Poniedziałek 16 Cze 2008, 16:23
Tue 3 Jun – KISS, From First to Last
That was downright embarrassing. They didn't play that well, the singer was downright horrible and nobody in the audience appeared to enjoy themselves. Well, at least From First to Last didn't play for that long. I never understood why an emo band should open for KISS? That haircut, World of Warcraft T-shirts and whining about just waiting for the future to swallow you whole - how's that connected to the idea of rocking, rolling and partying everyday? Better luck on your next guests, guys.
Just to start over, it was a wonderful, hot day, as we soon figured out after donning our warpaint. Well, you can't have it all, at least it wasn't raining and we had an enjoyable train ride looking forward to the gig. We got there, bought the token shirts to remember the night, moved up front left and waited for the show to begin with the legendary: "You wanted the best! You get the best! The hottest band in the world….KISS!
Needless to say, the show completely blew us away, quite literally, as they started out with Deuce and Strutter. A cornucopia of fireworks, show, fire, fake blood, flying around the venue and everything else. As I heard one guy say after the show: "Back home in Argentina, we don't blow off this much fireworks at New Year's Eve"!
Overall, the setlist was impressive. The first part of the show consisted of most of the tracks off Alive!, which sounded remarkably fresh despite their age, and the band was quite motivated. Obviously, parts of the audience were waiting for them to play "that song we know", but it's the same with Alice Cooper and Iron Maiden, in my experience. They got that at the encores, which consisted of various post-Alive! hits. I wouldn't have complained if they had played God of Thunder instead of I Love It Loud (especially since Gene has messed up in its lyrics ever since Alive III, at least), but we can't really complain about small changes. The choice of songs couldn't have been much better, and we got everything we came for, from Gene's spitting blood, doing a bass solo and "flying", the guitar shooting off fireworks, the levitating drum kit, Paul flying to the other end of the venue, so much confetti that we couldn't see the stage ten feet away (especially as it stuck to the makeup), flamethrowers possibly leaving me with less amounts of eyebrows and so on. Amazing to see in real life what we've only been used to watching on a TV screen.
As for the individual band members:
Paul Stanley amazes me. He may not be as active as he once was, but his voice is still great, and for a guy who has underwent hip replacement surgery, I don't understand how he can jump about like that, especially in those heels. Truly a star.
Gene Simmons certainly isn't getting any skinnier, but who cares? He's still our favourite Demon and even managed to joke around with some of the audience in front of me. He's still an underrated bass player and certainly steals the attention.
Tommy Thayer is the weaker link, if there is any. Not that there's anything wrong with his sills at lead guitar, but he's not much of a showman - a bit too predictable and controlled, like early Bruce Kulick. Apart from that, he was clearly instructed to impersonate Ace Frehley rather than just be himself. Not much else to say.
Eric Singer, Junior Pimp! Great guy, awesome drummer, good vocalist. Less impersonation than Tommy - after all, he and Peter Criss are very different drummers, but I still prefer when he's just Eric Singer rather than playing a part. Can't wait to see him with Alice again.
If I have to be critical (and I do), it must be said that this was not as much a concert as a staged play. Everything was rigid, under control and with little, if any, room for improvising. Of course, this was evened out by the pure bombast of everything and the generally stunning show, which, as stated earlier, was what we came for, and if you can't disengage your rational thinking, you've got a hell of a lot to learn about rock and roll, to quote a great man. Moreover, KISS has not yet descended to a level of being embarrassing or too old to be on the stage, and they still know how to play. Seeing them live was a dream come true for me, and none of us left Forum disappointed. The greatest gig of my life? It's certainly among the best ones I've seen alongside HammerFall and Sonata Arctica and left me with memories for life. Thanks to KISS for a fabulous party, I wouldn't mind seeing them again - but not in several years from now, their age is beginning to show. It just reminds us to rock'n'roll for as long as we can.