From: Frank
First, like many of you, I am a huge fan & have followed the band since 1976. It was great to see them live again, but also sad about being a farewell tour.

Here is my summary & review of tonights concert in Oakland's arena:

1) SKID ROW - 30 min 7:00pm ~ 7:30pm I am not a Skid Row fan but regardless, the sound sucked big time. It was just a wall of distortion. With a prime opening slot like KISS' farewell tour, I would have thought they would try to do a better job.

2) Ted Nugent - 55 min 7:50pm ~ 8:45pm Boy, Ted is one crazy mad man. Music was great but too much bitching & politics. Still, "Stranglehold" is an awesome song, especially live.

3) KISS - 127 min 9:18pm ~ 11:25pm First the set list:
- Detroit Rock City
- Deuce
- Shout It Out Loud
- I Love It Loud
- Shock Me
- Firehouse (Gene breathes fire)
- Do You Love Me? (retrospective video)
- Calling Dr Love
- Psycho Circus
- Heaven's On Fire
- Let Me Go, Rock and Roll
- 2,000 Man (Ace guitar solo)
- Lick It Up
- God Of Thunder (Gene blood spitting & flying)
- Cold Gin
- 100,000 year
- Love Gun (Paul flys to small platform in center of arena)
- Black Diamond
Encores
- Beth
- Rock and Roll All Nite

Why do I recall so accurately? I took notes & also recorded the concert (only as a souvenir) on a little piece of shit tape recorder (no, I will not make you a copy).

This concert, like many other KISS concerts I've been to, before each song, I would scream the song title of the next song in excitement. (Having been to so many & having also listened to so many bootleg recordings, its easy to guess the next song.) Always, there would be someone who turns around and asks how I know (do I know the band? have I been following them on the road?). Nope, just like many of you, I'm just a die hard loyal fan.

Anyway, to summarize, it was great. Ace was slim & looked better than ever. Peter seemed to be having a good time. And Gene & Paul was giving their best as always.

The stage looked much better than the photos I had seen on vaious web sites. It is BIG! And the screen is awesome. Much bigger than during the Alive! World Wide tour 96/97 and was very sharp & clear. Much more fire, confetti, & pyrotechnics then I have ever recalled.

One note is that tonights performance in Oakland maybe the first time Gene flys during "God of Thunder" since the flying contraption malfunctioned during the Anaheim gig. It worked fine today (although Gene seemed a little uneasy as he reached the top rafters).

From the opening to the end, it was full energy and 100% satisfying entertainment. Oh I've seen other fans saying they should have played this song or that KISS didn't do anything unexpected or special. Die hards will always have something to complain about but come on, I had a blast! That's all that count.

I have to admit that I got a bit teary eyed during the video while the band played "Do You Love Me?". There was a good portion of footage I had never seen and it finally hit me that this really may be it. What a bummer. I am now depressed.

I hear rumors that KISS will be back to play Mountain View's Shoreline in June. I really hope so. If you would like to converse more about KISS, please feel free to drop me a line.

Finally, the feeling I am left with tonight? Even though this is farewell & KISS is in their 50's, given the option, there is no other band I would want to see than KISS.

We wanted the best & we certainly got it.

My KISS concert history
- Love Gun tour /Alive II recording (LA Forum 8/27/77)
- Dynasty tour (LA Forum 11/7/79)
- Creatures of the Night / 10th Anniversary tour (Universal Amph 3/27/83)
- Lick It Up tour (Long Beach Arena 1/27/84)
- Animalize tour (Long Beach Arena 2/17 & 2/18/85)
- Asylum tour (LA Forum 1/30 & 2/11/86)
- Crazy Crazy Nights video shoot (Los Angeles 1987)
- Crazy Nights tour (Pacific Amph 3/26/88)
- Hot In The Shade tour (Long Beach Arena 9/14/90)
- Revenge tour (Oakland Arena 12/18/92)
- Alive! World Wide (LA Forum 8/24/96 & SJ Arena 8/27/96)
- Farewell tour (Oakland Arena 3/23/00)

Plus
- Paul Stanley solo 2x
- Peter Criss with Great Balls of Fire
- Frehley's Comets
- Mark St John with White Tiger
- Vinnie Vincent Invasion

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