To check out the awesome photos from the KISS concert, click HERE!
The KISS army is wide, across all ages and genders. Having first arrived in Brisbane in 1980, KISS have returned many times since – including a misleading farewell tour.
A sea of fans stared at the stage waiting for the slightest hint of KISS arriving before them. Many of them, especially the young, had faces made up in black and white KISS masks as fans have done for decades. Up the front of the crowd, a child no older than five rested on his father’s shoulders, his baby face masked in Gene Simmons paint.
Support band Mammal were largely ignored, despite their competent approach to a System Of A Down or Rage Against The Machine brand of what the 90s would have called ‘nu metal’. A band probably more fit for supporting a group like Tool rather than classic rock, they were nevertheless impressive musicians with a bold attitude to on-stage performance. They left to an overly long interval.
KISS took the stage to a crack of fireworks, a phenomenal light array, and a hundred pillars of burning flame shooting out of seemingly-never-ending fire holes. The screams were high and deafening. “Awesome,” is the only word to describe the initial impression. There was much more of this to come!
The audience leapt off their feet in all the seated rows and screamed wildly. (Except in the small section on the edge that I was seated in, assumedly full of other media or industry people who somehow sat and seemed to be more focused on their mobile phones. These dullards, however, were still surrounded by screaming rockers).
KISS belted into Shout It Out Loud and perfectly synchronised flames shot from cannons with every beat. You could feel the heat of the flames along with the perfect sound of the wailing guitar screech. Gene Simmons thrust his tongue out with glee, stomping the stage with 12 inch heels carved into the shape of a dragon’s mouth. The band were as energetic as teenagers and showed no signs of their age at all, busting into Firehouse as sirens wailed and red lights span around the stage. Love Gun was greeted by cannons firing. The difficult high vocals for an old throat were still matched by Paul Stanley with minimal reliance on the vocal-FX so commonly used by aging bands.
In this sea of light, sound, steam and fire, waves of ecstasy cut through as Tommy Thayer (replacing Ace Frehly as the Spaceman) wailed his Gibson strings in the most sweet, resonant and downright impressive guitar solos ever to sweep the halls of the BEC. The guitar sound was perfect and the solos were masterpieces that impressed with every lick. Solos are often impressive but very rarely heavenly and these, scattered through the show, proved that KISS were more than simply excellent showmen but also inspiring musicians.
Black Diamond, Detroit Rock City, I Was Made For Loving You – KISS have a powerful back catalogue. The stage was massive and every song had its own show and own theatrical magic – from Gene Simmons flying on a wire (which for a moment malfunctioned, much to his distress!), to enormous dry ice spills, tons of confetti shot into the air, sparkling fireworks and guns shooting streams of sparks. The show had thirty-five years of dramatic creativity packed into an ultra-expensive stage extravaganza. This was even trumped once and for all during I Wanna Rock And Roll All Night. The drum kit became a giant space-ship and literally blasted into the air above the stage in a great burst of steam from eighteen jets beneath it, while Tommy Thayer and Gene Simmons were also projected into the air by springs.
Having been blown away by a show far greater than could be possibly expected, I can safely say that any rock show that is not a KISS show can only be a cheaper imitation.
Again, if you missed ‘em, the photos from the show are HERE.
