From: Jackie Most
I saw Kiss at least 20 times since the reunion and a few times before that. This concert was overall very good. Kissfans who look at this site know the set list. My comments below refers to the other things about kiss:

Postives:

Muscially, they all played well. Harldy a missed beat or an off-note.

They all look good. All are in shape (except for Gene, who is embarassingly fat). Ace looks much better at the weight he is at. He is skinny and looks great.

They all came in character tonight (including Gene, who NEVER comes in character).

I'll expand on this. Gene has not been the demon, the FULL demon, since I was a kid. He never does the growl like he used to ("oh yeaggghhh"). He used to do it after every other verse. For example, an "oh yeaggghhhh" I'm talking about is at the end of Calling DR. Love on Alive II ("casuse I'm the doctor... of lo-ove yeagggghhhhh". He has NEVER done it like that on ANY reniuon Psycho Circus, or Farewell concert that I am aware of. Tonight he did it a few times SORT of the way he uased to but not really. But close enough for me to love his performance tonight, since he NEVER does it anymore. This is a huge criicism of Gene from me and I can't beleive no one sending reviews in to the Asylum has never mentioned this. I have read every single concert review posted here.

More criticism of Gene. He doesn't do the demon stage moves anymore. You all know what I mean. The squat into a jump (on the Love em leave em video), the slow stalking move that goes into a weird kick(he used to do this everywhere), the robot (on the love em leave em video). Praise to Gene, he did the stalking kick a couple of times. Gene is my favorite when he is in full demon mode.

My last big criticms of Gene. He plays with the crowd too much. "Lemme see your hands!!!". Gene, please pull that phrase out of your vocubulary. Demons don't talk unless they are singing about being lord of the wastelands. Demons also don't make "come on" hand gestures to the crowd during every song while the music is playing either (they stalk the stage). Maybe a few times a show, thats it!!

Anyway, tonight he was in demon mode. All of my above criticsms are for him overall. Tonight, Gene came in character and was the demon. That is what makes a kiss concert great. Which is great!!!

PAUL: He came in character too. Gotta love that. You know, this show was the first show i have seen either Paul or Gene come in character at all, together OR separately. Good show Paul. I usualy don't watch Paul, but tonight he might have actually eclipsed Ace as the star of the show. Her'es my two cents about Paul: Paul can sometimes sound queer when he is stage rapping. I also don't like when he sing-talks. "Here's a little so-oong", etc. Tonight, while i feel there was a little too much stage rapping as usual, he sounded like a rock star, the Startchild, when he did it. He even sounded like the rock star Starchild I knew he can be when he sang EVERY song. He was the Starchild in every sense of the word tonight. I think i had written him off as a clown, but I'm back. Paul Stanley was great.!!

PETER: Slower than he used to be, can sometimes look comatose up there, but he is really cool and that negates everything else. Tonight he played well, no screw ups. He was less comatose than usual with his frequent head and shoulders grooving to the ringo style drum beat. He should do it more often. Tonight he did it a lot, and he was cool. He came in character. He usually does. He's the cool cat.

ACE: You all know about Ace, so why bother saying alot. He ALWAYS comes in character. He ALWAYS plays incredibly well. He ALWAYS is the coolest LOOKING figure I have every seen grace a stage. One good thing about Ace, which normally gets overlooked, is he has great stage moves. The 360 degree spin, the pointing towards his fret hand while it is playing the notes, the bent locked knee posing. He rocks!. Although I must give praise to the other guys, I actually looked at Paul and Gene tonight just as much as Ace.

Again, they all came in character tonight which was incredibly refreshing. They all played great. There wasn't even the bad harmony on Heaven's on Fire which was sooo embarassing on the VH1 special.

Also, finally, I can't beleive they are playing the same tired songs from 1996 they haven't stopped playing. Hasn't ANYONE from Kiss realised what fans are saying in the reviews posted on sites like this? We all want a refreshing change. And let's face it, my estimate is at least 1 in every 4 people at the concert has seen them more than once per tour. Lose "Do You love Me", and where is the acoustic beth? Wouldn't it be the absolute coolest thing anyone ever saw if they encore in full makeup with acoustices and Pete singing Beth? oh, to dream. Anyway, great show. I was impressed. Very suprised. Hardcore fans please forgive my harsh criticism, but i'm a fan too and I feel what I feel.

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