"I feel uptight on a Saturday night..." -- KISS' "Detroit Rock City"
Uptight? Perhaps not... but indeed, I'd be happier if I were at tonight's KISS show!
As I write this, I'm listening to tonight's Mohegan Sun KISS concert on my phone. Yes, a friend has called me from Connecticut so I can hear the show..! How bad is that?
Actually, it's great. Even through the phone, KISS sounds vibrant and energizing and alive. All night I've been thinking about where I was a week ago today, when KISS kicked off their Alive 35 tour with two electrifying shows in Detroit's Cobo Hall.
So what's a weekend like in the life of this KISS fan?
Friday, September 25th, 2009
(All times are semi-approximate... I don't wear a watch!)
10:30am - Husband and I, after leaving our KISS children in the excellent care of their grandparents, drive 5+ hours from home in Chicagoland to Detroit. Throughout drive, we receive phonecalls from friends who attended Thursday night's dress rehearsal & we lament that life, work, and children prevented us from leaving a day earlier. Friends dish details on new stage, new costumes, and how dangerous/unsavory downtown Detroit is. Friends also advise that under no circumstances should we attempt to walk the four blocks between the hotel and the arena, again due to the current state of downtown Detroit.
4:00pm - Arrive at hotel. Drop bags at room, visit friends, head to Cobo. Pick up tickets and laminates and head backstage. While walking behind arena, marvel at the multitude -- actually, truckloads -- of flammable gas tanks stacked outside. KISS shows have always had a lot of pyro, but there are enough canisters here to blow the building apart... which we fully expect the band to do in a few hours.
5:00pm - Band's arrived and is currently in dressing room. Visit with numerous friends who have converged on Detroit for the same reasons we have. Film backstage footage for KISSonline. Venture outdoors to take photos in front of Cobo under KISS marquee. Interview fans outside arena for KOL as well.
5:45pm - In front of the arena, someone in the throng of people notices a great deal of blood on the sidewalk. Everyone looks around to try to determine where it came from and whether there is some kind of threat to our safety.
5:50pm - Notice that blood on sidewalk originated with fan dressed as Gene Simmons spitting fake blood as he walks around. Crowd is relieved.
6:00pm - See former KISS manager Bill Aucoin arrive at Cobo in a limo.
6:10pm - Head back inside the arena to hunt down a tourbook. Earlier this summer, my friend Keith (KISSonline webmaster) and I wrote the text for the new KISS Alive 35 tourbook - and as a fan, anytime you can contribute to something that becomes a piece of the band's KISStory, it's an incredibly rewarding experience. At any rate, I haven't actually seen the book yet since submitting the final text.
6:20pm - Lines to purchase tourbooks are insanely long. Husband stops someone carrying new tourbook and asks to see it. Flip to page 3, see my byline... and smile :)
6:45pm - Head backstage again to help with meet & greet. I'm filming the event for KOL and my husband is taking photographs for the site as well.
7:00pm - KISS enters meet and greet area & begins taking photos and signing autographs for about 75 fans.
7:05pm - Meet and greet area is quickly overrun by throng of fans. I climb on top of a semi-stable pallet of cases of Fiji water bottles behind me to continue filming event over heads of fans.
7:45pm - Buckcherry takes the stage - can vaguely hear them off in the distance. Continue watching and filming fans meet the band for the first time, which is always great fun to see. Many parents have brought their children to see the KISS spectacle, and I look forward to doing the same later in this tour with our little guys.
7:55pm - Band is signing their last autographs. I get close to Gene and put the camera about 18" from his nose. He responds by pulling me around by the laminate around my neck, then signs it and holds it in front of the camera.
8:00pm - Band leaves to go warm up before the show. One of the crew snags some Cokes from KISS's hospitality room and we enjoy a quick caffeine fix before the show.
8:45pm - Head out to the front of the house to wait for show to begin. Tonight we're on Tommy's side of the stage in the first tier, 11th row.
9:00pm - In a change from KISS's previous concerts, they do not use a curtain drop, nor does "Won't Get Fooled Again" precede their entrance -- they are, after all, recreating the "Alive!" years. Band opens with "Deuce" and Cobo erupts. It's insane. I've been to a lot of KISS shows in my time, but the energy in this place is so thick that you can feel it on your skin.
For the next two and a half hours, KISS does what they do best. They rock. We scream. We sing. We live and love and breathe this band. I film about a third of the show to post clips on KISSonline later tonight.
