From: Greg Fordyce
This was my second show so far on the tour. I saw them in Reno. The main difference between here and Reno is the fact that this was outside. Reno was a cloud of cigarette smoke and made it nearly unbearable for my 10 year old son. I purchased my tickets online the day they went on sale. In fact within 1 minute and the best i could get was section 207 row nine. You know you are too far from the stage when you end up watching the monitors instead. I could have purchased row 13 tickets for less than face value on ebay but I doubt I could have sold my tickets so I passed. I think the product is getting a little watered down by the backfilling of original concert dates. Oh well. My final show will be in San Bernardino with a friend who bought 20th row on ebay so I guess if you can't beat em join em.

I headed for the new Sacramento Valley Ampitheatre which is really in Marysville about 45 miles north of Sacramento. As I drove I kept looking for the telltale signs of other concert goers on the freeways but did not see any. This place is in the middle of nowhere. Temperatures for the day were near if not over 100 degrees. Once inside there was a water fountain you could stand under and cool off although I didn't see too many people doing this. I saw a variety of shirts being worn but my favorite was the lady I noticed while standing in line for a beer and pretzel. She was wearing black grease paint in the shape of a v-neck shirt. I looked twice, maybe 3 times to make sure. I'd like to see her wash that shirt. Over all not a bad facility.

On to the show. While Ted was playing I had to go to 3 stands to finally get my "I was there" shirt. I am glad they got rid of the Alive IV front to the shirt. My son wanted a Gene shirt but they were sold out so on to our seats we went. Saw and heard Ted again. You can't argue the fact that Strangle Hold kicks ass. After Ted at about 8:40 when everyone was stocking up on refreshments we heard "Won't get fooled Again". Everyone went running to their seats. Guess what? We got fooled. They played 2 more songs after that: Montrose's Rock the nation and Bad motor Scooter. So now I think they are going to come on at 9:10pm like they usually do. Wrong. At about 8:50 the lights went out and the frenzy began. The low grumbling bass sound over the PA followed by "All right Sacramento, You wanted the best you got the best...."

Some notes about the show. When Ace shot the balloon on his side of the stage part of the lighting fixture fell to the stage as well. Either this is part of the show i hadn't seen before or if not it could be. It is a good thing he wasn't standing under it. Also Paul seems to have done his homework as he referred to us as Sacratomatoens? Local term because of all the tomatoes grown here. He also mentioned what to do if your favorite Sacratomatoe doesn't want to be eaten! I thought the set was tight up until Psycho Circus where it seemed to lose a little steam. That and Heavans on fire are just not that good live IMO. My favorite is Deuce and being a drummer you gotta love 100,000 years. Drums sounded great during Paul's Stage rhetoric. I thought with all the shows they have added they might be showing some signs of wearing out or not being as enthusiastic as when the farewell tour kicked off but i was wrong. They are now and will probably always be the hardest working band in Rock and Roll. I am sure ther are other details i didn't notice but only because i was singing and moving to every song. You tend to do that when you know all the words.

I have one more show to go and sadly that will be the end of a 25 year affair for me that started with Dressed to Kill. These guys are American Treasures. Nothing exemplifies the American spirit of Rock and Roll as KISS. They are a success story for anyone who believes in themselves and Saturday night they made us all proud to be fans. And for everyone who just doesn't get it I feel bad. If they only knew what they were missing. Unfortunately soon, even those of us who love them will be missing them too. Paul, Peter, Ace and Gene. Thanks for the memories. You are and will always be my heroes.

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