Kiss (live at The O2 Arena)

London
5 July 2023

YOU WANTED THE BEST (I was fifteen in 1980 and Kiss were one of the first bands I ever saw live), YOU GOT THE BEST (that show has stayed with me all these years making me a fan), THE HOTTEST BAND IN THE WORLD (here I am forty-three years later to bid a fond farewell to….) KISS!

Kiss are the band that music press in Britain pretty much dismissed as hype and by the time they hit these shores they were lumped in with the then-redundant glam rock scene. Later, Kiss stood for everything punk Britain didn’t like (or so the music press told us).

So to be a Kiss fan in ’70s Britain was to be part of a small but loyal army of fellow freaks who ignored what the NME had to say. To be fair though, Kiss haven’t always helped themselves over the years with in-fighting and original members leaving and a merchandise product endorsement whose items fill a 400-page book — and that’s just for the 1970’s.

I’ve had my ups and downs with them over the years; I lost interest on the phase when they removed the make-up, but fell back in love with them for the 1997 reunion with Ace Frehley and Peter Criss. So tonight, their alleged last ever show in London, I’m here to say goodbye to a band that’s been with me since 1979.

The End Of The Road tour has been the longest kiss goodbye ever. The tour was interrupted by Covid-19, so the band kind of started the tour all over again from afresh and will play their final show at Madison Square Garden at the end of the year.

One of the things Kiss fans love about Kiss is that their shows were always big productions, full of bombast and pure entertainment; so tonight was never going to disappoint. With the opening salvo of “Detroit Rock City”, Kiss are already using more pyrotechnics than on most bonfire nights here in the UK. Using a similar hydraulic lift originally used on the Love Gun tour, the band are set down on the stage amidst a mass of explosions and fire.

Paul Stanley starts to sing and suddenly the whole audience are on their feet. I can confirm that it was Paul singing all the vocals as there were some rumours he was using backing tapes and lip-synching. Paul is ever the showman, moving around stage with such energy that belies his seventy-one years of age (all of this in 7” heels as well).

Songs come thick and fast, with “Shout It Out Loud” getting the audience chanting. Paul’s onstage banter comes across at times like a TV evangelist, but then he is one of the prophets of rock’n’Roll. His chats with the audience keep the show on a permanent pepped-up high, not letting any of us flag for a second. When he travels a highwire from the stage to the centre of the audience to perform “Love Gun”, the place goes absolutely crazy.

Gene Simmons prowls the stage menacingly, adding a demonic allure to his songs like “Dr Love”. One of his big moments is his blood-spitting bass solo during his signature tune of “God Of Thunder”, and yes, he still breathes fire. It was good to hear him sing “Deuce” with such passion and clearly looked like he was enjoying every second of being onstage.

Eric Singer equips himself admirably throughout the two- hour set, his drum solo is entertaining and not too long, and reveals what an expert performer he is. His vocal duties on “Black Diamond” (originally a Criss vocal) is excellent and adds an intensity to the song. For me, guitarist Tommy Thayer was always going to have the hardest job to win me over as when I was younger as Ace was my absolute favourite Kiss member.

Tommy’s playing is less relaxed than Ace’s, but boy does he attack those songs with gusto. His guitar solo during the Frehley-penned “Cold Gin” is marvellous and he even manages to make the rocket firing from the end of his guitar his own. Hats off to you, Tommy — you’ve won me over with your sheer exuberance and downright heavy playing that had some fine subtleties in it as well.

The set was built mainly around the ’70s classics like “Making Love” and “100,000 Years”, but added to this is the heavy metal overdrive of The Creatures Of The Night track “I Love It Loud” and the early ’80s song “Lick It Up”. At points, the flames shooting up from the stage were so hot you could feel them from where I was sitting. Of course, no Kiss show could end without a rendition of their biggest-selling US single “Beth” and the rock’n’roll national anthem “Rock And Roll All Nite” which ends proceedings with a big bang and the most shiny confetti that I’ve ever seen used at a gig.

I later found out that Jimmy Page was sitting a couple of rows down from me and that made me feel good that Kiss had finally got an endorsement from a British rock legend, as if the UK had finally given them a big thumbs up after fifty years.On the way back home, my sense of euphoria was tinged with a little sadness; was this really the end for a band who have been with me most of my life? I was kind of hoping not and if they decided to do it all one more time, I think for many of us Kiss fans there would be a sense of comfort knowing that they were still out there. If it really is the end of the road for them, I have to say thanks for all the years you have entertained me and at least you guys went out with a big bang.

-Gary Parsons-