12:00am (I'm not even certain, exactly -- sometime after midnight.) Backstage again. I've got confetti in my hair, shirt and purse from the air cannons raining it down during "Rock and Roll All Nite." About half the people we see backstage are also covered with random bits of confetti as well. Band is getting out of makeup & preparing to return to hotel.
12:30am-ish - We discuss how to return to the hotel. As our friend who drove made several trips running back and forth from the hotel to Cobo, we now have 8 people who need to go back to the hotel in a car that seats 5. Detroit is not a pretty place at night.
12:45am-ish- 8 of us indeed squeeze into a 5-seat Chevy Cobalt. The driver is the only person seated safely. Two friends sat on top of each other in the passenger's seat, and five of us crowded into the bench in the back, which should have seated three. We laugh like idiots and remark that none of us have done anything like this since high school. I silently wonder what we should say if we're pulled over by the police -- then look around and see no police anywhere in the city.
12:48am-ish - We arrive back at the hotel after a four-block drive. Hotel doorman and people on sidewalk crack up witnessing so many people climbing out of such a small car. Car is left with the valet so no one actually needs to walk back alone from the parking deck.
12:50am - KISS's van pulls up to the hotel and the band enters the lobby. Tommy comes over and tells us that they just saw a shooting in the street a block and a half from the hotel - the band's van was right behind us! I say a little prayer to God thanking him we all got back to the hotel safely.
1:00am - Realizing no one has had dinner yet, we discuss food options that will not necessitate leaving the hotel (truly, the Westin Detroit is a lush, beautiful oasis of safety... surrounded by devastation and burned-out, boarded-up and abandoned buildings.) Tommy thinks the hotel bar also serves food. We head to the bar.
1:05am - Hotel bar is no longer serving food at this hour. Our group discusses other dining options. There is a bar and grille next door to the hotel. But this would necessitate walking in Detroit at night.
1:10am - RUN to the Big City Grille next door. Duck inside safely. Realize every KISS fan in the city is also eating here as the place is packed with KISS t-shirts. We grab a table in the back and order from the limited menu of bar food (wraps, wings, and pizzas.) KISS road and video crew members join our table and we discuss the finer points of tonight's show. Their insight into what goes into setting up each night's performance is fascinating.
2:00am - Return to the Westin (running again, me in the dodging-bullets-ducking-down pose, which cracks up rest of group.) Hey, I can't get shot! We have work to do tonight...
2:15am - Change into KISS pajamas (yep, really) and lug video camera and laptop down hall to friends' hotel room, which has become KISSonline central for this trip. Band photographer is on one computer going through photos from show. KOL Webmaster is posting show reviews and photos. I set up my computer and begin editing clips from tonight's concert into 10-minute montage:
3:00am - My husband looks out the hotel window and calls everyone else over to look out at the city at night. It is unlike anything we've ever seen. There are no cars in the street. There are no lights on in any of the buildings. It is eerily dead and desolate out there.
3:30am - Everyone is thirsty. Someone orders 4 bottled waters, 2 iced teas and 2 Cokes from room service.
3:45am - Room service arrives with our tray of drinks. The bill is $49!
4:30am - Finish editing video clips from tonight's show and begin uploading them to KISSonline. Lament that hotel wi-fi connection is slow as heck and realize that this will take awhile.
5:00am - Our photographer friend falls asleep on his bed. My husband falls asleep in a chair shortly after. I drink a very expensive Coke and try to stay awake.
5:45am - Still working on KISSonline. Internet connection is slow but we're getting clips posted. We discuss whether or not we're even going to sleep at all tonight.
6:30am - Video clips are finally uploaded and posted to the site. We decide to reconvene for breakfast at 10am. Wake husband, head to our hotel room and close the window shades as the sun is coming up..!
September 26th, 2009
10:00am - Wake up. Realize we need more digital videotapes for KISSonline and our photographer friend needs more memory sticks for tonight's show. We get the car and drive out of downtown Detroit. Again, the number of abandoned and boarded-up buildings is truly staggering.
11:00am - Visit various electronics and camera stores to get necessary supplies. Eric calls and asks if we can get some Therma-care heat pads for him while we're out. Stop at Meijer and run in to pick them up. KOL webmaster calls while I'm racing "Supermarket Sweep" style through the store and suggests playing a joke on yet another friend of ours that we caught picking his nose in front of Paul. I pick up a box of Kleenex for the joke (we wanted to have Paul write "Please don't pick your nose in front of me again" ON the Kleenex box.) Perhaps you had to be there... but it was funny!
