Is this any way for grown men to earn a living?
For some of us, the question hovered in the air on Saturday night as KISS performed at the Legacy Arena at the BJCC.
The veteran rock band came to town on its “End of the Road” tour, playing one more show in Birmingham before bidding farewell to the concert business. KISS performed for more than two hours in outrageous splendor, equipped with its usual array of costumes and makeup, stage props and special effects.
Fans in the KISS Army take the accoutrements for granted. Relish them, in fact. But if you’ve never seen KISS before — or simply have tastes that run in a different direction — some of it might seem pretty silly.
The two founding members of the band, Gene Simmons and Paul Stanley, are nearly 70, after all. Their on-stage colleagues, Eric Singer and Tommy Thayer, are 60 or thereabouts.
KISS concerts are so high concept -- the “Halloween meets hard rock” approach -- that you’d think the conceit would start to wear thin over time. Or feel inappropriate for musicians who could easily be grandfathers.
But KISS cheerfully steamrolled over all of that on Saturday, performing 20 songs with ritualized zeal. The music was loud; the tempo was driving; the lyrics were repetitive. The setlist reached all the way back to the band’s 1974 debut album -- let’s stop for a second and let that 45-year history sink in -- and served up signature songs such as “Deuce,” “Lick It Up,” “Detroit Rock City,” “Shout It Out Loud,” “Calling Dr. Love,” “I Was Made for Lovin’ You," “Rock and Roll All Nite” and more.
Complexity and subtlety were not in evidence, but those qualities have never been a KISS specialty, anyway. Listeners at the packed arena -- more than 10 thousand of them -- clearly wanted to sing along, pump their fists, bang their heads and salute the band with the heavy-metal horns gesture.
KISS knows exactly what its fans desire, and the band is well-practiced at delivering the goods.
Bassist Simmons indulged in his famous stage move, extending his tongue and waggling it at the audience, oh, about 100 times. In the grumpy, menacing guise of his Demon character, Simmons also did a little fire breathing (during “War Machine”) and spit a gusher of fake blood (the highlight of “God of Thunder”).
Guitarist Thayer offered an elaborate solo during “Cold Gin,” spraying fireworks from the end of his ax. Singer played an extended drum solo while being hoisted high on a scissor lift for “100,000 Years.”
Stanley, the flamboyant frontman, strutted and posed and threw numerous guitar picks into the audience. He also zipped across the arena on a pulley and landed on a remote stage near the back of the house. (“How do you like your front-row seats?” he asked.) Stanley sang “Love Gun" and “I Was Made for Lovin’ You” from that vantage point, sailing back to the main stage for “Black Diamond."
As the official KISS emcee, one of Stanley’s jobs is to make the audience feel appreciated, and his comments on Saturday were calibrated for maximum reach.
“Everybody tonight counts,” Stanley said. “We don’t care where you’re sitting. We can feel you. We can hear you.” And later: “It doesn’t matter if this is your first show or your 101st show, we are honored you are here tonight.”
From what we can tell, Stanley’s been saying the exact same thing at every venue, but so what? On the Birmingham tour stop, those sentiments still rang true.
Throughout the concert, the band made ample use of visual toys: plumes of flame, bursts of fireworks, laser lights, clouds of smoke, a balloon drop, a blizzard of confetti and more. We’ve seen similar stuff from KISS in the past -- most notably during a 2000 “farewell tour” at the same arena -- but the effects were amped up this time and packed a powerful punch.
And you know what? Doubts be darned; KISS won you over -- with nostalgia and excess and sheer force of personality. This might not be the greatest rock band of all time, but it’s certainly an iconic one.
Setlist:
- “Detroit Rock City”
- “Shout It Out Loud”
- “Deuce”
- “Say Yeah”
- “I Love It Loud”
- “Heaven’s on Fire”
- “War Machine”
- “Lick it Up”
- “Calling Dr. Love"
- “100,000 Years”
- “Cold Gin”
- “God of Thunder”
- “Psycho CIrcus”
- “Let Me Go, Rock 'n' Roll”
- “Love Gun”
- “I Was Made for Lovin’ You”
- “Black Diamond”
Encores:
- “Beth”
- “Do You Love Me”
- “Rock and Roll All Nite”
Here are some fans reactions to the Birmingham show, posted on social media: