OK, here it is…THE REVIEW!!!!
Met up with my mate from Newcastle who I got the ticket off seeing as I failed in my attempt!
Walked to the venue from the hotel (10mins) and met Frehley75 & another KISS forum member (Thayer08, I think?) in the queue. Had a chat then went to The Nags Head for a couple of pre-show beers. Got to 7:40 and we headed back to the venue.
My mate gave over confirmation email and credit card…ticket person looked for tickets…and couldn’t find them! She searched another 3 times, same result! She asked if it could have been booked under another name…er, no! So she re-re-re-rechecked! I am now brickin it!!!!!
Then she goes ‘Ah! David M! You didn’t type in your whole surname! It’s just down as David M!!!!!’ Prat! Tickets duly handed over…entry granted!!!!!
First disappointment. No merch. Not a single piece. At a KISS show! Oh well.
We walk in and it was about ¾’s full. Straight to bar and started looking at possible access to get down the front! Decided this was goin to piss easy if I wanted to but I wasn’t sure if I did want to! AC/DC album Back In Black was playin over the PA which was surprisingly quiet. 8:30 approached and no signs of KISS. Roadies on stage doin their thing. The venue had really filled up by now. Then Zepps Rock And Roll! This was it! Zepp always means it’s almost showtime!
Decided where I was wasn’t good enough and ended up 2 back from the barrier which was no more than 2 feet from the stage! Considering most barriers at major venues are like at the very least 6 feet from the stage this was a big result! I could not believe how close I was!!! Out came KISS and I nearly creamed my pants!!! Paul spoke to the crowd, only a matter of feet away from me!!! And then Modern Day Deliah started us off!!!!
Very surprised by the choice of 1st song but have to say it sounds better live than I expected. TT comes to the front of the stage and is literally 5 feet away, if that! The stage set is amazing considering it’s such a small venue. The KISS logo that sat below Eric’s drum riser on the US leg was above the stage and simply filled the entire of the back of the stage. There is no doubt the songs were played really well and Paul, especially seemed to be having a ball, smiling, grinning, dancing around and playin up to the girls in the audience. TT broke into a smile a few times, ES never smiles anyway! And Gene? Well Gene was Gene. He did what he always does prowled the stage, struck his demon poses and looked cool!
The set list was a little disappointing in truth. Basically a scaled down version of the last US leg of the ALIVE 35 tour. I was really hoping for something special, Take Me, Makin Love, Flaming Youth…
anything, just
something as this was, supposedly a gig for the fans. But no. Still, pretty much a minor point, but it would have been a nice treat.
Cold Gin had the crowd jumpin and rockin out like loons, Let Me Go, RnR was awesome, Say Yeah was just outstanding. Introduced as ‘It’s crowd participation time’ and hell we did! Yeah Yeah Yeah was duely shouted out!!! Got To Choose …good song but does sound dated…I Love It Loud…have to admit I’m bored of this one but it did rock and again the crowd played their part. 100,000 Years, the one song I really could have done without but at least they did the short version! Love Gun…just awesome. Paul flew out over the audience to…oh no, hang on! Black Diamond again had the crowd singin the intro and doin the ‘Ooo Ooo’ bit so well Paul didn’t even bother with the usual ‘You can do better than’ spiel…just went ‘That was so awesome we’re gonna do that again!’ RnR All Nite just the classic party song. Came back on for Detroit Rock City and that was it. Heard many a voice saying ‘No way! That can’t be it!’ and the like. But it was.
I was pretty much right in front of Paul and he simply confirmed that he is, without question, the best front man I have ever seen. His enthusiasm is contagious. And! He has lost weight! His man-boobs have shrunk and his gut ain’t like mine anymore!!!!! His voice tho is not what it was. It wasn’t bad tonight, but it certainly shows signs of strain. The volume at the gig does tend to cover up his vocal probs and a fair few notes weren’t reached but on the whole it sounded ok. I’d say about on par with how he sounded at Donnington.
No effects, but I didn’t expect any in such a small venue, but when RnR All Nite was played they did use the confetti jets! And it was unreal!!!! It was everywhere!!! There was literally 2-3 inches of the stuff on the ground! Would hate to be the cleaner!!! ha ha!!! You could hardly see the band through it all there was so much. Paul smashed the guitar and threw it onto the stage as he tends to do these days. Again, I thought he might throw it out, but no.
Met Glammy Dave who told me they had dropped 3 songs for the set. He’d seen the set list on the mixing desk. I did try to get the set list from the stage but the roadie took it away along with the lyrics to DRC which were taped in front of Pauls mike stand. Thought that weird. Why DRC? Reports since have said people heard Gene say to Paul ‘Just one. Then we’re outta here’ when they came back onstage for the encore. Can’t confirm as I didn’t hear that myself. But it would fit in with Gene’s dislike of playin small venues. Other fans I spoke to in the pub after said they thought Gene looked totally disinterested. I wouldn’t go that far, but out of all the front members he didn’t seem as into it.
All I know is I was there for what will surely be the smallest gig KISS will ever play in make-up.
Conclusion? Was it the best gig I have seen KISS play? No. But it was the 2nd best show I have seen this line-up play other than Donnington. It was incredible to be so close to my heroes in make-up. I have been closer in the non-make-up days. Front row, right up against the stage and actually having Paul Stanley’s head in my arms!!! Shouting in his ear ‘I fuckin love you! I fuckin love KISS!!!!’ Doesn’t get much closer than that !!!! As much as TT is a good guitar player I really cannot get around his Ace persona. I’ve tried, can’t do it. Sorry. Set list could have been better and it was strange that they dropped 3 songs (Lick it Up/Shout It Out Loud & Deuce) but they could have come on stage and played one song and I’d have gone home happy!!!!! They played roughly 1hr 10 and it felt like 30 mins! Always the sign of a good gig to me. Great stage set up and the songs sounded really good. The band looked awesome up close. The crowd, down the front, were really up for it…singin along, jumpin around and just havin a good time.
And I got a Paul plec!!!!!
But…the weirdest thing that happened? After getting down the front I ended up right by Baykiss ( a KISS forum memeber for those who dont know), tho he didn’t see me. At one point I had to put my arm around his shoulder as I had nowhere else to put! He didn’t seem too pleased to have this ‘arm intrusion’…so I just shouted in his ear ‘Hey Baykiss! This is fuckin amazing!’ He turns around, sees it’s me, grabs my head…
…and freakin kisses me right on me lips! Full on pucker up Mwah!!!!! Now that’s the power of KISS!!!!!!!
At least he didn’t use his tongue!!!!! LOL!!!!!
Some pics from my phone as I didnt take my camera. Not the best but it's all I've got!
It has been widely reported that the set was cut short as the CO2 canisters that fire the confetti basically took the oxygen out of the air and the band couldn't breath. I have to say I can confirm this is actually pretty true. During RnR All Nite at the start I was jumpin around like a loon then realised I was short of breath. I put it down to being an old, out of shape, old fart! Turns out I'd fallen victim to the CO2!!! Took me a while to get my breath back and I certainly didnt feel great and I didnt have to sing, perform or wear 60 lbs of body armour!!!!
Subject: KISS O2 Islington 
Wed Mar 03, 2010 5:29 pm
That was the best review I ever read. Damn nice pictures too!!!!!!!!!! THanks For sharing With Us. So cool!!!!! 
Plus you (and baykiss) majorly pissed of Ray The Tongue, which is always a good thing.
