Official KISS thread

[Orbert]

Ah, him!  I'm pretty sure I've seen Garibaldi on one of the late-night shows.  He's actually pretty entertaining.  I'm still not sure how good a match he would be for a KISS audience, but WTF.

[Big Hath]

I would rather see David Garibaldi, the drummer for Tower of Power.

[?]

And Paul has hired a painter as the support for a swag of US dates 

So KISS fans will literally be watching paint dry on this tour

[Stadler]

Well, Ace finally stopped playing the game and dropped the gloves.

Gene said this stuff:

https://consequenceofsound.net/2019/01/paul-stanley-ace-frehley-and-peter-criss-are-welcome-onstage-but-are-never-going-to-be-in-kiss-again/

Then Ace replied with this:

https://www.facebook.com/officialacefrehley/photos/a.115366315377/10155634789055378/?type=3&theater

LOT of rumblings that this was not Ace's doing, but rather Rachel, his girlfriend.   Unless he was in his "red fog of anger" that is very un-Ace like, not so much with the vitriol, but the way the post is phrased.   

Or maybe it was Eric Gillette's wife.  Who knows?  But it likely wasn't Ace (and there hasn't been a reply from Gene/Paul/Kiss yet as far as I know). 

[Stadler]

Ah, him!  I'm pretty sure I've seen Garibaldi on one of the late-night shows.  He's actually pretty entertaining.  I'm still not sure how good a match he would be for a KISS audience, but WTF.

I saw something like that at a Spring Weekend concert at Uconn in the '80's, and again at a festival show at the Meadows in Hartford (maybe the H.O.R.D.E. tour?) and it WAS entertaining.  The latter one, this guy was spraying this big black "canvas" like a maniac with spray paint (all colors of highlighters) and he stopped, looked at it, flipped it 180 degrees and shot a blotch right in the middle and viola! It was Jimi Fucking Hendrix.   REALLY cool.   

No worse than the Bugs Bunny cartoon that opened the Yes show back on the 90120 tour. 

[As I Am]

^ I'd take the Bugs Bunny cartoon over this any day!

[Orbert]

Ah, him!  I'm pretty sure I've seen Garibaldi on one of the late-night shows.  He's actually pretty entertaining.  I'm still not sure how good a match he would be for a KISS audience, but WTF.

I saw something like that at a Spring Weekend concert at Uconn in the '80's, and again at a festival show at the Meadows in Hartford (maybe the H.O.R.D.E. tour?) and it WAS entertaining.  The latter one, this guy was spraying this big black "canvas" like a maniac with spray paint (all colors of highlighters) and he stopped, looked at it, flipped it 180 degrees and shot a blotch right in the middle and viola! It was Jimi Fucking Hendrix.   REALLY cool.   

Yeah, that type of thing.  There's a way to present it and make it entertaining.

No worse than the Bugs Bunny cartoon that opened the Yes show back on the 90120 tour. 

That sounds... really dumb.

[Stadler]

Ah, him!  I'm pretty sure I've seen Garibaldi on one of the late-night shows.  He's actually pretty entertaining.  I'm still not sure how good a match he would be for a KISS audience, but WTF.

I saw something like that at a Spring Weekend concert at Uconn in the '80's, and again at a festival show at the Meadows in Hartford (maybe the H.O.R.D.E. tour?) and it WAS entertaining.  The latter one, this guy was spraying this big black "canvas" like a maniac with spray paint (all colors of highlighters) and he stopped, looked at it, flipped it 180 degrees and shot a blotch right in the middle and viola! It was Jimi Fucking Hendrix.   REALLY cool.   

Yeah, that type of thing.  There's a way to present it and make it entertaining.

No worse than the Bugs Bunny cartoon that opened the Yes show back on the 90120 tour. 

That sounds... really dumb.

At least it was a good one ("Ali Baba Bunny"; you might remember it as "Open Sesame"). 

[Orbert]

Hassan Chop!!

That is a good one.

I play this game called Diablo III, your typical hack-and-slash dungeon crawler, and one of the Legendary Weapons is this huge blade called The Hassan Chopper.  It looks just like the blade Hassan has in that cartoon.  The game designers are apparently fans. 

[cfmoran13]

Anyone seen the setlist for this tour's shows?  Has to be the worst encore I've seen on a KISS tour.  Beth (sung by Eric), Do You Love Me (quite possibly one of their worst songs) and RaRAN (one of the most overplayed and overrated songs in rock history).  If it weren't for the fact that my daughter is coming with us to the MSG show to see them for the first time, I'd probably leave before the encore to avoid the crowd.

