From: Cool Jim

Penn State Bryce Jordon Center, State College PA, 18 Nov 98, 7:30 p.m. Well, it's the day after, and my ears still feel funny... That was a really great concert! Even knowing what songs were goning to be played, and a little of what to expect, does not even compare to the real thing. It is something that must be seen live, and those who read this and wonder what it would look like should just go and see them, you will not be disapointed.

The opening band, econoline crush, wasn't bad. Not exactly my favorite type of music, and I'm not going to rush out and buy their cd, but they were good. Think about it... how would we feel if we got to get up on stage and open for the best band ever? You know that those guys were playing their asses off, and really trying to impress us, so lets give them some credit for that!

Kiss was, and always will be, in my opionion, GREAT! I love each and every album (some a little more than others!!) and haven't heard much from them that I don't like.

They probably could have sounded better, and I agree with someone who posted before that I think there was a little too much bass, and there were times when I could see Peter banging his heart out, and could barely hear the sound it was making. I want to hear every little tap that man makes. The new songs wasn't too bad, at one point Ace looked like he was concentrating on his playing too much and missed his own chorus on Into The Void! But his solo was great! He even pulled out a couple tricks that I haven't heard from him yet, as well as all the familliar riffs. And where were the chorus's on Into The Void and Within? I wish Peter and Ace would sing more backup, it would sound SOoo much better.

The band seemed to enjoy themsleves, and kidded and played around on stage together. I really like to see that Paul, after all of his years of dedication to the band, really get to play around on his own, a little. He's always in the spotlight, and up front most of the time... but still, it's nice to see him get some time alone with the crowd! Reminds me in a way of that Amimalize live uncensored video, I think... where he played a solo and had fun with the crowd!

Great stage show, lots of explosions, fireballs (you could feel the heat on your cheeks!) and exploding confetti cannons, very nice! But why didn't the confetti have KISS stuff printed on it? That would save them some cleaning up, cause I know I would have took some home!

Much thanks to _______ who posted this set list earlier... I copied it and then made the couple changes in the order of a few songs:

1. Psycho Circus
2. Shout It Out Loud
3. Deuce
4. Do You Love Me?
5. Firehouse
6. Shock Me
7. Let Me Go, Rock and Roll
8. Cold Gin
9. Calling Dr. Love
10. Into The Void (Ace's Solo)
11. Makin' Love
12. God Of Thunder (Gene flies, spits blood before)
13. King Of The Nighttime World
14. Within (Peter's Solo)
15. I Was Made For Lovin' You
16. 100,000 Years
17. Love Gun (Paul's 'flight')
18. Rock And Roll All Nite
19. Beth
20. Detroit Rock City
21. Black Diamond (nice lead in on guitar by Paul)

They played about 2 hrs, 15 min. Oh, and for anyone who doesn't know about Pete's drum kit... 4 chains come down from the ceiling, hook onto his drum kit, and hoist him up, they they roll him out over about the first 10 rows of the crowd for his solo! Lots of lights and smoke!

I thought the 3-D thing was pretty cool! Except I had to put those damn paper glasses on in front of my real glasses. There was prerecorded video of the band members which looked cool, as they pushed their guitar to the camera, it seemed to come right out of the screen at you!

There were also other computer generated graphics and such, like a really Warped Gene's head with a cool snaking tounge... very 3-d. And a cool thing with Ace's guitar during his solo!

There were also parts of live footage that was put on the screen that looked very 3-D with the glasses on, but just looked fuzzy if you didn't have them on (lots of people didn't). You could really tell that the microphone stand was in front of Ace, and he was in front of the drum kit...etc. very cool!

Overally a very enjoyable evening... the crowd seemed a little laid back to me... maybe because of the college crowd? I'm going to see them again Sat. in Philly, I expect that to be a little wilder! If anyone sees me hanging around sect. 112, say howdy! I'll be wearing a long sleeve tie-died shirt with a black t-shirt with a pic. from the Alive! album on the front. Talk to you then! Keep rockin!

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