From: Donna
Well, this is the fourth and I guess final time that I was able to see my rock icons take the stage. The opening band was Skid Row and I got there in time to see most of their performance. It was surprisingly good. I had missed Skid Row on my prior visits to Kiss concerts and had only previously caught Ted Nugent's past performances. Skid Row was allowed to play longer this time and seemed really enthusiastic to be there. The lead singer sounded really good as they tore through a set that included "18 and Life", "Youth Gone Wild", "Quicksand Jesus", "Making a Mess", "Get the F*ck Out", "Monkey Business", etc. They seemed to play right much off of their Slave to the Grind album which was a pleasant surprise since it is my favorite album from them.

We were about on the right loge 5 rows from the pit right where we could see people go backstage, etc. I had good seat, but I have a definite Ticketmaster bitch/question. Why can't I ever get good near front row seats, etc. There is a conspiracy going on here. As you figured by now I an an avid fan and keep up to the minute accounts about where and when tickets go on sale. I ordered my ticket the minute they went on sale over the internet and was offered crummy seats up in row CC, what the hell is with that? That's best available at 10:02 a.m.? I messed around with the options and then got the loge seats we had (close, but far far right). Then, when we got to the venue, there were people all around the perimeter of the venue asking us if we wanted like 2nd row tickets. Don't tell me that Ticketmaster doesn't have something worked out with the ticket brokers. It is odd that no matter how soon after tickets go on sale, I never get a chance at these or any other good floor seat ticket. As a matter of fact, a couple of days before the concert, I went online to see what seats were still left and I could've gotten a better seat Row K, in the center stage. What is the method to this madness? Don't tell me that they don't have something cooking with these agents. Logically (which is how things are supposed to work in my world), I would think that Ticketmaster would sell the closest seats that they have available when tickets go on sale, front to back, etc. There is no way that I should get row CC (after A-Z and AA and BB, i.e., nosebleed) as best available when ordering the moment tickets go on sale, what is up with this? I think Ticketmaster should be reformed, all of my friends have had similar experiences and everyone I know hates Ticketmaster, but what are you going to do?

Off my soapbox and onto the performance.... After Skid Row stirred up the crowd up, Kiss took the stage close to nine. Of course, they lead out with "Detroit Rock City" as they were lowered down from the platform above. They tore through the ususal "Shout It Loud", "I Love It Loud", "Do You Love Me", "Deuce", "Firehouse", "Let Me Go Rock 'N Roll", "Heaven's on Fire", "God of Thunder", "Love Gun", "Black Diamond", "Beth", "Rock 'N Roll All Nite", etc. The seemed really good, everyone gave a good performance including Ace who seemed a little out of it. The crowd was really pumped up and they seemed to scream louder than all the other venues I had been to previously. When Paul asked them to make some noise to come out over the crowd for "Love Gun", they screamed amazingly loud. I was really surpised at how loud the crowd was, considering this venue is not that big, the people really delivered. Also, the security seemed pretty cool which was a welcome relief after going to some of these other places. One of the security people even suggested that I go down front to get some souvenir confetti. Some other venues like Raleigh totally disallowed this (which I think is stupid, considering I paid quite a bit of money to be there, what's the big deal about letting somebody go three rows over and get confetti off the floor, what is that hurting? I'm not jumping the stage.). So anyway, the cool attitude from security people was a welcomed relief and was much appreciated.

Anyway, as I was saying, we were on the right loge and had a pretty good view from the right. We even got to see the guys from Skid Row walk right past us during the show which was pretty cool, Jim even said that he saw a guy from of Skid Row down front signing some stuff, which was very cool of him. It was nice to see Kiss again though, I had caught them in Raleigh and Virginia Beach back to back and felt like I was watching the same show twice when I went to Virginia Beach, so it was really nice to have a couple months in between shows to get that excitement back. Again, I would've loved to have seen them mix the set list up. Mysteriously missing from the show were Ace's "2000 Man" and Peter's drum solo (show shortened because of noise ordinance maybe?) Anyway, it was a great night and even though I was majorly ill with a cold I was so glad I went and had a great time. I only wish they would've mixed the set list up a bit, I would've loved to have them do more material off the Love Gun and Rock 'N Roll Over LP's. Would've been great to have seen Pete do "Hooligan" or "Dirty Livin'", etc. Anyway, still a great show and I am so glad I got to see them again. I would love to see them put out another album. After the concert, I dragged out my Psycho Circus CD and gave it another listen and it sounded good, I'm just sorry that they say they are not going to do another one. They are cutting my addiction off cold turkey, no more touring, no more studio LP's :( Oh well, I guess I'll have to play Psycho Circus to death like I have all my other Kiss LP's.

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