[As I Am]

Anyone seen the setlist for this tour's shows?  Has to be the worst encore I've seen on a KISS tour.  Beth (sung by Eric), Do You Love Me (quite possibly one of their worst songs) and RaRAN (one of the most overplayed and overrated songs in rock history).  If it weren't for the fact that my daughter is coming with us to the MSG show to see them for the first time, I'd probably leave before the encore to avoid the crowd.

HORRIBLE set and all the talk about the staging....I find it "ok" but nothing earth shattering. Glad I'm passing.

[Stadler]

Anyone seen the setlist for this tour's shows?  Has to be the worst encore I've seen on a KISS tour.  Beth (sung by Eric), Do You Love Me (quite possibly one of their worst songs) and RaRAN (one of the most overplayed and overrated songs in rock history).  If it weren't for the fact that my daughter is coming with us to the MSG show to see them for the first time, I'd probably leave before the encore to avoid the crowd.

I haven't see the setlist or the staging (except for one still photo of Paul and Gene that Paul tweeted) but DON'T.  Even "RaRAN", I get it, you've heard it before, but your kid hasn't.  We stayed and my then 16-year-old put up a picture on Instagram of the stage just blowing up during RaRAN and the caption "Best night of my life!".   It's worth it for the uninitiated.  Plus, the sound of MSG is unparalleled, AND it's their home show.  If I see this tour it will be in New York; I saw the reunion tour on their four night stand in MSG and it was probably the best Kiss show I've seen.   

[cfmoran13]

Anyone seen the setlist for this tour's shows?  Has to be the worst encore I've seen on a KISS tour.  Beth (sung by Eric), Do You Love Me (quite possibly one of their worst songs) and RaRAN (one of the most overplayed and overrated songs in rock history).  If it weren't for the fact that my daughter is coming with us to the MSG show to see them for the first time, I'd probably leave before the encore to avoid the crowd.

I haven't see the setlist or the staging (except for one still photo of Paul and Gene that Paul tweeted) but DON'T.  Even "RaRAN", I get it, you've heard it before, but your kid hasn't.  We stayed and my then 16-year-old put up a picture on Instagram of the stage just blowing up during RaRAN and the caption "Best night of my life!".   It's worth it for the uninitiated.  Plus, the sound of MSG is unparalleled, AND it's their home show.  If I see this tour it will be in New York; I saw the reunion tour on their four night stand in MSG and it was probably the best Kiss show I've seen.   

I say I'd leave.  But, I never would.  I've never left a concert early before.  I certainly wouldn't now with this KISS show.  My first KISS show was at MSG back in December '85 on the Asylum tour.  I got to see them there on the reunion tour as well.  Now, my daughter's first time will be at MSG.  I'm still looking forward to it (for the most part). 

All of these lip-sync videos are really bumming me out, though.  Even Gene is doing it!

[Stadler]

Yeah, that sucks.  It really does, because for all the rumors about Derek programming shit, the shows I saw were live.   Either that or they programmed in mistakes. .  Gene forgetting the lyrics to "Let Me Go Rock n' Roll" but recovering for the chorus (when I saw them in MSG).   Gene's rig not working in Hartford (actually, now that I think about it... I've seen it fail three times!) and him ripping a roadie a new asshole, and the band just kicking into overdrive (I've written about this before; it was like two different bands). 

I saw Gene in a club in Philly a year or so ago; I was ON STAGE with him and I heard him singing live without the mic and he can do it.  Not sure why he feels it has to be done now.   (Though to be fair, I've only seen video of Paul that seem a little sketchy on the live side of things). 

[cramx3]

I'll also be at that Kiss show at MSG, my first and maybe only time seeing them.  I  don't really know much of their music besides the greatest hits album I have so the setlist isn't terribly interesting to me (in general, I haven't looked) but I certainly would stay for RARAN.  Looking forward to that song honestly.

[Stadler]

I'll also be at that Kiss show at MSG, my first and maybe only time seeing them.  I  don't really know much of their music besides the greatest hits album I have so the setlist isn't terribly interesting to me (in general, I haven't looked) but I certainly would stay for RARAN.  Looking forward to that song honestly.

