From: Chris Stompanato
Last night, KISS played to 17,000 fans who jammed the Marcus Amphitheater, an outdoor 'shed' venue on the shores of Lake Michigan. The temperature was about 40 degrees as KISS took the stage, but this did not deter them one bit.

I arrived late and missed Skid Row, but you have to love being able to stroll up to the box office around 7pm and landing a 12th row center seat. Since this may well be the final KISS show for me, I wanted to make sure I went out with the best possible view of my heroes.

Ted Nugent added "Fred Bear" to his set list without dropping any other tunes. I'm not sure if this will be a permanent addition or if he just played it as an ode to all the fishing and hunting Wisconsinites.

All I can say is it was a real treat getting to see the boys up so close after being in the balcony of several shows on this tour. The stage actually seemed to be right on top of the front row, much closer than arenas where the floor seating is set back further.

Some glitches of note last night:

-The big screen behind Peter cut in and out during the first two songs, so it was turned off for the rest of the show. With the seat I had, I really didn't miss it, although it comes in handy for certain key spots in the show.

-Paul's flying contraption, once again, failed to work. All Paul could say as he strolled back to the stage is "I tried." If you look up in the lighting truss where Paul's flying rig is hooked up, you'll see a member of the road crew up there who works this by hand. You could see him pulling on the cable and not getting a response. I have no idea why they've been having so many problems with this lately.

-A scary moment occurred during Ace's solo. As he was winding it down to the point where he shoots the rockets at the hanging balloons, a rocket shot off into the crowd. I'm telling you, this thing barely whizzed over the heads of about the first 10 rows, and it appeared to hit someone in my row, but it happened about 25 seats over to my left, so I really couldn't tell. I hope someone didn't get hurt.

Other than that, it was a awesome show. The sound was really good. Maybe it has something to do with the venue not being an arena as most arenas have typical sound problems. The boys really were hamming it up and having a great time up there. Although I've now heard these same raps from Paul five times on this tour, they still come off as very heartfelt, genuine moments. The same when Peter thanks the crowd for all the years after "Beth."

It was great being in the middle of the confetti storm for this final show for me. I stuck around for about a 1/2 hour afterwards just soaking things in. I'll tell you, that stage crew wasted no time tearing down the stage. It was interesting to see the different components coming down.

Thanks again KISS for all the great memories and the fun times. If you guys find it in your hearts to pass through the Chicago area again, I will be there, otherwise, it's been a great ride.

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