From: Vince Garcia
"ALL RIGHT TOKYO!!! YOU WANTED THE BEST, YOU GOT THE BEST!!! THE HOTTEST BAND IN THE WORLD.....KISS!!!!!!"

BOOM! went the lights, down went the giant KISS curtain that hid the stage, and down from the heavens came Gene, Paul and Ace to the opener "Detroit Rock City", amid the screams of thousands of loyal fans. So began KISS' one, only, and last ever date at the Tokyo Dome in Tokyo, Japan. The show got off to a powerful start, and there was no turning back after this. KISS pounded the audience with one classic tune after another; "Shock Me", "I Love It Loud", "Firehouse", and Cold Gin" just to name a few. I attended the show in Yokohama 3 days prior to this one, and the audience here blew away Yokohama's in every way, shape and form. I had said in my previous review that I expected a better turnout and better crowd, and I was 100% correct. These weren't just Japanese people here to see the final farewell of a world famous band. These were rabid fans that knew what they were doing, and how to do it. Whatever it is that's in KISS' music unleashed hidden monsters in these people, and I couldn't have asked for a better place to see KISS live on this tour. I love Tokyo, and this night was one of the reasons why.

Set list for this gig didn't change at all from the Yokohama shows:

-Detroit Rock City
-Deuce
-Shout It Out Loud
-Talk To Me
-I Love It Loud
-Firehouse
-Do You Love Me?
-Calling Dr. Love
-Heaven's On Fire
-Let Me Go, Rock n' Roll
-Shock Me
-Ace's Solo
-Psycho Circus
-Lick It Up
-Gene's Solo
-God Of Thunder
-Eric's Solo
-Cold Gin
-100,000 Years
-Love Gun
-I Still Love You (Paul's Solo)
-Black Diamond
-I Was Made For Lovin' You
-Rock And Roll All Nite

This show went off without a hitch, and as far as I could tell was trouble-free. Song highlights were "Firehouse", "Detroit Rock City", "Let Me Go...", with "Rock And Roll All Nite" being the showstopper. Eric's solo this evening was far more powerful than what he did on Saturday in Yokohama. He went for broke and kicked ass.

Paul complimented the audience with "Tokyo, you are our brothers and sisters!, and that won the crowd over. Good move, Paul. This crowd was more into the older classic than the newer material, like "Psycho Circus" and "Lick It Up". This being Tokyo, not only were there teenagers and the usual rock fan in the audience, but you had businessman in expensive suits with their briefcases right next to them shouting out every lyric, clapping their hands, and stomping their feet right along with people like me. Many of them were even in KISS facepaint! It was great! The band was on fire, and they just blew the roof off The Dome. The classic video footage was shown on the monitors during "Do You Love Me?", Paul shot free t-shirts into the audience with a t-shirt gun, Gene breathed fire and spit blood, Ace's guitar smoked and flew, and he threw out one hell of a solo. As I mentioned before, Eric's solo exploded off the stage, and Paul flew into the audience during "Love Gun" and did his Roger Daltrey impression with the microphone. The stage setup was much larger for this venue than it was for the Yokohama Arena, the difference being runways and giant blow-up KISS dolls on either side of the stage. The KISS Confetti Machine dropped what seemed like an endless supply of confetti on the audience. And, the best part of all, prior to the beginning of the show, I managed to get backstage and meet Gene Simmons. He took a picture with my son and my wife, but not with me as he was very pressed for time. He was squeezing in pictures with the lucky few like us in between conducting an interview with the Japanese press. Doc McGhee is certainly a man of his word. He said he would get us back there, and even though he could've forgotten us easily, he didn't. Thanks, Doc! You have no idea how happy you made a 7 year old little boy. But, like all good things, it has to come to an end. It's just a shame that it has to happen so soon. It seems like it was only yesterday that my brother and I were pooling our cash together to buy "Alive II" when it was released, and my dad brought home "Love Gun" as a surprise for us. Now, it's just about over. It doesn't even seem like 20+ years have passed by. Let's all hope it doesn't take that long for them to get together for a one-off show somewhere, sometime, soon.

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