Minneapolis Rock City!
Minneapolis Rock City – KISS’s new song title – at least that’s what Paul Stanley said last Saturday night when they rocked, yes rocked! the stage at the Target Center downtown Minneapolis.
Let me first start out by saying, who is this guy who writes the music reviews for our local Star Tribune?
The Title of his Review for the KISS Concert read: Hottest Band in the World still cool (to some, anyway)
www.startribune.com/entertainment/music/69495057.html
Seriously, who has the cahones to write such garbage about rock n’ roll royalty, like KISS? Was he at the same show with the rest of us? As the proverbial horse poo piled high within his review, he progressed to dig himself an even bigger hole in the following blog that he wrote about the band’s two new members (Tommy Thayer and Eric Singer) :
www.startribune.com/blogs/69510782.html?elr=KArksUUUoDEy3LGDiO7aiU
Did the crowd seem to care that they weren’t the originals? From my standpoint…no way. The music just as heart stoppin, blood curdling, and obnoxious as ever. The new members fit in and played their parts, perfectly!
As some wanted to discuss the desire to see the old band members back on stage, 
making sure the new guys fit into the band were not my concern…In fact, the most I was worried about was seeing something fall out of Gene Simmons skin-tight, nasty-ass, leather-winged costume from the 5th row/center stage! And my fear of Gene Simmons flesh eating the crowd, soon was lost after his mesmerizing fire-breathing, leather hip boots lured me in, forcing me to watch every movement of their garnet eyes.
From Paul Stanley’s crowd pleasing taunts, to the pyro flame throwers launched from his guitar, the show was an absolute smash! Yes, many fans were dressed in their KISS garb with probably a couple more lbs. squished into their pleathers than the 30 years prior to, but their 10-14 year old kids sure didn’t care.
I saw KISS for the first time when they came back in full make-up to shock ~ Detroit Rock City @ Tiger Stadium in 1996 with their KISS ASYLUM Tour – opening act, Stone Temple Pilots! An absolute freak show, but seriously – has always been in my top five of concerts (as still is!) Do I think that they had the energy this past Saturday night like they did back in 1996? ~ fo’ sho’! And the two newest members replacing Ace Frehley and Peter Criss, played the part just as they were hired to do. Not a flaw – even the leggy struts and the mouth movements on stage were on cue with Gene Simmons serpentine-like tongue flashing the side of Tommy Thayer’s throat. And yet, none was more on cue that Gene’s blood-gushing classic drool. Once having bitten the heads off bats to bleed his way through his act, this was a little safer rendition with thick red dye oozing from all sides of his 60 year old mouth. Spectacular, I say! 
The point is – we all came to see KISS and…we got KISS! In full make-up, in prime condition and shouting it louder than ever. While I might be opposed to seeing Gene Simmon’s ‘Love Gun’ much closer than the 5th row, all of which we would not stop touching on the inside of his skin tight suit for fans up front, I would never pass up a chance to see these guys again. 60 baby?, if you can still jump, kick and harness your old ass to the top of Target Stadium and sing like a rocker half your age, then I’m down to start drinking their potion. I tease that some of these guys are probably gurgling Jack Daniels before the show, but KISS may just surprise us all with a grande collection of Bordeaux amongst their treasured libations on the Rock N’ Roll Tour Bus? One may never know and I’ll bet they’ll never tell. Leave the mysteries like these to the impending minds of wine drinkers. As to the comments about KISS being too old and ‘still cool, to some’ – we’ll leave those ridiculous reveiws up to the bozos who continue to write bad music rants and don’t care to be entertained, like our buddy from the Trib.
And if you liked the show here in Minneapolis…Shout it, Shout it, Shout it out Loud!!
