From: Vince Garcia
My name is Vince Garcia, and I live and work in Japan as part of the United States Navy. I've been a KISS fan since as far back as I can remember. I have just returned from the KISS gig in Yokohama. My son and I attended the second night, 10 March, of KISS's show in Yokohama due to opening night, 9 March, being sold out. This was a special show, not just because it's one show of two of the Farewell Tour that I'll be attending this week, the second being at the Tokyo Dome on 13 March, but because it was my 7 year old son Adrian's first KISS concert, and we were seated 9th on the floor. I was "passing the torch", as Gene has been quoted as saying in past interviews.

KISS performed at the Yokohama Arena to a pretty sold-out crowd. Their stage setup was enormous, considering the size of the venue they had to deal with. If anyone reading this has ever been to a concert at the San Diego Sports Arena in California, the Yokohama Arena is very close to an exact replica. There were 3 Jumbotrons; 1 left, 1 right, and 1 center stage behind Eric's drumset. KISS ARMY banners draped both the outboard left and right sides of the stage. There was no opening act, as was originally scheduled when KISS was supposed to play here back in November. Rather, they threw some great warm-up music at the audience for about an hour, consisting of classic Bon Scott-era AC/DC, The Who, and pre-Van Halen Sammy Hagar ("Bad Motor Scooter", "Rock The Nation").

After an announced showtime of 5 pm, the concert got off to a kick-ass opening with "Detroit Rock City". It was classic KISS from that point on, and no looking back after that. A very big surprise tonight was that instead of "2000 Man" or "New York Groove", Ace broke out a very little-heard tune from "Unmasked" called "Talk To Me". I rather enjoyed it, much more than if he had played "2000 Man". But he didn't disappoint later, as he did perform "Shock Me". During his solo, he told the crowd "Here's a little something from '2001: A Space Oddyssey'!", and cranked out a blistering solo, complete with great visuals on the jumbotron. Eric Singer was phenomonal! I grew up listening to the orginal line-up, and not to slight Peter, but from the reaction of the crowd, it was apparent he wasn't missed too much. Eric filled his shoes just fine, and he beat those drums as though they were someone that owed him money! Due to Peter's absence, "Beth" was omitted from the setlist and replaced with "Black Diamond". This was performed in a very cool manner. Paul came out onto the stage and proceeded to perform "I Still Love You" solo, then suddenly segued into "Black Diamond". I thought it was a great way to change over to a new song. Eric sang his ass off, and his drum solo was mind-blowing. You could see on the Jumbotron he was just about out of breath when he stopped to tip his sticks to the crowd. Kudos to you, Eric!

Paul flew out into the audience during "Love Gun", and the crowd just totally freaked out! This was something that they just really got into, and they showed it with all their screams and yelling. Gene did his blood-spitting during his short bass solo and the lift-off up to the scaffolding for "God of Thunder". All the classic KISS moves were present tonight, from Gene's tongue-flicking to Ace's smoking guitar to the 3 of them holding center-stage and struttin' their stuff. Song highlights of the evening for the audience were "Shout It Out Loud", "Rock And Roll All Nite", "Firehouse", "Detroit Rock City" and "Let Me Go, Rock n' Roll". The latter had everyone movin', it was great. Here's as much of the setlist I can remember. It's not in order, and I'm sure I'm missing a song or two:

-Detroit Rock City
-Shout It Out Loud
-Firehouse
-Lick It Up
-I Was Made For Lovin' Youv -100,000 Years
-Black Diamond
-I Still Love You
-Calling Dr. Love
-Deuce
-Heaven's On Fire
-Do You Love Me
-Psycho Circus
-God Of Thunder
-Cold Gin
-I Love It Loud
-Let Me Go, Rock n' Roll
-Talk To Me
-Shock Me
-Rock And Roll All Nite
-Love Gun

a few songs I wish they would've played were "Rock Bottom", "Ladies Room", "Nothin' To Lose", "Got To Choose", Strutter", and "I Stole Your Love". Seeing as how they were willing to pull out an rarity like "Talk To Me", I wish another rarity such as "Flaming Youth" would've been added to the set. The gig was marred by only a few glitches, nothing too bad; low-end feedback, a false start by Eric on one song (I forget which one), one of the lights that was supposed to explode after being "shot" by Ace's guitar didn't, and a few microphone's dropped out once or twice. Overall, it was an awesome concert. The energy put forth by the band was received by the audience, and returned with great enthusiasm. The Japanese were very much into the show and knew virtually all the words to the songs performed. You really haven't been to a concert until you've been to one in Japan. I couldn't have asked for a better KISS concert to take my son to or attend. I also had the pleasure of meeting!

Doc McGhee after the show. He gave my son an Ace Frehley guitar pick, and said he would do everything he could to get us backstage to meet the band on Tuesday at the Tokyo Dome show. I can't wait until Tuesday.

To say that I will miss this band would be an understatement. They have provided me with years and years of classic music and memories, of which I have now passed on to my son, and will pass on to my newly born twins as they grow older. This band has been my own personal, and my generation's, Beatles. Thank you Gene, Paul, Peter, Ace, Eric Carr (R.I.P.), Eric Singer, Vinnie, Mark St. John, and Bruce. We wanted the best, and we got the best. Forever.

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