Live show preview
KISS + Ted Nugent + Skid Row
Friday June 9 and Saturday June 10; Jones Beach Ampitheatre, New York
Tuesday June 27 and Wednesday June 28; Continental Airlines Arena; New Jersey
This time they really, really mean it. This is the original masked ones’ final farewell. You wanted the best, and you will get this: Gene will spit blood and fly, Ace’s guitar will shoot sparks, Paul will thrust his pelvis and fly, Peter will be fully recovered from his recent carpal tunnel surgery and drum like a rabid cat. Lots of stuff will blow up. There will be wailing, uncontrollable sobbing and forty-two year-olds with far too much flesh exposed collapsing from excess drink. What, you think Mission Impossible 2 is more deserving of your summer entertainment dollar?
The boys have actually prepared a savvy career overview for the two-hour musical portion, sidestepping makeup-less years and loading up on classics: “Detroit Rock City” opens, tidbits like “Firehouse” and “2000 Man” appear, while the “God Of Thunder”/”Cold Gin”/”100,000 Years”/”Love Gun”/”Black Diamond” quintuple slam convinces that it is 1976 and the “Beth” and “Rock and Roll All Nite” encore is the power ballad/arena rocker segue that inspired a thousand hair bands.
KISS will be recording some of these shows for parts of its recorded farewell document, Alive IV, (yes, that’s IV) which was due before the tour, but was shelved due to the lackluster performances from last year’s 3D Psycho Circus escapade. Expect a year-end pay-per-view blowout as well.
It would have been fitting to have a couple of the halfway digestible groups that KISS inspired (say, Motley Crue) open for them instead of the Nuge, who’s big game hunter/shock jock schtick is almost as tired as his fingers, which can barely get moving anymore. Skid Row, who will play for about three minutes, are appearing without Sebastian Bach, and Skid Row without Sebastian Bach is like Cinderella without Tom Keifer! Stick to bidding farewell to the headliners, and if you ever cared, or care about someone who did, you know what you have to do...
Time Out New York, 2000
