From: Johnny T.
I live in Vancouver, so when I found out Kiss would be playing here on New Year's, I grabbed up tickets the minute they went on sale. I figured they could be playing New York, Detroit, L.A. or Vegas, but no, it would be right here at BC Place Stadium, only 10 minutes from my place. When we arrived at the show, the usual brutal lineups were there for both Kiss merchandise and concessions. The lineups always seem worse at BC Place...it must be those union workers there. I wanted to get a New Year's 99 type Kiss shirt, they only had one that had `Hotter Than Hellinium' that wasn't that great. There was a couple of cooler shirts, one with a classic Destroyer era picture in green on black that looked great. I ended up only getting a couple `Kiss Originals' sticker sheets with the album covers on it. We went to our seats and caught `Big Wreck', who put on an OK show and their singer was pretty wasted by the time their set was over. After only a short wait, the lights dimmed and it was time. The huge Kiss Army banners hung overhead on each side of the stage and looked excellent. They started with a short documentary video of the band, year by year, on the big video screens, which was really cool. Then they hit the stage:

Psycho Circus - The band looks great, Paul looks even more fit than usual and Ace is looking lean. The stage is quite big, the flashing Kiss lights are on both sides. Tons of amps, never seen that many on stage (this is my 6th Kiss show). Paul's voice starts out slighty shaky, but by the middle of the song is fine. Middle part sounds really cool (I, I've been waiting...). Great start to the show, band seems really up and into it.

Shout It Out Loud - Kiss keeps the momentum going, crowd is going nuts. Paul's voice sounds great, Gene, too. Audience participation very high. Again, they are really into it tonight. Cool explosions.

Deuce - Gene sounds great, Ace is on, band sounds so tight.

Heaven's On Fire - Paul says `Hello Vancouver' and `We're going to play some songs we've never played before'. (Obviously, they've played them before, but not with Peter and Ace.) I never liked the song that much, but Paul sang it great and it did have a nice punch to it. It went over really well and there were heavy flames throughout. Very cool.

Shock Me - Classic Ace, really got into this one, great solo.

Firehouse - Red strobes get going, more pyro, classic version. Gene `breathes' fire at the end, I watched him closely, it's always over so quick.

Do You Love Me - Pee break (last bit sounded good!).

Let Me Go Rock & Roll - I thought this really rocked, everybody has on eye on the clock, though. It ends at 11:58 on the BC Place clock.

11:59 - We were getting ready for Paul to countdown. Paul even said `How about a countdown?'. Then, 2000 flashed on the big screens and fireworks and explosions went off. I saw Paul looked over and you could tell someone screwed up big time. It should have been like `cut' , let's do that again, but it was too late. Then he just said `welcome to the new century' I believe. A guy ran on stage and was shaking his fist ( I thought it must have been the guy who had bid and won an auction to count down with Kiss), but was quickly dragged off the stage. My girlfriend and I both thought it was a major screw up and it wasn't supposed to happen that way. I thought Gene and Paul were both looking around like `What the hell just happened here?'. Anyhow...

2000 Man - Ace gets to play another tune, I was happy they decided to go with it. It sounded pretty good, but was not a big highlight. I thought it lacked the energy of the previous tunes, the back-ups weren't great. Perhaps, they were still thinking about the countdown screw up that just happened.

Ace Solo - Cool, classic Ace, he was having a great night. He dedicated it to Stanley Kubrick and played 2001. I thought the solo was excellent, but I thought the guitar going up (created no illusion) was a bit old. He did fire out 3 `rockets' which was alright. Cold Gin - Very good version, nothing unexpected, but very solid.

Gene Solo - I thought it was one of the highlights. He was totally into the Demon role and the blood spitting was better than ever. This was as high up as I've ever seen him go, maybe part of it was being in such a big stadium. He was way the hell up there (I would have been shitting my pants) and landed on top of the lighting rig, which was different than the reunion shows I saw. He seemed to land on there uneasily at first, and the rig was swaying a bit.

God Of Thunder - Gene got into position and kicked into this classic. They seemed to screw it up a little in the middle, not the greatest job here, but with Gene way up there everyone was going nuts anyway. No drum solo for Peter, a bit disappointing there was not a drum riser to speak of.

Lick It Up - Peter started out the beat and played it a couple of times before Paul broke in to `Don't Want To Wait Till You Know Me Better...'. Sounded pretty cool and Peter and Ace played great on it. Like `Heaven's On Fire' it was very tight and well done.

I Love It Loud - Gene sang it excellent and it did go over huge. I would have loved something like `Rock and Roll Hell', but I guess you have to give the masses what they want. Judging by the way it went over, I think they probably keep playing it.

100,000 Years - More classic Kiss, sounded great. More pyro, wicked explosions. The stage show itself seems cut back, but they've upped the explosions times 5. Love Gun - This was kinda funny, Ace was gone for a minute. Paul `asked for a Mr.Frehley" and he reappeared laughing a bit. Paul then got on and went for a ride across the crowd to the mini stage. It was totally packed around it and we didn't think he'd be able to get there. By the time he did there were 3 security dudes all around it and one hammered guy tried to get on and was grabbed off. Paul looked in great shape, no ponch to speak of.

Black Diamond - Now, I'm slightly disappointed that the set is again, almost identical to the last couple of Kiss shows I saw. The mike isn't working at the beginning here for Peter, but kicks in and all is well. Solid version, but I'm thinking something like `Flaming Youth' would be cool right here. (CFOX radio brings out the guy who one the auction to countdown with Kiss, probably trying to make it up to him and save Kiss some headaches later).

Detroit Rock City - Kiss are putting on a great show, they look like they're having a good time and are sounding tight. Paul's vocals are really strong on this one, unlike some of the other times I've seen them do DRC.

Into The Void - Surprised they did this one here, atleast they were trying to mix it up maybe. Ace sounded OK, the backups weren't great though. I thought it was a weak point in the show. `New York Groove' would have been way cooler and gone over alot better. Beth - After showing part of Peter singing it in the video documentary at the beginning of the show, I thought maybe they'd do something else. Nonetheless, Peter came out and sand `Beth' and he did a superb job. Why don't they ever do `Hard Luck Woman?' Rock And Roll All Nite - Major confetti here, the most I've ever seen at any Kiss show I've been to. Kiss goes out on top, great show, more fireworks and explosions.

All in all a classic night of Kiss I'll never forget. I guess that's the way I'll remember it, as `Classic Kiss', but I would've liked it if they played a gem that we haven't heard for a while and I'm not talking about from the non-makeup years. Ace, Gene, Paul and Peter were all into it tonight and that was what made it a really great show.

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