07/01/96 - 01:29 PM ET
Concert review
DETROIT - Remember your first Kiss? Four painted '70s cartoons who spewed blood, fire and thumping tunes about adolescent obsession?
Rock's caped crusaders are going all the way on this second date with destiny, a colossal reunion tour aimed at amazing and assaulting 10 million fans.
At the first stop Friday in Tiger Stadium, Kiss unleashed an orgy of guilty pleasures (*** out of four) that plumbed every crotch-rock cliché and comic-book gimmick. With giant inflatable figures of themselves, explosions, eye-popping stunts, light displays and sound effects, the 2 1/4-hour show is equal parts Ringling Bros., Spinal Tap, Kabuki theater and Dante's Disneyland.
In this burlesque overkill, music is almost an afterthought. Cold Gin, Strutter, Love Gun and Christine Sixteen are standouts, but some songs become ballast that hamper momentum. Paring the set list would cut flab, not muscle.
The show's shameless SIZE compensates for a lack of musical daring. Nonstop visuals both enhance and diminish the loud 'n' proud three-chord rock anthems, performed with discipline and atom-splitting energy but little innovation. The tightly choreographed spectacle forbids improvisation (even a drum solo is neatly coordinated with lights).
But so what? Kiss provides wickedly good theater. Tongue-waggling Gene Simmons regurgitates blood and flies above the stage. Ace Frehley tortures his guitar until it oozes smoke and floats away. Paul Stanley flaunts Olympic agility as he prances in 9-inch platforms. Peter Criss rides a levitating drum platform.
Maybe these guys really are the superheroes of '90s rock, fighting a plague of musical nihilism with war paint, firepower and an old-fashioned antidote called fun.
By Edna Gundersen, USA TODAY