KISS- Madison Square Garden

KISS LICKS IT UP at Madison Square Garden
By Rich Rickaby
Photos by Suzie Rocker & Rich Rickaby
Doors @ 6:30 Show @ 7:30, Be Prompt

Their final bow at The Garden ever? 

So, Suzie Rocker & I decided to see Kiss. I got the early announcement via email, “Kiss, End of the Road Tour,” and thought, Wow, I bet they put on a great show. Susan is as much an enabler as she is an avid fan of live music. I’m sort of the same for her and so we see a bunch of concerts together.

“Do you want to go?” I e-ask.
“Yeah. I don’t really know their stuff, but I bet they put on a great show.”
“I don’t have any of their albums but I know some of their hits.”
The tickets were purchased.

Garden Go-ers, check your ticket notices, they’ll tell you the best entry for your seats. Neither of us veteran rockers knew there was an 8th Avenue/31st Street entrance to the Garden. “I thought you always enter on 7th Avenue and walk down that long column,” Suzie said, stretching her arms in front of her to mimic the passageway, “That’s sort of fun, seeing the scene and the merchandise.”

“I know, but I’m sure we’ll see plenty of merchandise.”

We had taken the E and got off at the new station under the post office, crossed the street and slow-motion Bam, we were in the snail-curity line, emptying pockets and walking through detectors.

“5 escalators up,” said the turnstile ticket taker.

five escalators up

Row 22 is the last row of Section 208. It has 3 seats. It’s in the right bend of the arena, across from the stage. Or was it? There was a guy already sitting in the last seat, against the wall when we scaled those Peruvian-like heights. I had the middle seat and Susan had the aisle. We were on the big ol’ jet airliner to Rock & Roll.

The guy, Theo, it turns out, flew in from Paris to see the show.
“Yeah, fan dedication!” Susan rejoiced.
He’d be leaving the day after.
“Have you seen them before?” I asked.
“Yes, twice but I’m sure it’ll be nothing like this, in their home town.”
When I told him about Megabus, he considered taking it to see the show in Phili the next day.

The crowd was a real mix of ages with a decidedly middle age white guy majority, both loners & family men, some with kids in tow.

Opening for Kiss was David Garibaldi, a flashy, splashy painter whose videos you may have seen on YouTube. David Garibaldi On a black canvas to the tunes of Black Sabbath & Ozzy Osbourne he painted Ozzie in 15-20 minutes, taking pauses to rouse the crowd,

“Everybody on the right side, make some noise!”
(yeah)
“Everybody on the left side…”
(yeah)
“The arena’s an oval, there are no sides,” I jest.

Next he painted to the tune of Springsteen, the painting was odd, but I had seen the trick before, he turns the painting upside down at the end to reveal The Boss and splashes some background colors to the beat, to finish it up.

The last one was going to make Kisstory, he said. They brought out a larger canvas than before and the music was symphonic or classical until it was revealed that he was painting Lady Liberty’s face and crown. It’s all very impressive, the speed at which these are created and the controlled paint-bombing-blending that results in these fast portraits. At the end, he pulled a covering off of the canvas, revealing the band portraits in full makeup on either side of Lady Liberty. He wrote New York City on the top and called it a night.

The lights came up, beers were poured, bladders were emptied and the stragglers found their seats before the arena went dark again. On the video screens, one behind the stage and 2 left and right in the shape of the Kiss Army chevron, showed the band walking the walk backstage to get to the stage. The screens went dark but multiple spotlights roamed the audience as if looking for the band.


“Hello New York!” Called Paul as the audience realized that Paul Stanley/Starchild, Gene Simmons/Demon and Tommy Thayer/Space Ace were standing on hexagon platforms being lowered from the ceiling. Our vision was blocked by the bridge but we could see 1.5 screens okay and they had the closed circuit monitor going on right in front of us. Eric Singer/The Catman snuck up to his drum set while all eyes were focused above.

Boom! Boom! Flash! Fire bursts and Roman candles punctuated their entrance as the crowd rose before it was time to, "Get up! Everybody's gonna move their feet. Get down! You gotta lose your mind in Detroit Rock City," their opening song. They followed that up with, "Shout It Out Loud," priming the rock and roll pump. 

