From: Ryan
I just returned from the Kiss show tonight and have to say I had a great time. I'm very happy I took the opportunity to see Kiss once more. All in all it was a good show. Skid Row started things off. They were very loud but tight as a band. I thought the new singer was pretty weak though. Ted Nugent's band played all his songs well, and I was happy to hear all my favorites of his. The highlight of his set was Tommy Alldrege. He is a rock solid drummer who puts on a great show. Ted's talk wasn't as bad as I expected from what I read in other reviews, but he would be better if he just shut up and played.

Don't get me wrong on this review of Kiss. I am a big fan who saw them on the Reunion tour in 1996, the Dynasty tour in 1980, and during a non-makeup show in the '80's. Being a big fan doesn't mean that I won't be honest about what I saw. First the good. Paul Stanley was excellent. His voice hasn't sounded better. I listend to the first two Alive albums on the way to the show, and his voice sounded better tonight than it did on either of those albums. He of course is an excellent showman and did the things to work the crowd that you've read about in the other reviews. He flew into the audience without a hitch, so I think they've worked out the bugs.

Gene was also very good. His vocals sounded fine. He worked the crowd and played the demon like he always does. He flew up to the rafters like usual. He had no problem getting up there, but they turned all the lights off except for a spotlight on Ace when he came down. So, if he had a problem getting down I couldn't see it since it was pitch black. I guess he's learned from other shows that things aren't always perfect, and took this approach to save himself any embarrassment in case there was a problem. It was a good move and everything seemed fine to me. He did seem to get pissed off during Let Me Go Rock N' Roll. He started banging on the mike loudly after singing one of the last verses like he wasn't pleased about something.

The thing I was disappointed with during the show was Ace. He seemed to be out of it for the first 4 or 5 songs. His leads seemed very sloppy during those songs and Shock Me sounded terrible. He missed many of the vocals and the solo was less than impressive. I think part of the problem was that they had his guitar way up in the mix, so the mistakes were magnified. I do have to say that he redeemed himself by the time Let Me Go Rock and Roll was played. His vocals on 2000 Man and Cold Gin were also better than on Shock Me. His solo was decent, although he didn't play any of the segments of his solo songs during the solo like he has before. This seems to confirm my feeling that something was wrong with him tonight. They sang happy birthday to him, so maybe he was doing too much celebrating before the show or something.

The other thing that struck me as negative was when he called Paul Mr. Wonderful during an introduction. I guess it is something that was done at a previous show and maybe it didn't strike others this way, but I took it to be sarcastic. Paul called ACE Mr. Wonderful two times after that during intros and to me it just seemed sarcastic and negative. I could be way off here though.

I thought Peter played well. Obviously he doesn't play all the fills he used to with his age and hand problems, but he was very solid and certainly didn't take anything away from the performance. Anyone who suggests that he isn't actually playing has no idea what they're talking about. The thing that surprised me about Peter tonight was his singing. Beth sounded very good and so did Black Diamond.

I thought all the pyro and stage show was excellent tonight and noticed no glitches like I've read about at other shows. The stage was huge and colorful. They showed great videos throughout the show and I've never seen so much confetti. I know I've read about the pyro being scaled down at some previous shows, but if it was in Louisville I certainly couldn't tell.

All in all it was a good show and I'm very happy I went. I also think they are doing the right thing calling it quits after this tour. They can still put on a great show now, and I'd hate to see them get to the point where they start to take away from their legacy. I just wonder how long Ace will be able to keep it up. He didn't look into it tonight. Don't let me discourage you from going though, the show overall didn't disappoint.The only thing that would've disappointed me is if I hadn't gone.

The setlist was the standard one I've read about before, but it follows in case you're interested.

Detroit Rock City
Deuce
Shout it Out Loud
I Love it Loud
Shock Me
Firehouse
Do You Love Me?
Dr. Love
Psycho Circus
Heaven's On Fire
Let Me Go Rock And Roll
2000 Man (Ace Solo)
Lick It up
God of Thunder
Cold Gin
100,000 Years
Love Gun
I still love you/Black Diamond
Beth
Rock n' Roll All Night
(They sang Happy Birthday to Ace somewhere towards the end)

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