Kiss with Buckcherry

KISS WITH BUCKCHERRY
Date: 11/24/09
Place: Honda Center, Anaheim CA
Review by ~ Aniruddh 'Andrew' Bansal

I got to the Honda Center at around 7 and saw the huge Gene Simmons Axe van parked just outside the box office. It was an awesome sight. After savoring the amazing work of art on that van, I went in and was very excited when I found out that my seat for this show was in the front row and towards stage right, because for one the view was beyond amazing from the seat and secondly it was the side where Gene Simmons would be for most of KISS's set!!

The opening band Buckcherry hit the stage at 7.30 and played for about 50 minutes. I was glad to see them do a cover of Deep Purple's Highway Star and was also impressed by their last song 'Crazy Bitch'. Other than that, even though the music was pretty good they never really got a particularly good response from the crowd. In all the shows that I have been to so far, I have noticed that the crowds are mostly cold to the opening bands. So I would say Buckcherry put on a good show and did themselves enough justice for being the openers for a band like KISS. I wasn't too familiar with them before this show but now I would be inclined to check out some of their studio albums and explore them further.

After they finished playing, a huge black curtain that had KISS written on it in huge letters engulfed the stage. My anticipation was building with each and every passing minute. I am pretty sure that everyone in the crowd was excited and waiting for KISS to appear, but I say 'my anticipation' because I can only truly express what I myself was feeling at that time! Anyway, in this time I also found out to my surprise that Gene's son Nick was sitting right next to me! I said hello and got a picture with him. He was literally mobbed by a whole bunch of people who instantly recognized him and demanded pictures. Wow I always wondered how it must be like to be one of these rockstar kids, and now I know! I knew right there and then that I had a great seat. After all, Gene Simmons' son was sitting next to me, so it really must be a really good view from here!

After a wait of 25 minutes of what seemed like an eternity, KISS finally hit the stage in the grandest style I've ever seen. I feel really excited even now as I am reliving the show and writing about it. With the words 'You wanted the best, you've got the best!' the curtain came tumbling down and a huge blast of pyro explosions went off as we saw the band on stage for the first time tonight!! The back end of the stage was decorated with the biggest wall of amps, along with a giant screen and Eric Singer's incredibly high drum kit in the center of it. The crowd was going nuts as we should expect from the 'KISS army'. Excitement, shock and an overwhelming feeling started racing through me as they kicked off their show with the song 'Deuce'. Those feelings and emotions became even stronger when Gene Simmons came near my side for the first time and I saw him from a distance of barely five or six feet! I have heard and read all about the criticism and ridicule directed towards Gene Simmons and his band, but all of that meant absolutely nothing to me when that man dressed in his famous demon make-up and outfit approached me with his equally demonic and awe-striking stage presence. So while I was having this unreal experience of making eye contact with Gene, the first song was over.

They played 'Strutter' next and we were singing the chorus loud and clear on this one. I was singing all the words for most of the show, and I can't even begin to express how much I enjoyed doing that. Paul Stanley addressed the crowd for the first time after this song. He told us that they would be playing at the Staples Center in LA tomorrow night, which was accompanied by boos, but there was a huge roar of approval when he said he wants us to beat that crowd. He made excellent use of the rivalry, which most likely is due to the sports teams in these cities. With these words they proceeded to play 'Let Me Go Rock N' Roll'. The guitar riffs in the first minute or so are some of the best and easily recognized riffs ever written, so it was nothing short of a privilege to see this song being performed by KISS themselves. They took the concert to a whole new level with the next song 'Hotter Than Hell'. It was another fun sing-along for us earthlings in the crowd. During these two songs Tommy Thayer came over to the side of the stage near me and played some of those legendary riffs. Gene did his customary fire breathing part at the end of this song, where he took a burning torch in his hand and spit some kind of inflammable liquid on it, giving the fire a huge burst.

The stage was possibly the biggest I've ever seen in my life. It was ten feet above ground level. The sides of the stage extended out and above to almost the top of the arena, giving everyone a chance to see their legends from up close, and by doing that getting all of us actively participating and happily involved in the show. They used plenty of this stage space for all the songs, including the next one, the classic 'Shock Me'. Although I associate this song with Ace Frehley, it was nice to see them include this song in the set. After this Paul made a joke about swine flu as he lead them into the next song 'Calling Dr. Love'. It was Paul Stanley's turn to give us a closer look at his performance as he came over to our side and threw out a lot of guitar picks. One of those fell into an almost-empty beer glass next to me. Its pretty obvious what I would have done with that beer glass, and I'll leave it to you to fill that in! Paul announced 'the next song is a faster and heavier one' as they played 'Parasite'. I was totally convinced in my mind that no matter what songs they choose to play tonight, there is no way on earth that I would complain with the set list. So far they hadn't even given the critics a chance to whine, leave alone the fans! As they kept playing these classics, the pyro bursts continued to warm and enthrall the crowd at opportune moments in the set. Lights were grandiose as well, fixed on top of the stage and spreading across its length and breadth.

