The last time I saw Kiss live was on their 1996 reunion tour and I was hugely disappointed. Despite being fairly early in the tour the performance was completely lifeless (with the exception of Ace Frehley’s two songs) and it seemed like a by-the-numbers performance. After that I wasn’t really interested in seeing them again.

However, with the release of the excellent Sonic Boom I thought I would give them another chance. I was hoping that the addition of Tommy Thayer and Eric Singer would revitalize the band. Based on their performance at the Sprint Center, that’s exactly the case. Their performance reminded me of their better shows I’ve seen, with an energy I haven’t seen since they put their makeup back on.

The night started off well between finding two dollar parking across the street from the Midland Theater and then buying tickets with a $75 face value for $40 from a scalper.  This is the first time I’ve gotten cheap tickets from a scalper right before a concert.  I’m thinking I might try it again for AC/DC in April.

The set list was about what they’ve been sticking to for the past few years (standards like “Strutter” and “Deuce”) but with a couple of surprises thrown in (most notably “Parasite”, one of my favorite Kiss songs). Unfortunately a couple of my favorites, “God of Thunder” and “Firehouse”, were given the boot but they didn’t play any song that I absolutely despise.

The stage set up was impressive. In addition to the large video screens there were several smaller video screens across the stage with a different set of images for each song. The other usual things you expect at a Kiss concert were there too - a lot of pyro and Gene Simmons’ standards like spitting blood and blowing fire.

I’ve read a lot of complaints about Paul Stanley’s voice and while it’s true that his voice isn’t as strong due to his age, I don’t think it impacted the show too much. The overall quality was good and more than made up for any vocal shortcomings. That being said, I purchased a CD of the show and listening to it the weak vocals are more evident on repeat listenings.

Setlist:
Deuce
Strutter
Let Me Go, Rock ‘N’ Roll
Hotter Than Hell
Shock Me
Calling Dr. Love
Modern Day Delilah
Cold Gin
Parasite
Say Yeah
100,000 Years
I Love It Loud
Black Diamond
Rock and Roll All Nite
———————
Shout It Out Loud
Lick It Up
Love Gun
Detroit Rock City.

As I texted my wife, the crowd was mainly my fellow middle age burnouts, a lot of whom brought their kids.  Normally I cringe when I see kids at concerts (like Ratt…really, you have to bring your kids to Ratt?) but for some reason this seemed like a good one for them.  Paul Stanley’s stage rap hasn’t changed much since I was young, but it’s definitely toned down from their non-makeup days.

I absolutely love the idea of being able to buy a recording of a show.  They were available for the Metallica concert last year and the set from Kiss is pretty nice.  It was pretty reasonable at $20 because I figured that this is one of those things they would try to gouge you on.

Lawrence’s own The Dead Girls opened up the show. Despite being an odd match for the Kiss crowd they put on a great performance. I’m completely ignorant on the local music scene but definitely plan on checking them out in the future.

As I previously wrote, I had high hopes for this album based on hearing “Modern Day Delilah”, and I have to admit that Sonic Boom doesn’t disappoint.  After the abysmal Psycho Circus and the subsequent departure of Ace Frehley and Peter Criss I had written the band off as another nostalgia act and didn’t expect them to release anything from this new lineup.

The first thing that struck me as I listened to it is how much of a band they sound like compared to Psycho Circus.  The addition of Tommy Thayer on guitar has improved the band immensely.  He manages to bring a new sound to Kiss while still staying true to the band’s roots.  In the world of Kiss you never know who is playing what instrument, but the bass sound throughout the album is great - if it is Gene Simmons then my hat’s off to him for bringing some great playing.

Standout songs on the album include “Modern Day Delilah”, “Russian Roulette”, and “Say Yeah”.  Tommy Thayer even sings lead on “When Lightning Strikes”, a song that fits in perfectly with the rest of the material.  Of course, this is still Kiss we’re talking about, so the lyrics aren’t exactly Bob Dylan quality, but that’s okay.  The music more than compensates for it. I sincerely hope this is a sign of things to come for the band, releasing music that lives up to the standards they’ve previously set.

The news has been out for a while that Kiss is releasing a new album Sonic Boom on October 6 and that it’s a Wal-Mart exclusive.  It follows the same format as Journey’s latest one with a disc of new songs, a disc of new recordings of old songs, and a live DVD.

Normally I wouldn’t care about this except that I heard one of the songs off the album, “Modern Day Delilah” on Kissonline, and it’s awesome.  I would guess I have around 75% of what Kiss has released although I wouldn’t consider myself a huge Kiss fan.  They’ve put out a lot of bad stuff over their career and the past few years it seems like they’ve just been phoning it in.  The last good album they put out was Revenge (although I do have a soft spot for Carnival of Souls) and after Psycho Circus came out I pretty much gave up on them putting out anything good.  Add to that Gene Simmons’ recent quote that it wasn’t worth making new music any more and I had written them off as a nostalgia act for the rest of their careers.

I hope the new song is a sign of how good the rest of the album is.  It would be great if they put out a solid album with an edge with the four members really playing on it (not just saying they were).  Hopefully they’ll put a couple more songs online, but at this point I’m planning on buying it the week it comes out.