From: Chad Mitchell
Well to start off let me just say that I'm not going to sit here and nitpick and say "Oh Ace missed a note in this solo, and Paul's rythym playing was off for a quarter beat during this song". I feel that nitpicking about petty details about a live performance is really lame, if you want to hear a song played exactly the way it sounds on the album go home and listen to the album! Seeing a band live warts and all should be fun and that's what i'm going to write about. I've been looking forward to this concert since the reunion tour rolled into town about 3 years ago. Last time I sat in section 300, row 57 or some nosebleed area like that, but I was still blown out of my seat. But this concert was going to be different i scored second row centre! I was even more psyched because I was bringing my 10 year old niece and 8 year nephew to their first rock concert ever and what better way to share that experience with them than take them to see the mother of all rock concerts.

Earlier in the day we painted the kids faces, my nephew was Ace and he insisted that his fingernails be painted black like Ace's. My Niece made a great Gene, her hair was just like his. My girlfriend did such a good makeup job on the kids the kids got compliments all night.

We got to Skyreach centre about 5:30 PM to hang around outside and soak up the atmosphere. Very cool to see alot of people painted their faces as well. You could feel the anticipation in the crowd as we waited outside for the doors to open. Around 6 PM they opened the doors and we all excited filed in. My brother in Law and I took the kids right off the bat to go get souvenirs. By mere coincedence me and the kids all ended up getting the same t shirt. I was a little dissapointed to see the price of the tour books this tour. On the reunion tour I paid around $12 to get a tour book but on this tour the books were $35. I had more than enough money to buy one but I have my limits. After we hit the souvenir stands and got some snacks for the kids and a brew for myself we excitedly hurried down to get in our seats. My brother in Law were just as excited as the kids were to see our seats because like I said we were in the upper atmosphere seats at the last concert.

So we get to our seats and you can feel the energy in the crowd, you just knew it was going to be a great party! After a while Skid Row came on. Now I've read some of the other reviews online and generally have not heard good things about the Skids on this tour and I have to say I was skeptical about these Skid boys. For the short 45 minute set that these guys played, they played with the intensity of a 20 to 1 underdog taking on the heavyeight champ knowing that this is the only shot you get. They played their asses off!!!! The one Skid who impressed me the most was guitarist Scotti Hill, the guy was pure class. When Skid Row hit the stage the floor seats were still pretty empty, so my niece, nephew, brother and law, and I were the only ones really in the first 2 rows watching the band. So Scotti is playing his ass off when a couple songs into the set he notices my niece. Well after that he made faces at her, winked at her, smiled at her and pretty much whatever else he could to make he giggle and smile. This is the part that really made me respect the dude. He flicked a guitar pick right at my niece and made sure that she got it, well when he saw that my nephew was a little dissapointed he didn't get one he came back to our side of the stage and flicked one at my nephew but my nephew missed the catch and the guy behind him caught it. A minute or two later the guy who got the pick tapped me on the shoulder and asked me which of the kids didn't get a pick and he gave the pick to my nephew. Hats off to Scotti, and the guy who gave the guitar pick back to my nephew, pure class!

Ted nugent was offensive, foul mouthed, opinionated, rude and generally dwonright crude. I loved every damn minute of it!!!!! The man wails like there is no tommorow and plays his freakin ass off. His talent is genuine just by watching him play and the flaming arrow through the guitar was damn cool. On to Kiss. For me the best part of a Kiss concert is the anticipation after they lower the giant black curtain with the Kiss Logo emblazened is silver on the front and you are just waiting to hear those immortal words, "You wanted the best...." You know how the rest goes. After the curtain went down the crowd was on their feet screaming, cheering and chanting for Kiss. The crowd was pumped!!! After the the aformentioned words came over the intercom the band came out and kicked you straicht in the ass with Detrioit Rock City. The set list was pretty much the same as it was for the rest of the tour. For myself my highlights were God of Thunder, Shout it Out Loud, 2000 Man (sad to see more fans did'nt know the words to this song), and Heavens on Fire. It was cool that the people in the front row let us stand the kids on their front row seats. Funny too, to hear Paul give the moron who was shining the laser pen in his eyes shit. "Aren't you a little old to be playing with toys?" he asked sarcastically but not before he got the crowd to point out the moron and threatened to shove the pen up the guys ass.

Ace: played like he was 20 years younger he had his mojo workin' this night. I can die a happy man because I caught 4 of Aces pick.

Paul: his voice is like fine wine it just gets better with age. Paul is a totally underrated guitar player. I just hope that I have half of his energy when I get to be his age. Being four feet away from my hero and knowing he saw me was definitley one of the happiest days of my life.

Gene: Gene was very demonic this night. His blood spitting reminded me of a gargoyle throwing up. Tongue wagging, blood spitting, fire breathing, drooling, the man is the God of Thunder.

Peter: I've heard that Peter was not bashing the skins as hard as he could on this tour, but he did one hell of a job i thought. Very solid drumming this night from the cat. Beth was excellent.

All in all it was one the best nights of my life, more than worth the price of admission. One of my dreams was to be front row at a Kiss concert and last night I got to live my dream. It is sad to see them go, but I think it would be sadder to see Kiss do the things they do when they are like 65 or something. Better to go out on top and be remembered as a champion than to stay on top too long and go out like a heavywieght fighter whos legs have gone on him and he's just too damn old. I will miss the camaderie of Kiss concerts,the party atmosphere, listening to the songs the way they were meant to be heard: LIVE, feeling like a little kid waiting for Christmas and counting down the days until the concert. I am so happy that I could share this last concert with my niece and nephew. I would pay a million dollars to see the look of pure awe again on my eight year old nephews face as he stood slack jawed and speechless as he realized he was standing a mere 4 feet away from his heroes.

Thank you,Kiss

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