The Last Bass Outpost
Main Forums => The Outpost Cafe => Topic started by: uwe on June 11, 2008, 04:30:17 AM
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... 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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So what was the make up of he crowd?
Male, females, old men, kids?
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That was the exact make up! Dads with sons, comparatively many women for a hard rock concert (though I never saw as many as with Bon Jovi - I was in a minority there!), people in Kiss make up, the usual heavy metal fan suspects. All very peaceful and friendly.
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I love a KISS concert! I saw them on their first ever Chicago appearance (it was at a local high school, and no fire marshalls were present). I took my wife to a show a few years back, and she LOVED them. The crowd was exactly as you described - pretty much everything. There was even what looked to be a couple of grandparents in lawn chairs enjoying the show. There were a few scary people around, but for the most part, it was a big party. And when the rain came down, it turned into a mini Woodstock with the mud slides on the slopes of Riverbend. :mrgreen:
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My daughters first concert (she was 5 at the time) was the first round of KISS reunions (96-97) when it was the original members in full costume. She STILL talks about it at 17. That was the first time I saw them in makeup, before that I had seen Paul & Gene sans makeup and Ace & Peter on solo tours. I had seen lots of footage of them live over the years, but in person it was so much more than I had imagined. I was afraid that I had built it up to a level that no one could achieve, but they didn't let me down. I have friends that couldn't care less about them but saw them live and just really loved it.
It is getting about time to retire the whole thing IMO, but Gene wont let this thing go away gracefully (not that anything KISS has ever done has been graceful).
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Great review Uwe. I saw them on the "supposed" Farewell Tour 2000 when Ace and Peter were still in the band. Although it started out great (Ace singing 2000 Man) I found them to be tired towards the end. Maybe it helps them to have Singer and Thayer in the band now. It was my first time seeing them after being a longtime fan and to be honest I left a bit disappointed.(and early!)
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Having seen just about every incarnation of the band I have to say that Uwe's assessment of the replacements is usually what you hear. From people who never saw the original band. I know Peter can't cut it now, but nobody has ever been able to touch what he added to the band in his prime (which came and went, admittedly). In his drumming, Eric Singer has all the life of a finely tuned... drum machine. No air, no swing. Plenty of rock, absolutely no roll. The band's simple, meat and potatoes brand of rock took on a whole new dimension with a drummer that was a student and acolyte of Gene Krupa. There are some amazingly cool drum patterns in a lot of the early stuff, which neither Eric was ever able or maybe willing to reproduce. At least Eric Carr was a good rock drummer, well suited to the heavier sound that metal fans wanted in the 80's. I know Eric Singer is popular (having a regular gig with not one. but two legendary rock institutions (the other being Alice Cooper). In mine and many others' opinions, he sucks the life out of both.
Tommy (who has come up in the world since his main job was getting Gene his coffee), does a better job of copping Ace's licks, but again, his timing ruins it for anyone who actually likes Ace's playing. To those of us who do, Ace's quirky timing and phrasing are what makes his playing so cool. Take those away and all you're left with is a generic, passable guitar player.
It's obvious that the spectacle is still there, and they can still sell tickets when they don't over saturate a market, but for anyone who was a fan of the band KISS, it's kind of a sad sight.
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In his drumming, Eric Singer has all the life of a finely tuned... drum machine. No air, no swing. Plenty of rock, absolutely no roll.
Funny, Eric Singer is one of my favorite drummers. For instance his drumming on the first Badlands album is excellent. Far better, more organic AND groovier than Jeff Martin. And I really like his drumming with Black Sabbath too. Less square or stiff than Bill Ward, Cozy Powell Or Vinnie Appice.