There's been a lot of talk about the setlist, and to be honest, I don't see the issue.   Kiss isn't a band that does deep tracks, they're not a band that does "The Elder" in it's entirety.   You get 20 songs, plus minus.  You have about 10 givens at every show:  Detroit, RnRAN, God of Thunder, Cold Gin, I Love It Loud, Black Diamond, Shout It Out Loud (WAY better live), Deuce, Love Gun.   Then there's about five or so rotating songs:  Parasite or Let Me Go, Rock and Roll.  Calling Dr. Love or War Machine.  I Was Made For Loving You or I Still Love You.   This setlist has a couple more recent tunes - War Machine, Lick It Up (both have been in the set for a couple years now, with no Strutter, She, or Firehouse), Heaven's On Fire, and Say Yeah (from Sonic Boom).

All in all, I think if you're complaining about the setlist, you a) were never going to be satisfied, and/or b) don't really get the Kiss ethos at this point.   

[cfmoran13]

There's been a lot of talk about the setlist, and to be honest, I don't see the issue.   Kiss isn't a band that does deep tracks, they're not a band that does "The Elder" in it's entirety.   You get 20 songs, plus minus.  You have about 10 givens at every show:  Detroit, RnRAN, God of Thunder, Cold Gin, I Love It Loud, Black Diamond, Shout It Out Loud (WAY better live), Deuce, Love Gun.   Then there's about five or so rotating songs:  Parasite or Let Me Go, Rock and Roll.  Calling Dr. Love or War Machine.  I Was Made For Loving You or I Still Love You.   This setlist has a couple more recent tunes - War Machine, Lick It Up (both have been in the set for a couple years now, with no Strutter, She, or Firehouse), Heaven's On Fire, and Say Yeah (from Sonic Boom).

All in all, I think if you're complaining about the setlist, you a) were never going to be satisfied, and/or b) don't really get the Kiss ethos at this point.

I think I’d probably fall into the “never gonna be satisfied” category.  I totally get their philosophy on the set list.  They’re not playing to cater to long-time fans who may enjoy more than the 15-20 songs they’re always gonna play live.  As they’ve said over and over again, they’ve tailored their set list for the people who may be seeing KISS for the first time.  While I understand it, that doesn’t mean I have to like it.  I’ve seen them 10-12 times live.  They’ve been a band for 40+ years, not just the 6 years during which their first 7 studio albums came out.  Pull out “Tears Are Falling” (which was an MTV hit) or something off of Revenge (which a lot of fans consider a high water mark for non-makeup KISS).  The only time I’d get to hear those deeper tracks live would be on their Kruise and, unfortunately, I just don’t have that kind of disposable income.  With all that said, I’ll be at MSG with my wife and daughter, enjoying what was my favorite band for a long time one last time live (although, as a 3-year tour, it would be unrealistic to think they’re not gonna finish this whole thing back in NYC).  I just hope my daughter enjoys it.   

[cramx3]

As a big Iron Maiden fan, I get the "never going to be satisfied" approach.  These huge bands are never going to be able to cater to the hardcore fan because they have so many new fans that want to see the classics.  Like, I'm sitting here saying I can't wait to see Rock n Roll All Night, but to compare, I'd be cool never seeing The Number of the Beast live again.  So I can see it from both perspectives and just try to respect it and enjoy it as much as I can as a fan. 

[jammindude]

To be fair....I've heard that they went DEEP for the Kiss Kruise.   

I'm not sure that I would be the least bit tempted by a modern day Kiss concert....but if the timing and the funds were right, I would really want to do a Kiss Kruise....

[Stadler]

To be fair....I've heard that they went DEEP for the Kiss Kruise.   

I'm not sure that I would be the least bit tempted by a modern day Kiss concert....but if the timing and the funds were right, I would really want to do a Kiss Kruise....

That's me (though I'm kicking around going down to MSG; seeing them "at home" is special to me). 

Honestly, when they're in full makeup at 125 dBs, with all the lights... I don't need to hear "Two Timer" or "Goin' Blind".  But just once I'd love to see Paul and Gene on a couple of stools with acoustic guitars fudging their way through GB.   

I've also been blessed (in the sense that they were my heroes) to have met them twice each, and both times for both they were everything you hope for in meeting your idol. 

[Art]

Listening to Carnival Of Souls now, and i think it's pretty cool! Okay, it doesn't sound anything like Kiss, but it's a cool lost alternative metal record. Rain could be a Soundgarden song.

