... well maybe not the best, but 2 hours of splendid entertainment courtesy of Messrs Stanley, Simmons, Thayer and Singer yesterday night in Mannheim.
I, like my 13 year old son who was with me, had never been to a Kiss spectacle (and a spectacle it was) before, but I was expecting a barrage of dry ice, platforms to and fro the ceiling, explosions, confetti bombs, blood, firebreathing, flames erupting from myriads of speakers, people hanging in midair etc. Yet what I saw was not just a barrage, but an
avalanche of these effects. Pleasantly overwhelming.
They played their first Alive album in full - not more than half of those songs have aged anything near gracefully, some of those minimalist compositions should be committed to the eternal vaults for good. Plus Shout it out loud, Detroit Rock City, Love Gun, I was made for loving you, I love it loud and Lick it up (interpolating a little of The Who's Won't get fooled again) as encores.
Stanley's gyrations aren't as smooth as they used to be and his - still bare chested - body is well-trained, but it's the trained body of an old man which is drained of the fatty tissue in the right places that are associated with eternal youth - that goes especially for all four of his cheeks!
Vocally, his raspy screech sounds sometimes brittle these days and they should do him the favor of tuning down I was made for loving you a halfstep or two, it was painful to hear him sing it as one of the encores, maybe he can still do it earlier in the set.
People always compare Simmons' appearance unfavorably to Stanley's, but I actually found him younger looking, the leathery appearance goes well with the dragon costume and he hasn't dieted himself down to Paul's long face. His voice has also held up better. Never really a singer, he can still do his trademark bellowing and hit the notes (albeit lower ones than Paul has to screech).
Thayer and Singer are at least a decade younger and look outright cherubic underneath their makeup plus have young men's agility. While they emulate Frehley's and Criss' styles and trademarks, they are both much better players. Thayer is less angular in his playing than his role model (and carefully soloing as if Eddie van Halen had never happened) and Singer drums altogether beefier with some technical flash showing (very) occasionally what he could do if they would let him. He sings the Peter Criss songs well enough, though Peter has more warmth in his voice. The youthful energy and enthusiasm of the hired hands complements Stanley's and Simmon's road weary veterans look and attitude well.
It always brings a smile to my face how much an old-style rock'n'roll player Gene really is.
Of all the effects, I found this one the best (Kiss Army grunts have probably seen it a hundred times). During the encore, Paul starts massaging "the people back in the hall", taunting them to "call my name and I will come over and play for you". So they do and some hookstyle contraption descends fron the hall ceiling into which Paul steps with one foot/platformsole to then grab the rod of the contraption and be pulled over the audience hanging in midair onto a smaller stage at the back of the hall where he is let off and commences to play Love Gun by himself with the other guys backing him from the main stage. Cute.
The last two concerts I have recently seen were Roger Waters in The Netherlands and Bon Jovi just a week ago in Frankfurt. Both had certainly many more musical moments and/or surprises (Bon Jovi did a great motwonish version of Duffy's current "Mercy" hit), but Kiss left neither my son ("Kiss is not even a real rock band, dad!" he had moaned before, disappointed that he would not be able to see Judas Priest as he's on vacation when they play here in two weeks) nor me unentertained or dissatisfied.
Uwe
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