Doors opened at around 7:00 PM for the show, and I made sure I was in line early just in case. The line was full of obvious Kiss fans, though I was surprised that I didn't see as many fans in full Kiss costume as I thought there would be. But considering how humid it was outside, I don't blame people for not clunking around in a Demon or Starman costume. Once doors were opened, the line moved a lot faster than I would have imagined! Inside, there were tons of pamphlets advertising that you could preorder last night's very concert afterwards at the SimfyLive booths. I passed because they were only offering the USB sticks at the show, and I want the 2 CD package. I'll be ordering that in the next few days, stay tuned! Two huge merchandise booths were set up on each end of the arena, offering tons of Kiss merchandise, including some autographed items, but most of it seemed overpriced to me. The nature of business, I suppose! My seat was literally on level with the left side of the stage, I was 10 feet away from it and could have walked over if it was flat ground. I wanted the floor, but this did nicely! I have to ask though, who's bright idea was it to put chairs on the floor? This was a KISS SHOW, Kiss fans don't wanna sit politely! They wanna rock n' roll all night and.... you get the drift!
Rock 101 DJ Scott Cook was on hand to introduce us to our first band, the winners of December's Kiss Battle of the Bands, Garden of Bedlam! The house wasn't packed yet, but this was still easily the biggest crowd they'd ever played to, and they were awesome, as usual! Garden of Bedlam busted out five songs on their forthcoming new album, those being "Against The Grain", "Three Days", "New Rain", "Everything Will Die", and "Around The Bend", and they all sounded awesome! It was kinda surreal to see a local band on a stage this big, now they must know how Clownsack felt opening for Kiss in Sault Michigan in 2007! Buzz was hitting a few rough patches vocally, but nothing major, he was singing like his life depended on it! I did find that parts of a couple songs seemed slowed down compared to earlier live performances, but no worries! Josh Belleau was great on guitar as usual, his solos were awesome, Derek Turner really was like Animal from The Muppet Show on drums, and Evan Belleau kept the lines going nicely with his bass work! Hopefully this is the start of even greater things to come for Garden of Bedlam, who thankfully got a warm reception from their hometown fans! I thought they were awesome myself, I can't wait for more!
Toronto pop rock band The Envy were next, and I can tell from some people's reactions around me that they didn't know there'd be another opening band. I'd only just heard about them opening on Monday, so I can see why people were uninformed. Frontman Shaun Frank addressed that on stage, saying that they weren't originally scheduled for the Sault Ste. Marie show, but Gene Simmons asked if they wanted to play some extra dates, so there they were! Now, with all due respect to The Envy and to fans who enjoyed their set last night, I have to say, they didn't fit with this kind of concert. They'd be a good fit on the Hedley show next month, but not with Kiss. They played sort of a synth/pop/punk style, which gave them lots of energy and vibrance, but it didn't really "rock". Shaun vocally resembled Adam Gontier from Three Days Grace at points, but the rest of the band didn't really have that edge. I feared that the crowd wouldn't approve of The Envy, but they gave them a nice reception and took part in crossing their fingers for the song "Fingers Crossed", which was nice of them! They're not my thing at all, but they delivered an energetic, well performed set, and seemed very gracious and happy to be there!
Afterwards, we waited for Kiss, as the final empty seats left filled up. When a giant Kiss banner came down over the stage, the crows went nuts, and when it came down to show the stage, it was even louder! The giant video wall showed Google Maps zooming in from a shot of Earth to The Essar Center, followed by 50 foot tall members of Kiss rampaging through a city, before footage aired of them backstage making their way to the stage! The concert kicked off in a huge way as Gene Simmons, Paul Stanley, and Tommy Thayer were brought to the stage on a giant platform rotating over Eric Singer's drumkit, as they played the opening strains of "Modern Day Delilah", while what seemed like 1,000 smoke machines billowed smoke all over the stage! Their stage setup is the most elaborate I'd seen ever locally, with tons of video "boxes", a giant video wall, two smaller screens on the sides, high risers for members to climb on, and a giant lit up Kiss logo which Eric Singer drummed on top of! And that's not even describing the special effects and stunts they did! First impressions on seeing Kiss live? Wow. What else can you say, it's KISS!