It was finally time to hear a new song 'Modern Day Delilah'. Its easily the best song on Sonic Boom in my opinion and the crowd's response proved that. The chorus was really easy and fun too. It was back to the old school KISS after this with the song 'Cold Gin', one of my favorite songs of theirs. Amazed would be a huge understatement for what I felt during this song. The band did perfect justice to the 36 year-old studio version with this live rendition. The intro riff, the chorus and the bridge solo can be described by only one word that is coming to mind right now. WOW! Another new song 'Say Yeah' followed this. Paul asked the crowd to practice singing the chorus before they played it. All of us went 'Say Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah!' in response to him and this continued when they did the full song. I must say I liked this new song too and it gave me almost a Bon Jovi feel rather than a KISS feel.

Paul told the crowd that they would next play a 'classic of classics' and indeed it was! 100,000 years was the song he was talking about. Gene kicked it off with the cool bass intro. They extended the duration of this song quite a bit as it included a spectacular drum solo with Eric's drum kit rotating full circle while he pounded on those drums, complete with pyro's going off in perfect rhythm with the drum beats. Then came the really fun guitar duel between Paul and Tommy. First Paul did some vocal notes and Tommy copied them exactly on to his guitar, then both of them competed on guitars. It ended with the guitar necks scratching each other. They got a raucous applause from the crowd as they went on to finish the song. More theatrics were to follow as Gene did his blood-spitting gig, after which he was hooked to two parallel ropes that pulled him all the way up on top of the lights! This could be enjoyed in its entirety only by the naked eye and no amount of descriptions or pictures can do it any justice. He remained up there and still had the mic with him as he sung the whole of the next song 'I Love It Loud'.

Classic after classic followed, the next one being 'Black Diamond'. 'Ooh Ooh, black diamond!' shouted we as they delighted us with this song. Next, Paul told the crowd to forget all about the screwed up world and all of its problems, leading into 'Rock And Roll All Night'. The whole stadium was filled with jets of confetti as they continued this rock and roll party for us grateful fans. At the risk of sounding cliched, I would say it was truly a sight to behold! With this they ended the main set of their show. They came back and did one of the longest encores I've seen, consisting of four songs. 'Shout It Out Loud' was the first of those followed by 'Lick It Up'. Then came the moment I was waiting for, my favorite KISS song 'Love Gun'. Paul asked the crowd to shout out his name loudly as he said 'I want to know if you're inviting me to come and see you'. He really flew into the crowd, suspended with ropes of course, and landed on a platform smack in the center of the arena as the intro riffs of 'Love Gun' kicked in. I was going mad, singing, head banging and jumping all at the same time as Paul remained on that center platform for the entire song. They ended the show with 'Detroit Rock City'. Ever after having a complete blast for all the 17 songs and the individual solos so far, I somehow gathered the energy to sing along this one last time and even chant the guitar solo. With that and with the message 'KISS loves Anaheim', they said a final goodbye and disappeared from sight.

That was the end of two of the most breathtaking, fun-filled, overwhelming and exciting hours I have ever gotten to experience. I have absolutely no doubt that this was the best rock concert I've seen in my life. The reason? The band, the make-up, the costumes, the classic music, the lights, the pyro's, the stage and even the fancy guitars which had picks taped all over the back of them. I have never seen a band put on a show quite like this. For people who find KISS tickets too expensive, I hope I have given you enough reason as to why that's the case! Sure they do charge a lot of money but they also know how to make use of it to deliver a show worth the cost for a paying fan! On a side note, it was really good to see Ross Halfin in the photo pit tonight. I'm a huge admirer of his pictures for bands like Iron Maiden and Metallica.

On the whole, it was the best show of my life and any KISS fan should try his or her best to see the band while they are still doing these shows! Whether you like KISS's music or not is up to you to decide, but you should know that they really know how to combine music with theatrics. They have the best stage presence, especially Paul and Gene who had the crowd on their feet the entire time even at the ages of 57 and 60 respectively. This adds even more to the spectacle that's KISS. Even Rock And Roll Over for KISS!!

Here's their complete set list:

1. Deuce
2. Strutter
3. Let Me Go Rock N' Roll
4. Hotter Than Hell
5. Shock Me
6. Calling Dr. Love
7. Parasite
8. Modern Day Delilah
9. Cold Gin
10. Say Yeah
11. 100,000 Years/Drum Solo/Guitar duel
12. I Love It Loud/Gene blood spit/rising above the light towers
13. Black Diamond
14. Rock And Roll All Night

Encore:
15. Shout It Out Loud
16. Lick It Up
17. Love Gun/Paul flying into the crowd
18. Detroit Rock City