From: Hank
Let me start out by saying I have been a huge KISS fan since the mid 70's. This was my fourth concert. 1977 Lubbock, 1979 Lubbock, 1996 Dallas (the best by far), and 2000 Lubbock. I have all the albums and my KISS shrine in the gameroom. I will always love KISS.

Skid Row started out and were much better than I expected. Not knowing much about them or any of their songs I was pleasanltly surprised. My 18 year old son went with me and 1 of his friends and 1 of my friends who were both rookies. My son attended the 1996 concert with me. My son wore his vintage Skid Row T-shirt. We were fortunate enough to get the floor second row and even didn't have to pay extra for them. What a miracle birthday present for my 40th. One of the members of Skid Row noticed his shirt and told him he liked it and threw him a pick. Anyway they were very good and professional.

Nugent was next and he really ROCKED the house. I had seen Ted headline in the 70's but had forgotten what a showman he really is. Cat Scratch Fever was great but he was amazing on one of the best songs ever written, Stranglehold. The riffs in that song are classic and he held nothing back. Kick My Ass was by far the highlight of the whole evening. You just have to hear it to appreciate it. If more of us would stand up and let 'em know what we think maybe this world would come around. Needless to say I totally agreed with his politics as did most of the fans there.

KISS took the stage about 9:30 and it was the best intro I have ever seen them do. I loved they way they entered instead of already being on stage. It was like a dream come true to be so close to them. They proceded to go through the setlist like others have described. Gene and Paul flew with no mishaps and all the other stunts came off without a hitch. It was cool being so close and seeing how they interacted with the fans personally. The chick in front of us was giving Gene a real eyefull and we could tell she caught Gene's attention. So much so that about 30 minutes into the show a dude showed up and got her name and phone # for Gene and she happily obliged. About an hour later the dude showed up again and told her Gene wanted her to accompany them on to San Antonio. She told us she was going to do it. Right after that Gene was eyeing her from accross the stage and acting like an airplane. We all got the hint. It was really cool. We got 4 Ace picks, 3 blue and 1 white and 2 Paul white picks. Also a broken drumstick and a pick from Skid Row.

Now for the KISS review. They were solid as always but it didn't live up to standards of the others I've seen. I think more than anything the show is a little tired. The same stunts like Ace's guitar going up to the rafters, and especially Gene spitting blood and fire have grown a little stale. Gene's flying routine and Paul's new flying routine work well and are a highlight but the blood has to go. I wasn't really looking forward to the 80's songs since I'm a diehard original KISS fan but actually Lick It Up, Heaven's On Fire, and especially Love It Loud were the strongest songs all night. They really rocked. Psycho Circus was excellent as well. Maybe I'm just a little tired of the standards but KISS seems to be a little tired of them too. Peter was in excellent voice for Beth and the finale was outstanding as usual with lots of confetti and partying.

Please don't get me wrong. The show was a true KISS extravaganza and they worked hard at it and gave us what we came for and our money's worth. I would reccommend it to everyone and would jump at the chance to go again. I loved the second row but I feel you miss out on the overall effect being that close. You don't get to see the stage and show as a whole but more focused on individual members. That might have had as much to do with my review as anything. But it was cool getting to see facial expressions and the flasher girls. Another thing that is tiresome is Paul's singing intros to the songs. He always says the exact same things and the singing/talking intros get annoying. I know, I know we wanted the old KISS and we got them and that's GREAT. But some of the old routines have grown stale and need to be replaced with new more exciting things. Out with the old and in with the new.

Anyway I can't believe I'm going to say this but it's time for KISS to hang it up as a touring band after this tour. I'm afraid they're going to make the same mistakes as before and alienate their core fans with so much merchandising and so forth. I would rather remember them for what they have always been. The gretest rock band in the history of the world and one that will never be matched. I will always love them and will always keep in touch with what they are doing as all good KISS Army members shoud do. I hope they do an acoustic tour sometime like the Unplugged video. If you haven't seen it you are missing out on some of the best KISS ever. Go see the show and love it and let me know what you think and please don't hate me for being sacreligious to KISS.

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