From: The Guy Behind The Guy
Sometimes in life, we feel the need to be intellectually stimulated. It is during these times that we curl up on our portamantu's and crack open the latest edition of Tiger Beat magazine. Other times we feel the need to be alone, to have time to ourselves. During these times, we can find solace at Van Halen concert. But, sometimes we all just want to rock our asses off with 10,000 of our closest and dearest friends. This, my stinky friends, is when you attend what is known as a Kiss concert.

Last night was one of the greatest single experience of my short 22 years on this planet. Being the 4th time I've seen Kiss, I came in knowing what to expect, but they went above and beyond all of my expectations. It was general admission and me and my 3 buddies were about 8 people deep, less than 30 feet away from the Hottest band in the world...Let's recap, shall we?

GENERAL COMMENTS- They said on the radio it was a sell out and they were selling standing room only tickets outside. This place holds 10 to 12 thousand and there were people standing in the aisles...the place was packed! It was insanity, and the crowd was AWESOME, although, they did seem to tire 3/4 of the way thru the show, which is understandable considering it's over 4 hours long. Nuge commented we kicked Peoria's ass, though they probably say that in every city. COMMENT: Why are all the KISS T-shirts black? Not that they aren't cool, but c'mon I have enough black concert T's as it is...a red Kiss t-shirt would be sweet, or even white. Just a thought.

SKID ROW- C'mon people...what's the point without Sebastian? An utterly pointless opening act, although the crowd was suprisingly into them for some reason. New singer looks like a chubby D. Lee Roth, and while not as bad as I thought, for God's Sake, it's Skid Row! I liked them in 89', but back then I also tight rolled my jeans, said the word "radical" alot, had a stonewashed jean jacket, and loved Charles in Charge. I mean, they did have energy, but it was too 80's for me. Christ I've got better speakers in my car than they had. Youth Gone Wild was allright though. Why not let a new, fresh band like Buckcherry open up? Once, again, just my humble, (albeit always right) opinion.

TED NUGENT - What exactly is this man? Good Lord, there's white trash, and then there's Uncle Ted. Some of his song's were ok (Cat Scratch Fever, Free For All), but his comments made him seem like the most ignorant bastard in the world. C'mon Ted this is a music concert. He thinks everyone that doesn't believe what he does sucks. I got news for ya Theo. It's the year 2000, and not everybody's a gun totin, immigrant hatin' redneck like you. Just shut up and play your "American Made" guitar. If it weren't for Kiss, Teddy would be back home shootin animals, beatin' his wife and puttin out his cigarretes on his kid's arms. Good drummer though...nice afro grandpa. I think what's sadder than his statements is the fact that the crowd roared w/approval. If he'd just shut up he'd be pretty good (although his encore song sucked!)

KISS- What a show! Same setlist as previously mentioned, but all the guys looked like they were having a great time, smiling and cracking jokes, and folks, the band was on tonight.

PAUL- Paul was awesome! Vocals were great, nailing all the high notes in PSYCHO CIRCUS, I STILL LOVE YOU, and HEAVENS ON FIRE! He wasn't wearing a wig, looked to be in better shape than ever and was prancing around like a disco diva all nite! Didn't banter on as much as usual, and kept cheesy comments to a minimum. I wish the crowd would have reacted better to I STILL LOVE YOU though. No real reaction even though it was cool to insert that in there.

GENE- Gene was all smiles all night, oogling at the breasts of course, but very active as well. Lots of leg kicks and walking around. It was funny..during one song someone threw a T-shirt onstage and it landed right on his bass. He laughed and threw it back into the audience, but played with it hanging there for a while.

PETER- For the first few songs, this man was cringing with pain. He got better as the show went on though, and was in top form by the end. He is playing thru pain though, and ya gotta respect that. Only messed up once, during LET ME GO lost his place and Gene looked up at him with a raised eyebrow and Peter nodded in aknowledgement. Sounded wicked awesome on Beth and B. DIAMOND. This guy's a trooper I tell ya.

ACE- The man, the myth the legend. I could watch Ace for the whole concert. He's so fun to watch. Seemed to have a great time! During his guitar solo the smoking guitar rose up but didn't explode to which Ace commented "What the fuck happened there" And right before 2000 man Gene was just fooling around playing chords on the bass and Ace noted dryly, "That's wonderful Gene". Also during God of Thunder they started the song w/out Ace who joined the band during the first verse. What a stud. His solo rocked..20001 space Odyssey. He was pretty much flawless..he may have lost his place during LET ME GO, but you'll have that with Mr. Frehley. His vocals during 2000 Man were the creme de la creme. I'm surely not gay, but if I were this man would father my children. (PS-looks much thinner than on P. Circus tour...he must be drinking light beer now :)

HIGHLIGHTS
1. 80's songs- they sounded tight and the band seemed to like playing them, especially Lick it Up (Ace was all smiles). Better than I thought they'd be.
2. 2000 Man- I'd never heard a live version besides on Unplugged, and I thought this was one of the best songs of the night. Cool video with it too!
3. Rock and Roll All Night - The coolest ending ever. Fireworks galore, more confetti than a f'n parade and just a awesome vibe.
4. Psycho Circus- Souded way better than last tour, though crowd wasn't really into it.
5. Deuce- no explanation needed here kiddies(wildest the crowd got all night)
SONGS I WISH THEY'D PLAYED (but of course they won't so I won't bitch)
1. Strutter - is there any good reason NOT to play this song?
2. Hard Luck Woman- see previous comment
3. Domino- would have been nice to have a Revenge song on there
4. Mr. Speed - I would eat poop in order to hear this underrated gem
5. Sure Know Something- best song on UNPLUGGED; a personal fave

CONCLUSION Overall, a totally kick arse concert. By far the best live show past present or future. I've recently seen Metallica, Chili Peppers/Foo Fighter, and Motley Crue, and while all these shows are great in their own right, no band will EVER live up to the precendent that these masked muraders have set. God what a bunch of studs..now if Nugent could just somehow get in a hunting accident...

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