From: Alan Mayer

THE SHOW:
Nashville, TN - January 2, 1999

THE ATTENDEES:
Al from North Carolina, Scott from Atlanta, and Chuck (who flew in from Minneapolis, MN just for the show)

THE REASON:
Three 36 year old KISS fans wanted an excuse to get together, talk about old times, listen to music that has soundtracked our lives,and make a 4 hour road trip to Nashville (from Atlanta), see the show, and return the next day to wives, kids, and reality.

THE POSSIBLE DISASTER:
We bought 12th row seats 2 days before the show. Upon arriving at the Arena, we found that Ticketmaster had sold 3 sets of duplicate tickets for our seats. Luckily, ours had the earliest purchase date, so we stayed. Those with dupes got... 1) relocated farther back...and 2) very pissed.

THE SHOW:
We have been watching Kiss shows since 1977 and this show, like the rest, was very good...very entertaining...very bombastic...all the things that a Kiss show is supposed to be. Yeah...there were a few Spinal Tap moments...such as Ace putting his foot on a floor monitor that wasn't secured and almost pushing it over before catching his balance.(totally Ace) ....And a few technological glitches...such as the one spinning sparkler out of 4 that didn't spin...during the grand finale. ...And the unpredictable loss of hand-eye coordination...such as Ace needing 4 tries (and I mean 4 long, drawn-out tries) to hook his guitar onto the dangling cable/hook that hoists the guitar into the sky above. (more classic Ace). But all-in-all it was classic Kiss...it was what we wanted to see and a little more. The 3-D stuff was entertaining...The 90s technology and staging was clean and sharp. I think we mostly enjoyed seeing these late-40/early 50 year-old rockers rocking out like they have something to prove. We all commented at the end of the 2 hour 7 minute show that we had just seen "pro-fessional entertainment"!

THE HIGHLIGHTS:
Other than the show itself, we were glad to shake hands with Doc McGhee after the show. He was hanging out at the main board in front and seemed to be happy to carry on with any fan who recognized him. I don't know if this is a common thing with him, but he did seem very interested in catching the "vibe" of the audience. Another highlight was the fact that the show seemed to be close to a sell-out in a full-size venue. It used to be kind of depressing going to the half-house shows of the 80's and early 90's. My friends and I were joking about how promoters bill half-house seating as "intimate" when it really means.."no way in hell could we fill this place".

THE LOWLIGHTS:
I tend to be one who believes a band should use it's concert tour to try and pump sales of it's current studio album...in this case "Psycho Circus". As we know, Kiss plays 3 songs live from this album. One of which ("Within"), while a great,heavy studio track, is not as good a concert rocker. "I pledge Allegiance" and "You Wanted the Best" would be fun to see in concert. In reality, I am nitpicking on my soapbox. I don't care if they played "I'm the Happiest Girl in the Whole USA"...I would still pay to see them.

EPILOGUE:
Go see Kiss if you have the chance. It's one of the best entertainment values out there. There aren't many concerts where you can see blood spitting, fire breathing, indoor fireworks, 50-year-old men posing like they're alone in front of the mirror. Where else can you hear loud explosions, catchy songs, and, in our case, really bad acoustics (every instrument sounded like it was subwoofered). It's the package that you can't beat. They have so many tricks, even if a few gags tank, the rest makes up for it. May they rock forever.

P.S. - This revue is dedicated to my buddies Scott and Chuck. Thanks for a great weekend! You set the Spirit free!! Rock hard/ ride free........Al

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