From: Luis Carrillo
Review of Tucson march 12 concert at the Tucson Convention Center
I arrived at the venue about five, there was a small crowd mostly gathered around a local Radio Station tent that was transmitting live and giving away t-shirts and caps. At the tent there was a guy in a mediocre Gene Simmons outfit that bore little resemblance to any costume Gene ever wore. After picking up my ticket I hung about a bit and bought a tour program. Around six o’clock people started to get in line to get into the arena so I got in line too (the show was scheduled for 7 o’clock). Waiting in line next to me was a guy in a pretty cool Gene costume and a couple of fans took pictures with him, there were of course many fans in makeup but this guy went all out! I had a long wait as apparently there was some problem with the pyrotechnics that KISS was using and the local Fire Marshall feared that the venue would burn to the ground. As we stood in line we heard several explosion sounds which we assumed were the pyro effects being tested for approval, but after being told by someone on the loudspeaker that we would have to wait “another fifteen minutes” which turned out to be more than 45, the people were let into the arena.

After finding my seat which was a not bad seat at all in spite of being in the upper level since I was on the left side and with a pretty good view of the stage I waited for the show to begin. Skid Row was scheduled to appear but were a no-show and no explanation was given for this which kind of bummed me out since I was looking forward to seeing them. At about 8:10 Ted Nugent hit the stage and kicked major ass! In spite of the bare bones stage he was given and a backup band comprised of only bass and drums the Motor City Madman got the crowd on their feet from the get go with his totally wild guitar playing. Ted gave an excellent show and proved that he’s a long way from being put out to pasture, he ended his set with his classic shoot-the-guitar-with-an-arrow bit.

After an interlude to make the set change the lights dimmed and we saw a mini KISS history on the three large screens and then the show began as Peter, Paul, Gene and Ace descended from the ceiling on a platform and we heard the “You wanted the best.. intro. Detroit Rock City was the first song and the crowd went wild. The rest of the set list was pretty much classic KISS with a few 80’s songs thrown in as Paul explained that “Tonight, we’re gonna do stuff from the beginning, the middle, and the end. The 80’s stuff was I Love It Loud, Heaven’s On Fire and Lick It Up and Paul played a bit of Forever as the intro to Black Diamond - cool! Paul also explained that they would not be able to do all theyr pyro effects because the Fire Marshall had forbidden it. In spite of that, the show was spectacular and pure KISS and we did get to see all the rest of the stage effects such as Ace’s smoking guitar (during Shock Me), his rocket shooting guitar and fireworks guitar. Paul’s flying over the fans (during Love Gun), Gene’s fire breathing (during Firehouse) and blood spitting and flying (during God Of Thunder), and Peter’s rising drum set (during Black Diamond). There were no shortage of KISS klassics, Shout It Out Loud, Cold Gin, I Stole Your Love, Calling Dr. Love, Black Diamond, Shock Me, God Of Thunder, Firehouse, etc., from Psycho Circus there was the title track and Into the Void which Ace sang, and one song I didn’t expect to hear was Do You Love Me which sounded great live. All the band seemed in high spirits and seemed to be enjoying themselves as much as we were. There were no farewell speeches but Paul did thank the audience several times for their support as did Peter when he sung Beth during the encore, Gene and Ace didn’t speak to the audience at all. The encore itself was comprised of three songs, I Stole Your love, Beth and Rock and Roll All Nite and ending with the classic confetti finale. The concert lasted 2 hours and fifteen minutes and ended at 11:45, a great show!!

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