10.31.98
Kiss Psycho Circus concert @
Dodgers Stadium
Halloween. What a great night to see
a concert.
Any concert. Let alone, the Hottest Band In The World.
The weather was perfect for an outdoor celebration of bombastic, high
decibel
Rock n Roll. About 20 Skylites surrounded Dodger's
Stadium, summoning the
Creatures of the Night. Thousands
of fans, wearing their favorite band members'
make-up, scuttled past the 25-foot tall KISS
Inflatables and the 1999
Kiss Prowler,
to gain entrance to the stadium and find their
seats. The amplifiers start to hum...
The Four Who Are One took
to the stage at 9PM for nearly two hours of the loudest
Kiss ever. But
not just loud, loud and clear. The mix was great, with every instrument
cutting through the windless night air like a meat-axe. Excellent job from
the front-of-
house sound engineer.
Ace Frehley's guitar
solos were clear and precise, note for note. The
Spaceman orbited
the stage singing the new cut "Into The
Void" and another classic smoker, "Shock
Me".
Peter Criss pounded the skins with seductive
jungle rhythms, filling the night with
primitive, chest-thumping rage. The Catman's
raspy vocals lended a distinctive flavor
to the raucous hits "Nothin' To Lose"
and "Black Diamond" as
well as "Beth", their
best
selling single. The drum set had a levitating riser, pumping enough fog
to cover London!
Paul Stanley spent
his fair share of time in the spotlights, as well. The
Starchild
belted out the hits, "Firehouse",
"I Was Made For Lovin' You", "Psycho Circus",
and
"Detroit Rock City". At
one point in the show, the epitome of rock machismo high-wired
across the audience to a solo platform, where he fired-off rounds from
his "Love Gun".
Highlights by
Paul included "100,000
Years" and, "King
of the Nighttime World".
Ringmaster Gene
Simmons was not to be outdone. The Demon
spat fire, drooled a
maniacal bloodbath, and even flew like a winged lizard or vampire bat,
straight-up into
the lighting trusses, to perform "God
of Thunder". New cut "Within"
sounded excellent,
as well as "Cold Gin", "She"
and "Let Me Go, Rock And Roll".
Gene sang like he meant it!
It could have been better for me, personally,
if Kiss would
have featured more
new music. I mean, really, the
Kiss Army has
waited 18 years-plus for this reunion,
and all we got live were 3 new songs! Where were "You
Wanted The Best",
"We Are One" and
"I Pledge Allegiance to the State of Rock & Roll".
This was supposed
to be the Psycho
Circus Tour,
the Greatest Hits Tour was in 1997. If Kiss
would just add
another, let's say, 30 minutes to the show, you could get all the best
new stuff in, plus
1 more from Peter &
Ace.
Kiss is definitely worth the $55.00, but if
it came down to 5 more songs or Big Screen 3-D,
loose the 3-D gimmicks,
and let's "Rock And Roll All Nite"
not just 1 hour and 59 minutes.
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