From: D.Kesling@spirit.nl

We waited in front of the 'Prins van Oranje' Arena till 6:30 when the doors opened.

There was a separate area in front of the stage. This was a good thing because now no one couldnt get squased like last years concert.

This made the show highly enjoyable, because there was a lotmore space then usual and no people pushing each other at all. Opinions on European opening act Buck Cherry seem to differ a lot, but I thought it was a good band, putting on a very decent performance. Definitely a lot better than the opening acts on the Alive/Worldwide 1996-1997 Tour. The band plays a punky kind of hard rock, in the tradition of bands like Guns N' Roses and L.A. Guns. Someone in the crowd had painted a KISS face on a blowup sex doll and they trew it on stage, the lead singer started to fuck the doll with his microphone. That was pretty funny. To bad the doll got leak before the KISS show so Gene couldnt fuck the doll anymore. Buck Cherry played for half an hour and finished their set at 20:30.

The KISS road crew seemed to have everything very well organized this time, the preparation of the stage was done very quickly. They only had to take away Buck Cherry's gear, clean the stage and put up the huge Psycho Circus curtains. Around nine the house lights went down and the crowd went crazy. Spotlights started moving around and the intro tape could be heard. When the band kicked off Psycho Circus the stage lights came up and Gene, Paul and Ace could be seen clearly through the red curtain. The new red stage curtain let's more light shine through than the old black one and looks a lot better as well. When Paul sang "Yeah!", the curtains came down. There was an incredibble amount of smoke on stage this time. The second song was Shout It Out Loud, followed by Deuce, which even after 25 years remains one of the musical highlights of the show.

At this point Paul asked us to put our 3-D glasses on and started pointing his finger at the 3-D camera several times. Do You Love Me was up next and the 3-D effects at the beginning of this song are among the best in the show. Especially the big red heart and Paul's guitar pick and signature coming at you, are very cool. They are right in your face. It probably helped that was at the front of the stage and in the middle. From what I hear, the 3-D is not that effective if you are located in the back of the arena or on the side. Paul is wearing a knee brace to support his injured knee (see the picture). And allthough Paul is limited by the brace he still jumped and walked around on stage.

Up next is Firehouse, a song that always goes down well. Gene's fire breathing at the end was as cool as ever. This tour the fire breathing is repeated on the big videoscreen, but unfortunately they use pre-recorded footage for this. Only after Firehouse we are requested to take our 3-D glasses off. After this Paul asks Ace to introduce the next song. He does so and the band rips into Shock Me. Let Me Go, Rock 'N' Roll is becoming stronger and stronger every time I hear it in concert. They band is always tight when playing this song and there is a lot of interaction with the audience. Surely one of the best songs in show, which makes you onder why didn't play this in concert for almost 20 years. It's always nice to hear Calling Dr. Love, but I wouldn't mind if they dropped this song and played something that they didn't play last tour instead.

Paul then handed the microphone over to Ace Frehley once more, who introduced his new song from from the Psycho Circus album with the words: "Let's take a trip... Into The Void!" At the end of the song the rest of the band left the stage and Ace started his guitar solo. At this point I felt the 3-D images on the video screen worked really well. Ace's solo was basically the same as on the last tour. What was really nice however, was his small tribute to Stanley Kubrick, who recently passed away. Among many other great movies, the legendary director, made the science-fiction classic 2001: A Space Odyssee. This is an Ace Frehley favorite and from the soundtrack of that movie he played a the theme of Also Sprach Zarathustra, a composition by Richard Strauss.

With the band back on stage and our 3-D glasses off, Paul asked us if we had an album called Destroyer. When the audience made clear they had, he asked if we knew what the first song is called. Of course, everybody started screaming ":Detroit Rock City!": He then said someting along the lines of ":...but we're not gonna play that song right now, this is the *second* song from Destroyer...": At that point Ace kicked off King Of The Night Time World. God Of Thunder, introduced by Gene, letting out the demon in him. His bloodspitting act was a great as ever, but the stage lighting was much better this time (compared to the last tour), so everything could be seen clearly on the video screen as well. Gene's blood spitting was preceeded by some very nice images of thunder in the sky, which looked really cool. When The Demon had let it all out, he DIDN'T flew to his little platform on top or the lighting rig. I wonder why not because the arena was big enough for Gene to fly to the platform on the last tour? After the usual (but still very cool!) "Oh yeah?!"-thing with the audience, he started God Of Thunder, while the rest of the band joined him.

While the audience was putting their 3-D glasses on for the third time, the band immediately kicked in Within (the third amd last song from Psycho Circus that was played), without taking a break. Although most certainly still not an 'in concert' favorite, this new song sounded a lot stronger than during the opening show of the tour, at Dodger Stadium in L.A. last year. It seems it has grown on the band and may turn out not to be a bad choice for the setlist after all (many fans have critized the band for picking this song from the new album, instead of 'I pledge allegiance' wich Paul hopes to do live sometime, for example). At the end of the song, the music stops and Gene sings the line "I wanna see from within" a capella. Very cool indeed! Peter then starts his drum solo, while the platform with his drumkit on it is lifted by four thick cables. Bright lights shine over the audience. I was fortunate (or not :-) to be under the platform and received a lot of smoke in my face.

Well, it is KISS' biggest hit in Europe and KISS played offcourse I was made... After his rap about wanting to come down, Paul counted of Love Gun and than flew over the audience to a small platform in the middle of the arena. Unlike last tour, the little platform was now located *near* the soundboard, instead of on top of it. Why became obvious: because it is lower now, Paul can come down all the way to the floor. So he did what he said he wanted to do and the audience went crazy. Another pretty good one is 100,000 Years and personally I'm really happy this song is still in the setlist. After a nice rendition of this 1975 classic, it was time for the grand finale. Rock And Roll All Nite rocked and ended the show with more confetti than ever. The new effect on the neck of Ace's guitar during Rock And Roll All Nite (first used during the SuperBowl performance) is absolutely something to keep.

After a few minutes Peter came back on stage, while the violins of Beth could already be heard. Peter's voice was in good shape as well, he sang beautifully, overlooking a sea of burning cigarette lighters. When the last strings faded, the Gene, Paul and Ace joined him on stage to receive ovations from the audience. For the last time we had get our 3-D glasses out and the band started the fourth song from Destroyer, the all-time live favorite Detroit Rock City. Paul's musical introduction to Black Diamond was very cool. His guitar sounded awesome at this point: as much distortion as one can take. Black Diamond (sang by Peter, of course) ended the set and since there were no hydraulic lifts time time, Gene, Paul and Ace remained on stage. I thought it was very cool to see them do the classic Black Diamond 'threesome' (with Gene and Paul playing opposite of Ace) again. Peter drums did go up in the air however at the end of the song however and in a sea of light the band ended the show.

Setlist:
Psycho Circus
Shout It Out Loud
Deuce
Do You Love Me? (3-D)
Firehouse (3-D)
Shock Me
Let Me Go, Rock 'N' Roll
Calling Dr. Love
Into The Void (3-D)
King Of The Night Time World
God Of Thunder
Within (3-D)
I Was Made For Lovin' You (3-D)
Love Gun
100,000 Years
Rock And Roll All Nite

Encores:
Beth
Detroit Rock City (3-D)
Black Diamond

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