From: Joel R
First of all, a little introduction. I started listening to Kiss when I was five, my first album was "Dressed To Kill", which I bought from a friend for three bucks. I've been a fan ever since. I never got to see the original lineup until the reunion tour, but I have seen the different incarnations of KISS on tour since the 80s. So when I heard this was the last go-round for the group, I wasn't going to miss it.

The surprise of the night had to be Ted Nugent. He played his butt off and really got the Pensacola crowd going."Stranglehold", "Free For All", and "Cat Scratch Fever" all were delivered with much excitement and precision. The crowd loved it. And Nugent's between-song raps aren't as bad as some people are saying. Hell, I enjoyed it.

And then, of course, the main event. The show was no doubt one of the most exciting I've ever seen, full of surprises, great songs, and great effects. We were treated to Paul flying effortlessly over the crowd during "Love Gun", which definitely got the crowd going. Another highlight was Ace treating us to some of his best signature riffs during his solo( I made out "Parasite", "New York Groove", "Hard Times", and "Snowblind", did I miss any?). Of course, people have already mentioned "Do You Love Me", which featured big-screen footage of the gang over the last twenty-five years. This was definitely the most sentimental moment of the night.

The good points of the show were too numerous to mention. I especially liked hearing the old lineup play the "new" songs, like "Lick It Up", "I Love It Loud", and "Heaven's On Fire". Paul was in top form as usual.Gene was menacing and a bit out of tune in places (again, as usual), but we stood in awe of him anyway. Ace was Ace.

The bad points were few and far between, but they have to be mentioned. First of all, Peter Criss is not what he used to be. I felt the show suffered because of his uninspired drumming and slow beats. Alot of times the tempo dragged, and I must blame the drummer for this. I know he's no Eric Singer ( a Grade A rock drummer), I know he's not Eric Carr( a kick-ass heavy metal drummer), but I'm saying Peter didn't even play his regular fills in standard songs like "Detroit" and "100,000 Years". What's the matter, doesn't he know his own songs? He kicked more ass on "Unplugged"! Anyway, his playing looked and sounded especially boring when compared to Tommy Aldridge, who was playing for Nugent. Also( and this is a minor criticism), the set list left out such favorites as "Hard Luck Woman", "Strutter", and "Makin' Love" ( can you believe they didn't play anything off of Rock and Roll Over?). I know you can't sqeeze everything into one set, and to be honest, the songs they did play! were quite fulfilling.

So, in summation: the show was AWESOME, the theatrics were in full effect, Paul rocked the house(please do a solo tour), Ace was his usual self,and Peter needs to practice.

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