[WilliamMunny]

To be fair....I've heard that they went DEEP for the Kiss Kruise.   

I'm not sure that I would be the least bit tempted by a modern day Kiss concert....but if the timing and the funds were right, I would really want to do a Kiss Kruise....

That's me (though I'm kicking around going down to MSG; seeing them "at home" is special to me). 

Honestly, when they're in full makeup at 125 dBs, with all the lights... I don't need to hear "Two Timer" or "Goin' Blind".  But just once I'd love to see Paul and Gene on a couple of stools with acoustic guitars fudging their way through GB.   

I've also been blessed (in the sense that they were my heroes) to have met them twice each, and both times for both they were everything you hope for in meeting your idol.

I LOVE Goin' Blind. Top 3 Gene songs easy (the other two being Naked City and Unholy). IMO, the only reason I still own Alive IV is for the acoustic/orchestrated version of Goin' Blind.

[TAC]

Naked City 

[Zydar]

Naked City indeed

Love the bass in that one.

[WilliamMunny]

Actually, if I may be so bold, I LOVE the production on Unmasked. I much prefer it to Dynasty. But KISS went through so many phases, and I think there's a charm to every era.

The Kramer pair (R&RO & Love Gun) will always be my favorite, but hell, even Carnival of Souls (which someone just mentioned) has a charm to it.

[DTA]

Not a huge fan of KISS, but I think I like their unmasked 80's stuff better than their 70's output by a huge margin.

[jammindude]

Even though HITS is kindof a crap album....I have a soft spot for the two singles from that album.

Rise To It is a great rocker and I think it should be brought back live. That song just begs for an arena.  And Forever IMO is one of Paul's better ballads.   

[Mladen]

Yep, Forever is truly a fantastic song and one of their best ballads overall.

[jjrock88]

I would have to say the stretch of Creatures of the Night/Lick it Up/Animalize/Asylum would probably be my favorite from the band.  But they have so many awesome tunes from the 70's, Rock n Roll Over and Dressed to Kill would be at the top for me in regards to their 70's output.

I was just playing Sonic Boom and Monster the last couple of days.  Some really cool songs on both including Modern Day Delilah, Danger Us, Say Yeah and Hell or Hallelujah.  I also really liked the Kiss Klassics album, bit of a slightly modern take on those classic tunes.

[WilliamMunny]

Since Sirius XM has been doing this Kiss channel all month, I've had a blast (my family, not so much) listening to nothing but Kiss in the car. The band's catalog is literally in my blood at this point, but there has been the odd song that made me go 'wait, what album is that off of?'

In every case, it's been Monster and Sonic Boom. So I made it a point to relisten to those both.

My opinions haven't really changed (I remember loving SB, and feeling pretty 'meh' on Monster), but I probably only gave each disc 3 or 4 spins when they came out. I can tell you this, I've been missing the boat with Sonic Boom for years. That album sounds great. The production is spot on, and both Paul and Gene kill their vocals.

Now Monster, well...that's still a bit patchy for me. I really wish there was a more fitting Swan Song for the band, but as a one/two punch, I give Kiss a lot of credit for those two records. They were albums they certainly didn't need to record, but I'm very glad they did.

[Stadler]

I love those two records.   For me, Kiss was always about the album tracks.  Other than maybe Deuce and Tears Are Falling, I'm not sure there's an album where my favorite song is the "hit".   And the less I like the album tracks, the less I tend to like the album.  For me, SB and M are REALLY consistent. 

[jammindude]

Ok everyone...your top 10 Kiss songs that have never appeared on any greatest hits package.

GO!

 

[TAC]

Not familiar with any greatest hits besides Double Platinum.

Here's 10 songs that I wouldn't think would appear on a GH comp. Are these my Top 10 KISS songs? No!
But I love all of them.

In no specific order

Strange Ways
Coming Home
And On The 8th Day
King Of The Mountain
I'll Fight Hell To Hold You
Hard Times
Save Your Love
Tomorrow
Baby Driver
Nowhere To Run
Secretly Cruel

[Zydar]

Strange Ways
Flaming Youth
I Stole Your Love
Almost Human
Magic Touch
Naked City
Tomorrow
Just A Boy
Odyssey
Danger

I don't think any of those have shown up on a compilation, but I could be wrong.

[TAC]

Strange Ways

This is a Top 5 KISS track for me.