From: Andy Samford
I just got back into town from seeing KISS in Vancouver, me and a buddy flew up from Atlanta to see the show, and we had a great time! I've seen KISS play much better before, but the show was an interesting experience. It didn't seem very rehearsed which was kind of cool to see. No big introductions from Paul for any of the songs, and sometimes it seemed like he didn't exactly know what he wanted to say and would stumble a bit. The crowd seemed a bit dead at times but the place was pretty packed (I'd say about 90%).

Here's a song-by-song rundown of the interesting moments from the show (some of which I haven't seen mentioned in any other reviews).

Intro Film - very cool, almost the highlight of the show hearing songs like Let Me Know and Flaming Youth pumped through the PA.

Psycho Circus - predictable opener, I was hoping for DRC or I Stole Your Love, but this song sounded pretty good.

Shout It Out Loud - pretty standard performance, nothing special.

Deuce - Peter was messing up towards the end, Gene walked back and stood right in front of the drum set guiding him until he had to come to the front of the stage for the signature "Deuce move".

Heaven's On Fire - much better than I expected, tons of pyro which was really cool.

Shock Me - nothing to special, Gene can't seem to remember what notes he's supposed to hit on the backing vocals. When Paul turned the mic over to Ace to introduce the song, he instead just said "hit it Petey"

Firehouse - Peter went off during this song with some seriously funky cowbell during the guitar solo. During this song Gene's mic quit working, a roadie came out and tried to fix it, it still didn't work, Gene started looking a bit pissed and then knocked the mic over and walked to another one. pretty funny stuff!

Do You Love Me - pretty decent performance although Paul was overdoing it a bit during the spoken part at the end of the song. He also sang one of the verses twice (you really like rock and roll....) and seemed like he was forgetting other parts as well (letting the crowd sing).

Let Me Go Rock N Roll - I knew this would be the last song they played before midnight, and I like most everyone else spent half the time watching the big clock in the stadium. KISS seemed to be watching the clock themselves during the song, and seemed to go off a bit more during the middle solo to stretch the song out to midnight. The song finished up just past 11:59, but there was no countdown, KISS along with everybody else was staring at the big clock at the back of the stadium, Paul said something like "I'm not sure what's going to happen but the new millenium is going to ROOOCK". A big 2000 sign popped up on the screens before the clock hit 12:00 then Paul asked for a countdown and right after that the big clock hit 12:00 and everyone started cheering and a few fireworks went off.

2000 Man - I was so glad they played this song, it was definitely the highlight of the night for me. It was also probably the only song that was performed well enough to go on Alive IV undoctored. (maybe Beth and Firehouse). Ace went into his solo and was really sloppy, probably the worst solo I've heard him do, he realized this too and said "I hope I'm not putting you to sleep there. To hell with it, let's blow some stuff up." I was totally caught off guard by the 3rd rocket which Ace shot out over the crowd, very very cool.

Cold Gin - this song was pretty sloppy. Paul at this point started to play less and less guitar, just hitting chords here and there, and Ace was still battling with a serious case of sloppy guitar playing. After the song, Paul very sarcastically said "that was so musical." guess he's been hanging out on Broadway for too long.

God Of Thunder - more like God Of Blunder. Gene flew up sort of slowly and when he landed on his little stage, it started swinging back and forth. Gene was holding on for dear life to the mic stand and it looked like he was having a heart attack up there. Ace came into the solo a full beat late and never got back in time with the band. They were all just kind of playing and looking at each other like how are we going to get out of this one. Gene was so busy making sure Peter and Ace came into the last part of the song right that he forgot to sing the first line of the demonic growl part (I am the lord of the wasteland) and hurried back to the mic to finish the part. They looked very relieved at the end of the song that they made it through!

Lick It Up - Paul announced that "we're going to play a song that we've never played before, and hopefully it won't sound like we've never played it before", in obvious reference to the big God Of Thunder screw-up. Ace and Gene were cracking up on stage. They performed this song great, and Ace did a cool extended solo that will hopefully be included on Alive IV (after he does it a couple more times in the studio!!)

I Love It Loud - Paul started saying this was the last song they did in makeup, Gene actually spoke and said "what are you talking about, we're in makeup!", and then Paul started laughing at Gene, this was definitely something I had never seen at a KISS show before. This song was tight as well, it was obvious that they worked hard on rehearsing the 80's songs (but not much else.)

100,000 Years - standard peformance, I've heard them play it better, I've heard them play it worse. cool pyro, as always during this song.

Love Gun - Paul did a quick intro and was about to fly out on his harness when Gene brought to his attention that Ace wasn't on stage. Paul actually got on the mic and said "paging Mr. Frehley could you please come to the stage" Ace either danced or stumbled onto the stage depending on how you view it (I personally think he was starting his new year's eve celebration before the show was over, sip, sip). Ace got lost during the solo and pretty much made up a new one on the spot, which was cool to hear.

Black Diamond - no long guitar intro from Paul, but I guess Ace didn't know they had cut that from the show because once again he was not on stage when the song was ready to start, so Paul did the intro again. Gene kept staring offstage and Ace kinda snuck up onto one of the side stages and stayed there for awhile. Peter's vocal mic wasn't turned on until the 2nd verse, throughout the show it seemed like the crew was totally unrehearsed, which made the fact that the band didn't rehearse much even more glaring.

---encore---

the CFOX deejay brought out the guy who paid $3000 to countdown the millenium with KISS but instead he got to walk out onstage with a CFOX deejay. what a bummer!

Detroit Rock City - pretty good performance, good pyro as usual, Ace missed the count for the beginning of the song and had to jump in a little bit late.

Into The Void - at the end of DRC, Peter got up from the drums to sing Beth, but Gene ran back and told him to get behind the drums, I guess Peter forgot that they were doing Into The Void as an encore, it certainly threw me for a loop! Paul announced the song as being from Psycho Circus and said, almost sarcastically "ya'll are all into Psycho Circus aren't you?" to which the crowd gave a lukewarm response. Paul turned the mic over to Ace and he dedicated the song to the KISS Army "without you NOTHING would be going on right now" it sounded like he was going to say the "fuckin KISS army" but right as he was was about to Paul ran up to the mic as if to stop him, and Ace said "I was going to say it but I didn't." The background vocals were awful, and Gene and Paul were almost laughing about the fact that they couldn't hit the right notes. Paul finally gave up on trying to harmonize with Gene so throughout the choruses you would hear this loud off-key demon singing "INTO THE VOOIIIIID". I felt bad for Ace it almost seemed like they were tanking his song on purpose. The fact that Paul was more concerned with shaking his butt than playing guitar also was a big factor during this song. I can almost see it now: Gene - "I'm sorry Ace but Into The Void didn't turn out too good, we're going to have it to leave it off Alive IV." Ace - "we're overdubbing everything else on this album why can't we fix my song!"

Beth - Peter sang this song great, probably the best I've ever heard him sing it.

Rock & Roll All Nite - tons of confetti, finally we see some risers, and another ending to another highly entertaining, eventful KISS show.

It was extremely rough around the edges, but lots of fun, and there's nowhere else I would have wanted to spend New Year's Eve 1999.

Shout It Out Loud, Deuce, Heavens On Fire, Shock Me Firehouse, Do You Love Me, Let Me Go Rock and Roll, [The Midnight Countdown], 2000 Man, Ace's Solo, Cold Gin, Gene's Solo, God Of Thunder, Lick It Up, I Love It Loud, 100,000 Years, Love Gun, Black Diamond, Detroit Rock City, Into The Void, Beth, Rock and Roll All Nite

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