From: Craig
Third show I've seen this tour, and definitely the best so far.

We didn't make a big deal out of getting there early, it's festival seating and we were planning to stand on the floor. If you've ever done this, you know that your vantage point can change by the minute. When we arrived, I couldn't believe how long the line was. All things considered, the line was seven blocks long and we ended up standing in line on the corner across from the venue. We had to curve back around a few blocks to get in. Luckily, the line moved quickly.

When we got in, Skid Row had already played half of their set. We were standing at the side of the stage trying to decide where we wanted to go as the band was getting ready to start "I Remember You" and we noticed that the drummer walked right past us and into a lounge area off to the side of the venue. We stood there a while and pretty soon he came back with a beer in his hand and walked past us on his way to the backstage area. Next thing you know, he pops out on the stage and begins playing. Pretty cool. As we are standing there, we notice that we can see the stage pretty well. We're thinking this may not be a bad place to park ourselves for the show.

After Skid Row finishes their set, a lot of people start milling around and we suddenly find ourselves standing in the front row along the right hand side of the stage. How cool is this? The only downsides are that we won't be able to see all of the screen during Kiss, and we're going to have to stand in the front row for Ted if we want to keep our spots. Needless to say, we kept our spots.

Kiss takes the stage and we have front row seats. We are standing in front of the raised portion at the right hand side of the stage, so every time someone comes over to use that mic, play to the crowd, etc. they are right in front of us. My wife had never been in the front row before, and she thought this was great. As usual, the show was incredible. According to the reviews from the night before in Carbondale, the show there wasn't the best. They definitely made up for it tonight. The sound was crisp and the band was tight. All the pyros and special effects went off without a hitch. What a performance. I've seen Kiss five times in Cedar Rapids and I have never seen a bad show there. One of the other reviews referred to it as "the godawful Five Seasons Center." I don't know what's so "godawful" about it because the band always sounds great there.

The show that I saw before this was outdoors in St. Louis and in my review of that I commented that I missed a lot with it being an outdoor show. I didn't miss anything here. The confetti, the heat from the fire, the ringing in my ears; it was all there. Just as I had hoped for. I couldn't have asked for better seats and I couldn't have seen a better show.

There was a young (six or seven years old) boy standing with his mom next to us during the last part of the show. Every time a crew member walked by, they stopped and gave him a guitar pick. Several times during the show, Paul pointed at him and mouthed the word "baby." At the end of the show, the security guards came over and gave him a piece of the broken guitar body and offered to escort the him out of the arena for safety. What a night for him. Hopefully, he'll remember this for a long time.

The security guards were great at this show. I've been to shows where the security guards are jerks, but these guys were really good. It was unbelievably hot and the guards had squeeze bottles that they were filling with water and offering to the crowd to drink from. At the end of the show before RNRAN, we climbed up on the barracade to see better. A security guard came over to us and I was sure that he was going to tell us to get down. He said "don't bounce so hard, you're going to break it." He let us stand there for the rest of the show.

If this was truly my last Kiss show, I can't think of a better way for it to end. I'm thirty years old and I can't remeber a time in my life when Kiss wasn't a part of it and I'm not looking forward to a time without them. But if it has to end, this was the way to go. Thank you to Ace, Gene, Paul, & Peter. You guys ARE "The Hottest Band In The World!" And always will be.

KISS ASYLUM -- KISS Museum News Archive Features Tour Dates Photos