From: Chris
KISS should have had Leon The Sphinx from the HITS Tour with them for their show in Memphis last night. It would have fit in perfectly with the show at the Pyramid! Very interesting venue.

I actually kicked off my day with a tour of Graceland. I figured I'd make it a total Rock and Roll day. This was very cool, if somewhat cheesy. Elvis is The King. What can you say? I mean, KISS selling 80 million records worldwide is very impressive, but it's a mere blip on the screen compared to Elvis' over 1 BILLION records sold! Unreal!

I have to thank KISS for having Skid Row and Ted Nugent open for them on this tour. Much more enjoyable than anyone they had on the last two tours.

Skid Row did a good job and their big hits really got a great reaction from the nearly sold-out crowd.

Ted was magnificent! Just a great set list executed to perfection. He was definitely THE great guitarist this night.

KISS was outstanding, as always, but Ace was definitely on another planet. His solo work was adequate, at best. He didn't totally screw up songs and yet he wasn't as sharp as I've seen him.

Actually, he did mess up "Shock Me" big time. After singing the first verse and chorus, he decided it was time for the solo! As he played, Paul and Gene were taken aback, but Paul quickly went to a mike and started singing the second verse while Ace continued with the solo. He stopped, looked at Paul, realized his error and then picked up the song in the right spot.

Paul was also trying to intro Ace for "2000 Man" but Ace was nowhere to be found. Now Ace has made a habit of being off stage while the rest of the band is ready to go into another song but this time, Ace was AWOL! Paul finally started an "Ace" chant, so the arena responded with a big "Ace" "Ace" "Ace" chant which finally brought him to the stage. He then proceeded to intro the song in a very strange, almost awkward manner. At one point, he said "Gene Simmons on bass". This was very weird because you just don't intro Gene as being on bass! He's the Demon, you know, not some bass player in a bar band. Very bizarre. I mean, everything in a KISS show is rehearsed to a tee. Spontaneity just doesn't happen much in their show, but this was kind of wild.

Other than that, the show went off without a hitch. Gene flies to a platform that is lower than what he used to fly up to.

One thing I saw that was cool was a guy dressed as the Phantom with the star on his eye. He was sitting up front, so I'm sure Paul saw it.

I also found Paul's hairstyle to be interesting. Lately, he's been wearing that very poofed out look. I don't know if it's a wig or not, but it may be because I know his hair was short, especially during his Phantom run. He came on stage almost with a wet look with his hair flat to his head. Just an observation.

At one point, Paul told the audience "Thanks" but then realizing he was in Memphis, he changed it to "Thank you. Thank you very much" with his best Elvis imitation! He also must have said "awesome" 20 times during the show.

Everyone's right. The video clips during "Do You Love Me" make everything really hit home. I got a bit emotional at this point, but overall, I wasn't really overcome with this being the end. I still have tickets for three shows coming up, so we'll see how I feel after then.

Great show. KISS always gives you your monies worth. Oh, one last thing. Big thumbs up to Peter! He just did a tremendous job. He was animated and hit the skins with total enthusiasm. I only wish Ace would follow his lead and show the same excitement and commitment. I feel bad for being hard on Ace, but something was out of whack last night, or is it Ace just being Ace? We'll see...

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