It was the night before Halloween, 1978.  A Saturday night, hanging out with best friend Jimmy McCann (who now reviews CDs for Icon Fetch). We’re plopped on the floor in front of the tube, while cuss words, and the smell of cigarettes and alcohol flow in from the next room, where both sets of parents are playing cards.  We were waiting for Kiss to come on television.

I’ll admit, I wasn’t much of a Kiss fan at that time.  But, NBC had hyped the hell out of the movie, so, even as kids, we were well aware that tonight was the night…Kiss Meets the Phantom of the Park. I had seen pictures of Kiss, but nothing compared to watching them on screen.  The fact that they had super powers just added to it.  We were so hyped, dancing around the living room.  Watching the movie today, I can’t tell you what the hell I saw in it then…Kiss isn’t even in the first 30 minutes and their acting is laughably bad (Paul Stanley: “You’re lookin’ for someone, but it’s not Kiss”).  Doesn’t matter…we thought it was cool.  In fact, we were so jazzed up after that, that our folks let us stay up and watch Saturday Night Live, which they NEVER did.  I distinctly remember watching the Rolling Stones perform songs from the Some Girls album.  But, what I really remember is Mick Jagger trying to French Kiss members of the band.  Don’t believe me?  Click here to watch them do “Respectable” on SNL.  Kiss and the Stones in one night…doesn’t get any better than that.

Kiss hasn’t done a great deal of touring over the last decade.  Instead, they’ve spent more time on other ventures, like the Kiss Kasket, Kiss Coffeehouse and Gene Simmons’ reality show Family Jewels.  They still bill themselves as the “Hottest Band in the World,” but with the founding members getting up there in age (Gene Simmons is nearing 61 and Paul Stanley is 58), there was some doubt that they could still deliver the goods.  The show opened with an ear-splitting explosion, followed by “Modern Day Delilah,” one of three new songs they played that night.  Right away, you could feel the energy coming off the stage

, and any doubt was soon gone.  Through an amazing 22-song set, lasting almost 2 ½ hours, Kiss showed that they could still put on a balls out spectacle.  All the elements of a classic Kiss show were present:  they arrived on an elevated pedestal that lowered the band to the stage, Simmons breathed fire and spit blood, Stanley smashed his guitar, and at one point rode a guywire to the middle of the audience and played on a small stage.  Kiss also seemed more like a band than they have in a long time.  Tommy Thayer and Eric Singer, the permanent replacements for Ace Frehley, and Peter Criss, respectively, seemed no more than hired guns on previous tours.  Here, they were not only recognized, but were also given their own spotlights; Thayer sang Ace’s “Shock Me,” while Singer did Peter’s ballad “Beth.”  The band touched on every album from their debut to 1979’s Dynasty, with the discofied “I Was Made For Lovin’ You.”  Not surprisingly, their first record got the most notice, with five songs played.  One difference in this tour is the acknowledgement of the non-makeup years, with songs like “Lick it Up,” “God Gave Rock n’ Roll to You” and, most surprisingly, “Crazy Crazy Nights.”  Yes, they played standards like “Detroit Rock City,” “Shout it Out Loud,” and “Rock n’ Roll All Nite.”  The fact is, most bands of their age are getting by with playing slightly over an hour each night, while Kiss played for double that.  Stanley’s voice did sound a little hoarse, yet the band never had to do a song in another key just to fit his vocal range (something most older bands are doing).  Kiss has certainly merchandised themselves to death, and they’ve gone on without two of their original members, yet they proved that theirs is still the benchmark for all other bands wanting to put on a rock n’ roll spectacle.