From: Patrick R. Marrapese
First of all, thank God for guitar driven, kick ass, rock and roll!!!! There sure is a shortage of that these days, although Buckcherry does a pretty decent job. The first time I saw Kiss was in 1979 in Buffalo at the Aud. I was 13 y/o at the time,they had the Alive 2 stage set up, and we stood on the floor right up front. I took a beating that night. Since then I've seen them more times than I can count. This show from beginning to end is very tight and very professional. While I never was a huge Skid Row fan, I thought they were tight, had a lot of energy, and realy rocked. If you are a Skid Row fan you'll certainly be pleased. Although the new singer is no Sebastian, he did a credible job. Then Nugent came on. His drummer looks just like the old lady in something about mary, check it out, I laughed my ass off. I thought Tommy was best when he was with Ozzy, Randy, and Rudy though, that was a classic line up. Nugent was excellant. You don't see too many trios these days and not many guitar players are good enough to pull it off the way Nugent does. His show was very tight, guitar playing awesome, in all honesty, I am a huge Ace fan, but Ted was the best guitarist there that night. Some of his views are over the edge, but he made me laugh my ass off a few times, and there's nothing wrong with a little American pride, it's really refreshing actually. Now on to Kiss. I traveled from Rochester, N.Y. with my 8 y/o son. We had floor seats about half the way back. The first part of the show, up to Let Me go was perfect!!!!! This is as good as I've ever seen them!!!! Stage looks great, Paul was singing great, everything was perfect. They were having fun and playing with enthusiasm and energy, very sweet. I thought the video during Do You Love Me was very cool, excellant touch!!!! Would be nice if they did that a little more, but that's not a complaint. Now, I thought Ace butched Let Me go rock n roll. At times it seems as if he sruggles a little bit with a few of his solos, which is very disappointing considering the cost of the tickets. Seems like he has a little trouble with 100,000 Years also. His guitar solo, in all honesty, SUCKS, gimme a break. Nothing new, nothing flashy, the show definately loses momentum. The last few tours, I also was one of those who was very disappointed with Peter, but credit where it's due, he was as good as I've ever seen him that night!!!! This was a huge, and pleasant surprise. His little solo during 100,000 years was short, but far more impressive than his longer solo's on previous tours. You could see by the look on his face that he was giving it his all, and a fine job he did!!!! Major kudos to Peter!!!!! Was bummed that the crowd response to his solo wasn't better. Gene, and Paul had great nights. This is the only band I travel for, and I'm always telling people you have to see it to believe it. There's nothing even close!!!! It's like a broadway production, so much to see absolutely phenomenol!!!!! While I ragged on Ace, he wasn't all bad. Other than what I mentioned, he played just fine. His voice sounded strong as well. Too bad they couldn't pull out a couple acoustic guitars, maybe a twelve string even, for Beth. Would be sweet to see Paul and Ace out front on acoustics, while Peter sang Beth. Just a thought. Any ways, overall, one of they're best shows I've seen, it'll be a sad to see them go, and next it's on to Buffalo, and hopefuly they'll schedule a show at Madison Square. This is a show not to be missed. It'll be a long time before anyone else comes along who will come anywhere near putting on a show like this. Thanks boys, and I'll look forward to Buffalo!!!

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