From: Ric Brennan
KISS at Merriweather Post Pavilion

I drove from Gettysburg, PA down to Merriweather Post Pavilion in Columbia, MD, a 65 mile drive or so. I had called Ticketmaster from Pennsylvania to ensure tickets were still available. Both seats ($64) and lawn ($38) tickets were available. Remember there’s the BS $8 or 9. A charge by ticketmaster for like $5 plus a processing fee of like $3. When I heard both type of seats were available I though oh no, a poor showing for KISS! Anyway I got there about 630 PM. I went to the ticket booth and asked the lady if she had any decent seats left. She checked and said I have a seat I think you’ll like and smiled. I thought great. Gave her the $70 or so and was on my way. I went to find my seat and found out I was 17 rows back and nearly dead center with the stage!! With the way the Pavilion is with raised seats this would be great, there are really no bad seats there. After I found my seat I stopped to buy the cool KISS shirt with all the dates from March 11th to September 18th on it. Then I sat down at about 715 PM.

Skid Row took the stage at 727PM. They played until about 822PM. Their set consisted of material from their first 2 albums primarily. Their new singer wasn’t Sebastian Bach, but his voice was good and he did hit the higher notes fairly well. They got everyone on their feet for Youth Gone Wild (their last song). I looked around me and the 5,000 or so people with seats were throwing their fists in the air. We spend our lives on trial (fist), we walk an endless mile (fist), etc. You get the picture. I kinda wished they woulda played C’Mon and Love Me from the B-sides album. No luck. On attendance, I really didn’t see how many people were on the lawn. I never left my seat.

Right before KISS takes the stage this really familiar looking guy comes walking up the steps from the front of the stage and takes a seat 2 rows behind me. He had a backstage pass around his neck. Here it’s Pat Sajak (from Wheel of Fortune) with 3 really hot looking women!! I was a bit in awe, he doesn’t seem cool enough to like KISS. I know how most people think his show is cool, so I turned to him to see if he’d give me an autograph on the back of my KISS ticket. He was 2 rows back and 1 seat off from me. He wouldn’t give me eye contact so I left him alone.

KISS took the stage at 847PM. They opened with Detroit Rock City and a shitload of smoke. I’ve never seen anything like this. I think they purposely added extra smoke to deal with the elements of an outdoor show. It was really cool.

Musically the guys were right on the whole night. I must admit they didn’t look to be overly excited, Paul was smiling, but I looked at Ace and Peter and they moved kinda slow. Maybe it’s age catching up with them. I mean Paul and Gene don’t run around like they used to either, so it might be the age plus the length of the tour. They all looked a bit drained, or slower with the running around than they used to. Let me go on the record saying I’ll gladly accept a slower moving band that hits all the notes, fills, and lyrics if that’s what it takes to see KISS. That’s just what I got an Alive IV quality show. No missed solos, no screwed up lyrics. After previous reviews I read online I was worried. Ace didn’t kneel for Black Diamond but who knows the reason for this? They may be bickering or the aches of an older body may not agree with kneeling. Either way, it didn’t bother me. Peter also had his infamous tear drop on the right cheek. I don’t know the reason for this but it did look cool.

Paul is really thin, whatever diet he’s on should be marketed. He worked the crowd and when he flew out for Love Gun he was like 5 rows behind me. Paul was playing a cool sunburst type Washburn, it really looked cool in the light. He later used his black Washburn and the mirrored one also. Lick It Up and Heaven’s On Fire worked really well with the original guys. Paul got the crowd into it. The Do You Love Me video was great! Kinda made me sad realizing it’s ending for these guys. Even sadder that it’s ending for me, one of the KISS fans who hoped it would never end. Kinda like the Stones.

I checked out Peter’s drumming after reading that someone mentioned (in a KISS ASYLUM review) that it looked suspect. He’s not the same wild man you see in Hooligan on the Kiss My Ass video but from what I could tell he is playing. He didn’t look to hit the skins too hard. That Carpel Tunnel stuff has got to be a bitch for a drummer. His fills were awesome and he held his own on Eric Carr era songs.

Gene was Gene, hard to tell his weight under all that gear. He sang well. No screwed up lyrics which he is known to do on occasion. His bass solo was almost right over me. Maybe 5 or 6 rows in front of me. The light man worked the flying routine great. You didn’t really see the ropes. Back on October 6, 1996 when I saw them the guy was hitting the ropes with the light and it killed the illusion. For as big a guy as he can be he doesn’t have the historic double chin associated with a bigger guy like him so he must do something. I was kind of disappointed Gene didn’t used his Axe more, maybe 4 songs. It looks so cool. Then again so does his Punisher.

Now on to Ace, the one you have to worry about. I was worried about him being a big guitar fan of his. I checked him out the most. I had a pair or binoculars (10 x 25) not the best but when I used them it made it seem like I was in the 1st row. Ace’s playing was on the whole night. Solos were played just like Alive and Alive II. The solo/smoker being separate from Shock Me made the song better in my opinion. The song is good and so is the solo/smoker but it sounded just like the Love Gun version w/o the extended solo. So cool cause he usually never plays is exactly like the record. When Ace did his solo, it might have been after Cold Gin I can’t remember. Anyway it really was a smoker, just like the opening smoke for Detroit Rock City. It looked really cool, and I’m a guy who’s watched those old (VHS) KISS tapes hundreds of times. This was really neat!

During 100,000 years I turned around to see Pat Sajak, he was sitting down. How can you sit down during that song with all its cool solos and drum fills? Anyway, Pat lost cool points. When KISS came out to do their 2nd encore, the 1st being Beth, I got excited when I saw Ace’s guitar. I thought they might have thrown New York Groove in but no luck. The show ended with Rock and Roll All Nite and a lot of confetti. Although I wish they would switch the final song around, like the did in the 70’s and 80’s I felt very satisfied with the concert overall. Blown away might be more like it. At 1052 PM people started to file out after the white lights came on, accompanied by God Gave Rock n’Roll to You over the PA.

After the show I waited a few minutes. I didn’t want to leave. Some guy walked up to Pat Sajak and gave him his cell phone. I guess he called his wife and said “Honey, here’s Pat Sajak at a KISS concert.” Pat said a line or two to the person on the other end and handed it back to the guy. Pat was pissed. I felt good for the guy who did it though. I went out to my car and saw a couple who I had seen when I was parking my car. As I was getting myself organized I heard the girl saying to her boyfriend/husband “Did Peter cry when he sang Beth?” They were sitting in their car listening a Beth with the doors open. I didn’t hear the response but I did remember myself tearing up during the performance of the song. The fact that this is the end for KISS really sunk in during the sentimental song Beth. I don’t know why, maybe because that song turned out accepted by the public at large to be a great KISS song. Something that few of their songs have done for some strange reason. Maybe because their songs sound better together than just separately, having their songs mixed in with all that other Top 40 junk dilutes it’s strength if you ask me.

The song order was great. The songs played really didn’t vary a lot from what I’ve read online. I counted 20 songs. I like many others wish they woulda thrown in Christine Sixteen, I Want You, Hotter Than Hell, or Rocket Ride (for an encore). The song list was different enough from the Reunion Tour in 96/97 for me though. I didn’t see the Psycho Circus tour. But I must admit Psycho Circus really kicked ass live. Kinda made me wish they would have played Within or I Pledge Allegiance…KISS thanks for all the great songs and so much more.

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