Before we get into the music quality and songs, I have to talk about all the special tricks, stunts, and effects they did during their two hour set! Firstly, they love explosions, as a few dozen giant BOOMS came down at the show, and considering how close I was to the stage, I have to say, those hurt my ears! I don't generally wear earplugs at concerts, but I wish I had them last night! Often, such explosions came with giant fire blasts or pyro, and you can absolutely feel the heat of every burst of flame! Of course, the typical stuff you expect from Kiss was present, they were decked out in their full costumes, and Gene Simmons did breathe fire and spew blood during his bass solo section, but we got much, much more! Gene was lifted up into the rafters for their performance of "I Love It Loud", Tommy Thayer sent his guitar up to the rafters during his guitar solo so he could get a fireworks shooting guitar, Eric Singer took out a section of lights with his bazooka, the whole drumming set rose into the sky, and so forth! I could go on all night just describing the stage show without touching on the music! But I have to say, it's one thing to talk about their set, it's another thing to see it. It was also really cool seeing Paul Stanley go out and "meet his fans" by sliding out to the other side of the arena on a zipline so he could play "I Was Made For Loving You" on a rotating platform! That was awesome!
Musically, Kiss generally stuck to their classic material from the 1970s and early 1980s, which made sense, because that was their most successful period, and the one we know of the best! However, they did break out three new songs from their new CD "Sonic Boom", including "Say Yeah", "I'm An Animal", and the previously mentioned "Modern Day Delilah". They also did two songs from their unmasked era, including "Lick It Up" (which I expected) and "Crazy Crazy Nights", which I didn't expect at all! Paul Stanley even broke out into a bit of Led Zeppelin's "Whole Lotta Love" by himself last night too, which was interesting! Vocally, Paul generally sounded good, though by the end of the night, he was sounding rougher and was having a harder time hitting high notes. Gene Simmons hasn't deteriorated vocally at all, though I should add that he's never had Paul's range. Tommy Thayer and Eric Singer got vocal moments in the sun, notably with Tommy singing "Shock Me" and Eric singing "Beth"! I gotta say, they both do Ace and Peter justice vocally AND musically, and they sure proved it elsewhere in their solo sections! Tommy can really shred that guitar, and Eric's drum solo was fast and furious, as it should be! If there was lingering resentment from fans towards two new guys in the Spaceman and Catman costumes, then I didn't notice!
But it was the classic songs we all know and love which brought out the biggest reactions. You should of heard the fans when they broke out "Detroit Rock City", "Love Gun", "Shout It Out Loud", and so forth! They seemed happy to be there, even if the crowd was half the size of what they normally play to! Paul kept us going with his on-stage banter and rallying to the fans, who responded appropriately all night long! At the start of the night, he asked us, "Did you think we weren't gonna come?" Well, they did, and we loved it! My complaints about the show are minor, like the fact that they didn't play "God of Thunder", that Paul's voice did deteriorate later on, and those explosions hurting my ears, but no matter, it was awesome! During "Deuce", one excitable (and quite drunk) female fan tried to dance with Paul Stanley on the risers beside my section while security repeatedly tried to restrain her, and I'm sure that if given the opportunity, other fans might have tried the same! As tons of white confetti was blasted out onto the crowd during their closing number, "Rock N' Roll All Night", we celebrated one last time with Kiss at a show we'll surely never forget!While the metalhead in me still says Heaven and Hell and Megadeth were the best musical show in Essar Center history, Kiss was by far the best single live experience I've seen at the arena, and if you missed it, then you seriously missed out! I have no idea if Kiss will ever be back in the Sault area, but if they do come back, I'll be there!
So after the concert, I headed down to The Rockstar Bar for the afterparty, and here's what you should know! It was a packed house, full of Garden of Bedlam fans, Kiss fans, general bar goers, friends of the band, and so forth, with metal blasting throughout the night! A cardboard cutout of Kiss, a microphone, a table, and chairs were set up on the stage, so I knew something special was likely to happen beyond just drinking and conversing. That started when band t-shirts, photos, autograph markers, and copies of last year's debut EP were laid out, and were sold at the afterparty! I owned all that was sold, but many didn't, so merchandise sold briskly! Eventually, the band took to the stage as Buzz got on the mic and thanked everyone in attendance for their support, talked about the experience of meeting Kiss and playing at the show, and then introduced us to a special surprise: The band brought an unmastered copy of songs from their upcoming full length debut album! Let me just say this about the songs that we heard: You won't get a bad review from me when the CD comes out! I'll leave it at that. Fun way to cap off the night, and I can't wait to see Garden of Bedlam live again!That's all for this post, but stay tuned later tonight, cause before I go to The Canadian for Skull Fist, I will have another Kiss related post which will either cover local news coverage of the show, videos from it, or both! Stay tuned!
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