Set list is here:  KISS- MSG 

SPECTACULAR!

Theo was up and singing and Suzie Rocker and I were doing our best with what lyrics we knew or could decipher. Regardless, the sound and power was great.

As much as David Garibaldi encouraged the crowd to make noise, Paul and the gang kept calling for applause, noise and activity from the audience throughout the show.

“It’s great to be back home!” Called Paul to plenty of cheers. Yes, Kiss was born in New York City in 1973. “I remember when I was driving a cab and I dropped some people off at the Garden and I thought, Someday, I’m going to play the Garden, and here we are 15 sold out shows later!” (more applause) “And we couldn’t do it without you. We love you guys.”

Things got rumbly after “Heaven’s on Fire” and “War Machine” with blue lights and fog adding another layered element to the spectacle. That’s when Gene raised the flaming sword and blew fire. Before and after that, Gene was always ready for the camera, romping and stomping in his huge boots and lifting his arms to reveal the bat-winged cape beneath his wings. And of course, the tongue. He would play it all up, licking his own cheek and later, practically any other band member that got close enough for innuendo.

“You know, these are crazy times. And I’ve seen some crazy times.” Paul did most, if not all of the talking. “You read the paper, you turn on the news or the internet…” I started thinking of the guy with the MAGA hat we saw at the security line. Oh no, is it going to go there? “And when that happens, you know who you gotta call…” and they went into “Calling Dr. Love.” A similar intro led up to “Psycho Circus” later in the show.

“100,000 Years” got us to our first solo of the evening, it was Eric Singer on drums. His set is huge, he’s playing them all over the place, rocking the crowd and then some fireworks start to punctuate the punctuation points and then his platform rises. We were 5 escalators up, so we were still looking down on him but the effect was awesome rock showmanship.

Gene

The next solo was Space Ace Tommy wailing away those clean licks with “Cold Gin” as the launching pad. Gene got his bass solo in during “God of Thunder,” which included, I believe it was here, the biting of the capsule so blood would flow from his mouth for a gruesome appearance. The closed circuit monitors helped bring these smaller thrills to life for those seated far from the stage.



But once Kiss does something, they’ve got to do something even bigger. So, of course, at one point Gene and Tommy were raised on platforms on both sides of the stage. Paul kept singing and playing center, while Eric pounded away. And you know Paul’s not gonna sit still while everyone else is getting their elevator rides.

“You know, you may think we’re a bunch of out of touch Rock Stars but we love you guys. I love you so much I want to come down and be with you.” (Cheers) “You don’t think I mean it. I mean it but you gotta want it. You gotta call me down. On the count of 3, call my name, 3-2-1!” (Paul!) “Ah man, come on New York City, I know you can do better than that. I mean, we sold this place out 15 times. Now, on the count of 3, 3-2-1!” (PAUL!) “All right, that’s better but, you really gotta mean it, 3-2-1!” (PAUL!!!) And with that, he fastened himself into some kind of T-Bar apparatus and was hoisted above the stage and then across the arena to the platform (yes, that rose too), behind the sound board. We were no longer a Garden’s length across from the stage but up close-ish. 

From this location came “Love Gun,” which I always thought of as a reactionary title to the Sex Pistols, but I haven’t done the math…perhaps it’s the other way around. What was wild was how much sound these 4 guys put out. There were no visible amps or wires on stage so they could move all over the place. Paul looked like he was chirping in bits on his guitar at times, what with all his movements he was referred to as, “The gayest straight guy I know,” by one Rockin’ Woman after the show. I figured Tommy was strumming double-time to fill out the sound. But Paul made it quite clear that he can play his axe with a bit of a back and forth jam with Tommy and for the show, all 3 guitarists did line up at times to rock back and forth in ZZ Top-like unison. 

Speaking of axes, Gene’s bass looked like a big battle axe, with its sweeping blade facing towards the floor, the bottom of his guitar. Good thing he had that cod piece on!

