From: Tom
I go to see my last ever Kiss concert last night at the ACC in Toronto. Nice venue, much better than Skydome which is much too large and tends to make the Stage seem small, as well as having terrible acoustics.

Didn't bother to catch Skid Row or Ted Nugent, only the last song or 2 from Ted. What I saw of his performance was quite energetic.

Finally at around 9:15 the lights went down, the rumble of the bass started and the entire crowd rose to it's feet. The crowd screamed along with the announcer... YOU WANTED THE BEST, YOU GOT THE BEST, THE HOTTEST BAND IN THE WORLD...KISS! - and pandemonium reigned supreme.

The atmosphere was great, everyone having a good time, no assholes to be found in my section anyway. Everyone was busy singing along, clapping , cheering and pumping their fists in the air - it really was a party atmosphere.

The set list was the same as all the reports have indicated. The opening of Detroit Rock City was excellent with the entire band being lowered to the stage as they began the opening riff.

Some specific points about performances:

PAUL - As far as I am concerned - he stole the show. The energy was great and although his raps were typical - they seemed more genuine with the theme of the Farewell Tour behind them. When everyone booed early in the show when he said it would be the last time they would play in Toronto, he said.... " this is not a nite to be sad, this is a celebration, a testimonial to the power of Rock'n'Roll." Has to be one of the best lines I have heard - and the crowd loved it.

ACE - Ace has really slimmed down and looks great on this tour. He played well, not too many misses tonite. And get this - he actually ran at one point - Yep Ace Frehely ran across to stage left to get up on the side platform and that wasn't even to make it to a microphone for a chorus or verse. This has to be a unique moment in Kisstory. He did a great job on the 80's tunes as well and both him and Peter seemed to enjoy playing them.

PETER - Sometimes Pete is the most ignored member of the band, back there behind the drums. But, lo and behold, the first real cheer of the nite was for Pete when he put a big smile on his face for the camera during the drum segue into the harmony guitars during Detroit Rock City. I though his drumming was solid. I also noticed that he and Gene really spent a lot of time playing off each other and I noticed some new bass and drum fills linked together on Psycho Circus and 100,000 years.

GENE - Standard permformance - I felt that Gene really has slowed down - but of course that only make his efforts only slightly below Super Human, :)

Overall, the bands performance was extremely tight, the best I have heard in my limited 3 times seeing them over the years - definately far superior to the Psycho Circus Tour in everyway.

The Stage was very impressive and I have never seen such a crystal clear picture on the screen. Some nice video clips during "Do You Love Me" as well as stuff from the Psycho Circus Tour and some other animations.

There was a little less Pyro than the Psycho Circus Tour but it was still nicely done. The flames during Heavens on Fire and God of Thunder were HOT!

This was the best I have seen Kiss in concert or from the many video's I have seen. My friend Rosie, who went to the concert with me, was a fan from back in our teens (we are late 30's now) and she had a great time. As she said after, "You cannot describe a Kiss concert to someone unless you were there". It is so true - it a definetly a uniques experience. I think sometimes we lose perspective on how big this show is.

Look at tapes from the 77/78 tour - there is no comparison in terms of the show and the performance - this so much better. The only thing missing is the "vibe" of what was happening then and the mystique of not even knowing what they looked like. Now, especially with this being the Farewell tour, there is a real feeling of nostalgia.

Thanks to Ace, Paul , Gene, Peter, Bruce, Eric C, Eric S, and even Vinnie and Mark St. John - is was a great 27 years.!

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