My very first concert? Kiss, at the old Winnipeg Arena in Canada,
April, 1976! And during Kissmania
too! Unquestionably they were THE most
spectacular show of the 1970s back then (with all respect for Zep and the
Stones)!
Fast-forward to the splendid Villa
Manin near Udine and there were Kiss again!
A 37-year wait for me, but it was indeed worth it (a nice little opening
band, Rival Sons from Long Beach. They
sound very “Zeppelinish”. They also played their most famous tune:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-MA0m1K2jW4).
And how did Kiss open up their
Italian show? With Zep’s “Rock and
Roll”! Indeed anNice way to get the fans
warmed up, eh?
A 90-minute set with at 2 encores.
No “Deuce”, “Beth” nor “Fire” (think that was the tune with fire engine sirens
going off at the end). Here and there
Paul’s voice would very, very slightly crack, not bad though at 63 and
counting. Gene? Can see why that tongue of his has gotten him
into trouble more than once…. At 64 he
got pulled up by wire cables to the rafters, and then on a crane arm together
with lead guitarist Tommy Thager.
Great too as at one point Paul got on a
suspended from wire which carried him about 40 yards to a light tower in front
of the main stage where he continued playing.
He flew right over our heads.
What to do for a living…
Lots of fake blood, fireworks, paper clippings
being fired off by cannons, etc. Three
generations of Kiss fans from what I could see too, about 9,000 of us at the
concert. A great visual show, that’s for
sure (unlike the great Johnny Winter who last yr in 90 minutes stood up from
his chair like for 2 minutes!).
Hats off to Simmons and Stanley for still plugging away now since 1972-73. Amazing for Gene who was born in Israel: he went to the States where for the very first time had seen supermarkets. He had never seen them before in this life. Unquestionably a fine example of the famous “American Dream”. Together with the boys and a kazillion other bands out there, they deserve my utmost respect.
Was with a dear friend from Kingston, Ontario
(where Bryan Adams was born). We go back
a bit with concerts: we saw Bruce in July,1984 at the old C.N.E. in Toronto
during his epic “Born In The USA” tour!
Great memories…
Got quite lucky this time: Kiss played in Milan on Tuesday nite, the nite after the Udine show. Around 2.30 am as they were taking down the stage, an Egyptian worker was crushed by some kind of lift. He died. The band had already left and didn’t know about his death. If it were to happen to me while I’m under these HUGE stages to bury me with my “Highway to Hell” t-shirt and my cameras strapped around my neck. I will have gone in the name of good’ol rock and roll!
