including all incarnations of the group. They entered from the ceiling in a flurry of screams and exited in a storm of confetti that filled the arena.

That describes the concert, but only an individual that has seen them can truly know what the show was like. I have seen my friends 10 times now in various forms of personnel and have never been let down. It didn't matter whether I saw them in a large or small venue they have always given it all they had. I am glad to say that I did not hear one single expletive come from the mouth of a member of KISS at any time, even when Gene chastised the light tech I didn't hear any cussing over his mic. My seats were not the greatest, nearly nosebleed, but that only let me see the entire surroundings of the arena, hands in the air moving to the beat, and voices screaming in unison something that is nearing an end. KISS KISS KISS

When my heroes have retired from whatever they did best, mostly sports but in this case music, I was always at a loss for that thing. Now music to me will be missing something. I only hope that someday I will be able to find a video of the Farewell tour to show my children how the big boys did it. Many bands put on a concert, only KISS puts on a show. KISS Forever

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