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I must add that I did see the band on their "Lick It Up" tour here at Palmer Auditorium in '84. It was Gene and Paul with Eric Carr (an awesome drummer!) and Vinnie Vincent. I remember it being a really great rocking show with Riot and Vandenberg opening. I recall Vinnie having about 7 or 8 Jackson Randy Rhoades guitars behind him and Paul was playing a leopard spotted :gay: BC Rich Eagle while Gene was playing a single pickup Pedulla bass. Possibly the best show I saw in '84 besides Stevie Ray Vaughan at that same venue later in the year.(with Angela Strehli and Duke Jupiter opening!)
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I got to interview Duke Jupiter. Actually, I had made a shameless plug to be their bassist in a record review, and their manager called my paper on the phone. They were a really good band, but so torn up by the business that they had very little feeling left when they finally got a hit. It was the new guy, their drummer, that had any enthusiasm at all. They were pretty depressing.
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Duke Jupiter.......................... a Rochester NY band! In '76 I saw them open for Bob Segar. They were a all instramental jazz fusion band LOL later on they became the" I'll Drink To You" DJ. I saw Kiss in '75-'76-'77 and right before they took the make up off. In their prime they were one hell of a rock and roll outfit. Funny someone mentioned Gene Kruppa, my folks heard Peter's playing and right off the bat likened him to Kruppa.
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Peter worships Krupa. There's a picture in his ex-wife's book of Peter and Jerry Nolan meeting Krupa in the 60's. Peter's always maintained that as a highlight of his life. I don't know how long he actually took lessons from him, but I do know he's always listed him as a top influence.
I was a big Vinnie fan when he was in KISS. I remember standing there before the Creatures show in 1982 with my arms folded, just waiting to hate the guy who thought he could take Ace's place. It took about two songs before I'd decided he was cooler than Gene and Paul ever were. I didn't prefer him over Ace, I just thought he was great for the band at the time and a worthy replacement. Not a big fan of his post KISS work though... :mrgreen:
I like that Badlands album too (some of Jake's best work), but I just don't like metronomic drummers. I like a drummer who keeps great time, but that's not the same thing.
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Credit where credit's due: Ace Frehley's studdering, angular and sometimes even uncoordinated playing has something, agreed. And it cannot readily be copied. The one song where I really missed his spluttering notes (in places where most people would leave room) was during I was made for loving you. Thayer played something similar, but it did not put the crown on the song like Frehley's original solo did (which he btw hated because it was cut and paste and his original solo had been much longer).
I don't think Peter Criss is a bad drummer. He's simplistic, but not heavy-handed, not really a heavy metal or even hard rock drummer like, say, Cozy Powell, Tommy Aldridge or Vinnie Appice (none of whom I really like), more someone in the Ringo Starr or Bill Ward mode (both of whom I like). He does swing in a minimalist way, think of Charlie Watts. (Real swing is to me Ian Paice, who's a Buddy Rich fan.) That said, I don't find Eric Singer a dead metronome though he has a high technical command of the drums (his drumming on Revenge was great I thought).
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I always loved Ace's style, I could hear Chuck Berry and Leslie West in his licks. A underrated player imho.
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I saw them twice here in Seattle around '75 both times at The Paramount (3000 seats) Rush open for them one time! I loved them.........obviously they weren't an influence. :rolleyes:
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Mark, Rush were the openers in Chicago when I saw them on their first tour. Believe it or not, Rush was pretty bad. I'm sure the sound guy had something to do with that.
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To be fair: Kiss have a reputation of being extremely professional, courteous and gracious to their opening acts. Bands as diverse as The Scorpions, Iron Maiden, Manfred Mann's Earthband, Dr Feelgood, Slade, Judas Priest and the German Die Ärzte have testified to that. Manfred Mann recounted in an interview that the only time Kiss got nasty with an opening act (not the Earthband) on the tour he did with them around 1977/78 was when a band member of that opening act took apart his hotel room in rockstar fashion. And while this was the seventies when such things were en vogue, the Jewish middle class boys from Queens were aghast, had the opening act unceremoniously fired and apologized profusely to the hotel management (plus picked up the bill).