Still on the local stage, Paul declared, “This next one is our biggest international hit.” Beth I wondered? Nope, “I Was Made for Loving You” burst out and whoever wasn’t still on their feet rose to the occasion for the sing-along.

Most of the time, the footage on the screens was a live feed of what was going on in the arena, with some shots of audience members dressed in Kiss faces at different levels of execution. There were also times it looked like vintage footage was being played for old times sake. This was to be their last tour (I’ve read they’ve had 5 Farewell Tours and 4 Reunion Tours) ergo their final time playing the Garden.

Paul on the T-Bar overhead

Paul caught the last T-Bar back to the main stage where they went into the last track off their first album, “Black Diamond,” a song I first heard from The Replacements on their Let It Be record. It was also their last song for the night. They thanked everybody and left the stage with fireworks, pinwheel sparklers and flames blasting like they were in Mad Max Fury Road.

Whoa! It wasn’t the last song of the night, they had an encore in their back pocket. Only one light came on though and that was for the piano that rose at the front of the stage. Here, it was Eric The Catman tickling the ivories and singing “Beth.” Plenty of cellphones-as-lighters rose overhead as we heard Beth calling.

This was the only song that was different for the night. A case could be made for “I Was Made For Loving You,” being outside the traditional Kiss oeuvre but overall, every song was charged, pumped and hitting on all cylinders. It reminded me of the Def Leppard show I saw and it became apparent that those English gents certainly learned a thing or two from Kiss, as did others.

There was some commentary about getting into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, which only happened because of the fans. It sounds like there’s some bad blood between the two, but if you’re one of the best-selling bands of all time (over 100 million records sold, including 25 RIAA-certified albums) it does seem odd that you’d have to have your fans fight for you to be in the Hall. But hey, Rush got in before Yes somehow.

After “Do You Love Me,” their second song during the encore, they launched into the ultimate finale with “Rock and Roll All Nite.” During this, two cranes turned and lowered so Gene and Tommy could stand on their platforms respectfully and be swung over and around the audience.

On the cranes over the audience

An extra touch, because Kiss always goes one more—large balloons with the Kiss logo on them were being released from on high. So they were. bouncing around, Paul batting them away, fireworks were launching, sparklers were pinwheeling and flames were bursting. They took their final bows with smashing drum and firework punctuations before Paul officially closed it out with a classic move, like a judge wielding a gavel, he smashed his guitar down on the final beat, this court of Rock & Roll was officially adjourned. I felt bad for the guitar, it saw him through the show (who knows if he switched out along the way and if he has multiples of the same model) and now it was broken in two. But if you're gonna Rock & Roll, these things happen.

Paul 

Theo had left before the encore in a hurry for some reason. It seemed odd for someone who came all the way from Paris for the show but maybe he’ll catch the rest of it in Phili. Suzie Rocker and I found a side door to stairs, along with a thousand others, but 5 escalators up is 10 flights down? 20 flights down? It was then that we heard, “Paul is the gayest straight man I know.” This didn't sound derogatory, more like in the style of Steven Tyler or Mick Jagger, a flamboyance in showmanship, mixed in with a New Yorker who knows not to give a rat’s ass about who they want to be or who they are.

One last look at the merchandise confirmed our thoughts, the shirt designs weren’t cool enough for the price they were asking, hence, I got a $20 bootleg outside, ensuring it had concert dates on the back, a demand of mine. My medium seems awfully large.

I headed downtown and Suzie Rocker walked her way to the station, agreeing we’d text when we got home. It’s still New York after all.

The best thing about the Kiss show, beyond the rocking numbers, was how they all worked together as a band. Singing together at mics, joshing each other on stage, all with more pyrotechnics than you can shake a stick of dynamite at, and still not missing a beat. It’s one thing to play a bar or venue as a band and put on a great musical performance but another thing to launch a spectacle on top of rocking chops and hey, if it’s your last time playing the Garden you may as well blow the roof off while you tear down the house.

KISS ARMY Banner on Madison Square Garden, July 25th, 1996

KISS Backstage Pass, 1988