KISS 9/11/10 Pine Knob

The summer outdoor concert season is rapidly coming to a close, so the lovely BLT and I decided to make KISS likely our closing show of the season. Joined by friends, Jane & Paul and Debbie & Steve, the night started with dinner and drinks in the VIP. As usual, Rebecca took great care of all of us. This lady is the real deal! Our drinks never are empty and her smiles always present, despite the weather, crowd, or problems. Rebecca, you are the BEST!

Another cloudy, wet and miserable day in Detroit, could not diminish the sold out crowds enthusiasm for KISS. As usual, there were hundreds of youngsters in full KISS make up, and the usual couple of dozen grown ups trying to relive their youth. With the members of KISS approaching retirement age, it might be hard to remember that Kiss invented most rock ‘n’ roll clichés that we all remember so well.

Boasting a larger than life stage show, and pulling out every trick in the book, KISS delivered the musical equivalent of a "the big game" on Saturday at the Knob. Yes, there were more explosions than a Fourth of July finale, there was a top-notch light show, and band members flew across the crowd. The night got off to a promising start, with a frenzied pyrotechnics display giving way to the band, in full makeup, rising on a platform from behind the stage as they played the opening riff to “Modern Day Delilah,” off their newest effort. The rock ‘n’ roll icons then worked through a solid mix of songs from their iconic back catalogue,including “Cold Gin”, “Let Me Go, Rock ‘N Roll,” “Deuce,” and “Firehouse,” which featured guitarist Paul Stanley comically putting on a toy fire helmet and prancing around the stage with it. Unfortunately, singer and rhythm guitarist Paul Stanley had a lackluster vocal performance! Most songs his voice was below sub-par. We've seen over 20 shows, and this was his worst vocal performance we've heard. He did make up for it by interacting with the crowd and appearing genuinely happy to be on stage. The band shuffled back and forth between their older material and songs from their newest, playing newer cuts such as “I’m an Animal” and “Say Yeah.” Despite some questionable choices in regards to their set list, the band still delivered a memorable stage show full of excess.

The band still manages to outperform all of rock’s younger acts on the massive stage, which featured numerous microphones and platforms that the Gene & Paul played on and from.

As he’s done thousands of times, bassist Simmons capped off his signature bass solo by spitting out blood and being hoisted to the ceiling to deliver lead vocals for “I Love It Loud”. For those of you that think KISS stands for "Knights in Satans Service", this part of the show almost gives it credence

The band ended the show with what Stanley described as “The longest encore you’ll ever hear,” poking fun at the band’s tendency to sometimes play multiple encores. If my count was correct, 5-6 songs played as encores.

Weather D-
Atmosphere A
Crowd A
Sound C+
Lighting A+
Staging/effects A
Line up C
Set list C+

Overall, I'll have to give it a C+ or B- due to Paul's bad voice. Still a fun night out and man we do not want summer to end, but oh well.