“ALLLLLLLLRIIIGHT LOOAHVILLLE…. YOOOO WANTED THE BEST, YOU GOT THE BEST…  THE HOTTEST BAND IN THE WOOOORLD….  KIIIIIIIIIIISSSS!”

And with that, we’re off!  KISS baby!  The End Of The Road tour!  Lights, explosions, pyro(TONS of pryo), blood, and lookit Gene wagging his tongue!  Check out that dancin’ and singin’ Paul!  Peter sounds great on the drums, doesn’t he?  Whaaaaat?  That’s NOT Peter?  But but but but…  it’s the Catman costume? OK but Ace sure sounds…  huh?  Not Ace either?  Just what in the world am I watching?  That IS Gene and Paul though….  right?

OK OK OK, I get it…  I’m being a big meanie and not showing any respect for “the hottest band in the world”-  I mean, it IS “supposed” to be the last tour and they are giving it their all as the clock winds down on one long and winding career full of ups (mostly ups) and some occasional missteps (The Elder, anyone?) but am I supposed to play nice here?  Haven’t we been here before with a farewell tour from the band maybe twenty years ago, with the original foursome?  Is it really KISS when you have two guys dressed up in the makeup and outfits made famous by their predecessors?  Dammit, it’s my blog and I’ll piss and moan all I want (old man shakes fist)…

ALRIGHT ALREADY!  This is a concert review, not a diatribe on what some may view as “serious no nos” from the band.  To be honest (and we’ll get this out of the way early)…  I really don’t care that the band has a couple of dudes mimicking Peter Criss’ drum attack or Ace Frehley’s tone and guitar stylings.  I mean, I kinda care because I’m a big Ace Frehley fan (his solo album IS the best of the four) and dig his guitar tone plus I also dig Peter Criss as well, but I understand and respect why Gene and Paul went that route.  Still a little iffy on the idea of KISS carrying on without Gene and Paul, but bottom line it’s pretty much the brand and the show nowadays.  And what a show they put on March 14th in Louisville, Kentucky.

As usual, my brother is one of my main concert partners (other than my son) and this evening’s tickets were a Christmas gift to me and him from my awesomely cool nephew.  The date was also a few days after my brother’s birthday, giving the night an extra special touch.  On the day of the show I headed out of work early and picked him up at his apartment, plopped a few CDs in the disc player (new Flotsam and Jetsam!), and made the two hour drive to the ‘ville.  On the drive we did the regular chit chat about our families but we also did a little bit of talk around KISS in general-  what will they open with?  How will they sound?  Those YouTube clips from the Kimmel show sounded great and Paul sounded really good!  I hope they play _______ (and so on and so forth).

So let’s cut to the chase and hop right into the show review…  how was it?  Overall, it was VERY good.  I’d seen the band a few years earlier when they toured with Def Leppard and I have to say I was disappointed.  Maybe it was the venue, maybe it was where I was seated (out in the lawn), or maybe it was the setlist?  I don’t know, but this show was MUCH MUCH better and I came away quite impressed-  the setlist was excellent, the stage show was very over the top but in a good way, the performances were very good, and each player did an outstanding job on their instrument and in the vocal department (more on that later).  As expected what appeared to be a sold out crowd was very much into it throughout the night as they roared in approval for the various stunts (Gene’s blood spitting and firebreathing and Paul’s midair ride to the back of the auditorium were big hits) and sung their hearts out with many of the classics.  And many in that crowd were indeed dressed up as their favorite Kisster, including many little Genes and little Pauls toddling along after their parents and probably wondering just what in the world they’d gotten themselves into.

Outside of the spectacle, I was pleasantly surprised by a few things…  For one, Tommy Thayer did one helluva job filling Ace’s space boots.  I’d always been a fan of his from his Black ‘n Blue days and knew he was a decent guitarist but was pretty knocked out by his performance as he more than ably covered the classic Frehley parts in songs like “Cold Gin”, “Calling Dr. Love”, and “Deuce”.  Some of the solos in those songs are pretty iconic and Thayer nailed them and had the guitar tone to boot.  Secondly, I could find little to be dissatisfied with regarding the setlist.  “Detroit Rock City” has always been my fave KISS tune so seeing that as the opener was a huge plus, but also getting “I Stole Your Love”, “Love Gun”, and “100,000 Years” was mighty fine to see as well.  And how about that other replacement player?  Yeah, Eric Singer is technically a better drummer than Peter Criss and I’ve been a fan of his since his Badlands days so I’m a bit biased and I can’t knock anything from his performance other than maybe (just maybe) his vocal not having quite the heartfelt tug as the original Catman, but that’s a very small knock.

So the last of the “pleasantly surprised” falls to Gene but mostly Paul, and Paul’s is a bit arguable.  Gene is Gene; I knew what to expect from his Demon act yet still had a lot of fun with it, especially as I watched him lunge around in his heavy costume and thigh high boots as he attempted to kick some large KISS beach balls into the crowd.  Gene has always been a fun showman and he did not disappoint.  As for Paul… yes, Paul puts on a very energetic, ass shakin’ performance as well but what really knocked me out was his…  ahem…  singing.  Paul sounded MUCH MUCH MUCH better than I’ve heard from him in YEARS- much more powerful, much stronger, and much more in control…  the only problem was that it sounded TOO good.  I think (yet can’t confirm although I’ve watched plenty of naysayers on YouTube) that he had some vocal help on some songs and may have been (egads) lip synching but I don’t think it was on everything.  I do think he started out the night totally live because you could hear some cracks and wavering in the vocal but there were definitely tunes that sounded TOO good (“Love Gun” being a prime example).  All that said, I can’t really knock the guy for it especially based on some of the vocal weakness over the years.  It is what it is.

At any rate, I give the show two enthusiastic thumbs up and my brother wholeheartedly agreed, happy that we got to see our childhood musical heroes at least one final time.  As we trickled out of the Yum Center into the cool evening air we spent a fair amount of time reminiscing about the show and talked about how KISS impacted our lives when we were wee lads.  Over the years we’d moved on to other bands and heavier music, but due to the emotional pull of the “End Of The Road” tour we had to come one final time to pay respects to one of the bands that helped kick off our love of music.  To Gene, Paul, Tommy, and Eric…  a big THANK YOU from a couple of old fans!

(all photos courtesy Scott Utterback – Louisville Courier Journal)