From: Firehouse
Well kids, yours truly, the Ball & Chain, and my boss made the 3hour drive last night to see the hottest band in the World. I'll take you through my impressions of the show...

The Seats: We had 18th row seats straight up the middle, and I'll tell you they were the best seats I've ever had for a Kiss show. We could see everything just about perfectly. Kudos to VH1 presale!!

The Skids: I don't know what everyone has been bitching about, the new singer sounded fantastic and the band was tight. They were loud, but I think the sound was mixed well, not like what I had heard. It was good to see some bands out there who still want to play straight up rock'n'roll.

The Nuge: I have seen Ted four times now and he always puts on a fantastic show. Tommy Aldridge and Mark Mendoza made for a great rhythm team and Ted absolutely killed the solos on Stranglehold. Definitely a highlight for me. Yes, he did some political spouting, as you've heard. Personally, I wasn't at all offended. Of course, I'm not gay and I speak English... Great job, Ted.

The Fellas: They looked, and sounded fantastic. I guess the time off did them some good. Ace was spot-on and appeared to be very sober. As you have heard, Peter's drumming is very much improved and I detected a heartfelt sincerity on the part of the entire band as to why they are up on that stage this time. Something that I hadn't detected in awhile. All of the usual stunts were intact, all of the gear worked. Paul did start Black Diamond from the Love Gun platform, and I was wondering if the harness had quit. As many days as the crew had to set up this show, all I could think is that everything had better damn work. The only tech glitch that I caught was, the dry ice on the right side of Peter's kit did not work. No big whoop. I have one more show to attend and I feel that I will get a bit teary eyed on that one. The vidclip sequence for Do Ya Love Me was well done and made my heart a little heavy. At 34, I will finally have to say goodbye to a piece of my childhood.

Notes: The crowd was very enthusiastic, unlike the last few shows I've seen. There were definitely more rock'n'roll robosluts on the prowl; always a plus A few of the women looked like they'd been groupies since the last time Steppenwolf put on a major arena tour...A word to the wise: when it comes to clothes, less isn't always more... One girl appeared to have fishnet stockings on, but upon closer inspection, it was actually spider veins...Nuff said. See this tour if you get a chance, you won't regret it!!!

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