From: Kurt Z.
First, The doors to the Arena opened at 6:20pm for a 7:00pm show. What was up with that? Don't know who's fault it was so I'll stop bitching.

SKID ROW - I thought the new singer represented himself pretty well. I thought he had a cool, relaxed stage presence. When it came time to sing "I'll remember you" though, his voice was giving out and it was clear Sebastian Bach wasn't in the house. They had "30 minutes to kick your ass" and I thought did as well as they could do, given the slot.

TED NUGENT - He, frankly, kicked major ass. Very strong set. His hatred during "Kiss my ass" seems a little too real, though...Tommy Aldridge was the best drummer in the house that night and a main reason the Nugent portion was so strong. That guy is amazing. Good choice, Ted...

KISS - The reason all of us were there. The arena, which remained partially filled for the opening bands, was packed to the rafters when KISS hit the stage. I will not bore you with the set list, it held to form as posted in other reviews. It had been 21 years since I saw them, So here are some observations I came away with...Paul Stanley is the man, the M.C., whatever you wanna call it. They could not have been the KISS we know without him. He is amazing, a true Rock n Roll star...There were moments during the show when you would catch a shot of Peter Criss smiling on the big screen, seemingly overcome with joy, that was cool to see...Why I love Ace: Between songs, Gene and Ace pass each other and they high five. Ace drops his pick. Instead of just grabbing another one of the thousand picks they have, he stops, looks for it on the dark stage, finds it, and uses it...gotta love that guy...They had a little funny bit going about the Grateful Dead. How when they first came out to the SF Bay Area, they thought nobody would like them because everybody was listening to the Dead. Then they kinda had a little back and forth about the merits of the Dead...Ace's solo seemed to drag on a bit and was ragged...Highlight of the show for me: Black Diamond - Peter sounded great on vocals...All in all, they rocked HARD!!!! Side note about the death that occurred at the show - 21 years earlier, at the same Arena complex, a man fell to his death during the Day On the Green featuring Ted Nugent. Ted was in the house last night...coincidence?? Hmmmm......

KISS ASYLUM -- KISS Museum News Archive Features Tour Dates Photos