From: Tesg
We hit town at 2pm and had lunch at Culver's Frozen Custard & ButterBurgers (highly recommended if you come across one in the upper midwest.) Made a couple stops to visit people, decided to head to the arena. We were in line at 3:30pm.

We did KISS at Five Seasons (now renamed the U.S. Cellular Center) on the "Psycho Circus" tour and it was an awful experience. They do festival seating and line people up at one entrance like cattle in a zig-zag line like they have at Taco Bell during the lunch rush, but here the zig-zag crosses the width of the northbound, southbound and one onramp lane of Interstate 380 which looms overhead. The last time we did this was a cold winter night and the nearby rendering plant was pouring out the odors.

This time around it was hot. The line was about halfway through the zig-zag (it would later go down the side of the building to the front) and people only populated the shaded areas of the line, avoiding the direct sunlight. We conversed with our fellow KISS fanatics until the gates opened at 6:10.

Things moved quickly once the doors (four doors in one space, that's it folks!) and we were inside. The crowd was all pretty tired from the upper 90's temperatures outside. We bought two bottled waters and surveyed our seating choices.

We were amazed to find that most people had headed to the risers and the floor was pretty open. The first row was "seated" (security forced them to sit on the floor). This was probably our last show (our fourth of this tour, my 12th overall) so we decided 'what the hell' and went out with a bang, settling on the floor in front of Ace's position, second row of squatters. Of course when everybody stood up, the space available immediately meant were in the front row against the rail. We were in the front row for KISS!

I do have to say this about Five Seasons...For all its flaws, their front line security is the example every arena should follow. They were very friendly and would converse with you. They were also armed with continuously replenished sport water bottles which they squirted drinks to the crowd from throughout the show. It was even COLD water! The head security guy was a very jovial fellow who looked a lot like Ron Jeremy.

We got through SR and Nugent with our front row space intact. I had my hands locked around my show companion (best friend Jennifer) who was safely set in front. I actually enjoyed Skid Row more than Nugent this time (fourth show). Must be getting a little "Nugent" jaded. He had security cracking up at "Kiss My Ass".

As the crew set up KISS, people started coming from the back and attempted to 'shove' their way into a front row spot. These little pricks are the lowest forms of life. If they wanted up there, they could have come early and gotten in line like the rest of us. We worked for our space, we would not give it up.

One of them in particular was a major league annoyance. She went as far as to try to pick my pocket to distract me. She did finally manage to squeeze partly in between me and the guy next to me. He wasn't going to let her through either. We squished her pretty good and I called security over and he went to pull her out. She jumped back and yelled "No!" and finally disappeared. Once we were rid of her, another showed up who wasn't as bad. She tried but gave up pretty quickly and was satisfied that I made room for her to see (and I let have my place for the encores because she behaved.) I also pulled a guy out who "couldn't breathe" for the security guys.

Worst distraction aside, we couldn't have asked for a more amazing experience. The most memorable was when Gene spotted Jennifer and her tremendous "assets" peaking from her top. They had an exchange of tounge wagging as he towered over us from the right side riser. This will likely be known as the coolest thing to ever happen to her. She was going to flash him but couldn't get her top up due to the guardrail.

The KISS set was pretty formula for the tour. The band seemed to be in a particularly goofy mood. Paul kept referring to the show as a "nipple fest" thanks to the many topless women around the arena, even making a comment about sampling the Iowa dairy industry after the show. When the camera focused on a girl with a nipple ring, Paul said "We could hang our keys on that until we're ready to leave!" Ace was in hysterics at one point of the show for unknown reasons, but I suspect it had to do with the kid on the right side rail just above the right riser. He was in full Gene regalia aside from his crewcut. Let's just say that, for an eight-year-old kid, that was one hell of a codpiece.

Speaking of Ace, Jen noted that she'd never look at him the same way again after the blatant close-ups we had of the outline of his penis. She didn't mean that in a positive way.

Otherwise, the pyro was tight, the band was on, the crowd (I'd say about 1,000 shy of a sellout...a big improvement over Ames) was wild. We were totally worn out at the end and would probably never repeat the front row "standing room" scenario again, but we wouldn't trade this experience for the world.

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