11:00pm - Stop for lunch in a mall somewhere.
1:00pm - Return to hotel to transfer more videotapes to computer for editing & post reviews and photos to KISSonline.
3:30pm - Head back to Cobo to get ready for tonight's show. Talk to the merchandise staff and learn that there are only 75 commemorative tourbooks left in the building -- they almost sold out completely the night before. I know I have a copy of the book somewhere backstage being held for me, but I decide to buy some extra copies of the tourbooks for our kids as someone says the $25 books are now selling for $95 on Ebay. (I am collecting a lot of KISS mementos for the kids this year...)
4:00pm - Our friend Al, who's photographing the show for KISS, sees our tourbooks and decides he would like one too before they're sold out. Run back upstairs to top of arena (over a huge, multi-level ramp that winds around the entire arena) and buy book for Al. Run back down, down, down and around huge ramp back to backstage area.
4:20pm - Paul's guitar tech Fran sees our tourbooks and asks if we can pick him up some Detroit tourbooks too before they're gone. Run back upstairs over that enormous, lonnnnng ramp again and buy more books for Fran. :) (And feel like I definitely got my exercise for the day already... easily ran a mile or more with all of these impromptu jogs around the venue.)
5:00pm - Band arrives and heads to dressing room.
6:00pm - Venture back outside to film and talk to fans outside Cobo. General air of excitement is even crazier than usual.
6:20pm - Meet Lee and Bruce, the two guys pictured on the back of KISS's Alive! album. The photo was taken inside Cobo Hall when they were kids. They're back at Cobo for the show with the original Alive! banner in a large box. I touch the banner.
6:40pm - Find that my purse has quickly filled up with other people's stuff. As the only girl in our group of friends, everyone is stashing their t-shirts, concert cds and other merchandise in my about-to-burst purse.
6:50pm - Another one of my friends says "Jill, can you hold this?" and stuffs who-knows-what into my purse. That Kleenex box from earlier in the day? Also in there, and now there's no more room for it. I remove the Kleenex box and set it aside.
7:00pm - Meet and greet begins. Band enters, and we do it all over again tonight. This night, the NHL is presenting KISS with customized Detroit Redwings hockey jerseys, which are amazing. After that, the Alive guys take a photo with the band and their vintage banner, and then the flood of fans enter once again for their photos and autographs.
8:00pm - Band leaves to go warm up once again. Realizing we haven't eaten anything in hours, we scope the food scene at the venue and find it somewhat lacking. Decide to get food after the show.
8:45pm - Head out to our seats. Tonight our group has a block of eight seats in the fourth row on Gene's side. It's a completely different show when you're that close and we're looking forward to it. I realize I am still carrying this stupid Kleenex box around and stash it under my seat.
9:00pm: The show opens again with "Deuce," and I realize this is the LAST time Cobo will fill with the sounds of KISS, with tens of thousands of crazed KISS fans. It's an ethereal, surreal moment and I feel my eyes begin to tear up. Paul calls out from the stage that Cobo is our church, and we are in our holy land tonight. Indeed, it feels like a church.
9:00+ hour: Gene breathes fire. We're so close that we can feel the heat of the fireball Gene blows in the air after "Hotter Than Hell." Moments later, our Demon rinses his mouth out with mouthwash, then spits it out... and a mixture of kerosene and Listerine land in my hair.
10:00+ hour: The band and the crowd are at a fever pitch tonight. The city is tearing Cobo down after this show, and KISS seems determined to blow the arena apart, brick by brick, before the wrecking ball even gets close.
Nearly 11:00: The band launches into "Lick it Up," and the crowd loses it. I've never seen such a jubilant bunch of KISS fans singing, dancing, swaying with arms around each other, shouting and calling out to the stage. It was joyous and crazy and wild and vibrant. The security guards keeping the aisles clear have given up on holding people back, and those on the floor rush the stage. There are no aisles. Just a sea of swaying, singing KISS fans.
The band plays "Detroit Rock City" for the final time at Cobo and launches more pyro that you can imagine. People are crying. People are waving their arms in the air and pumping their fists. It is a high beyond measure. And then... the band leaves the stage... "God Gave Rock and Roll to You" emanates from the PA, and reluctantly, the fans begin leaving the arena.
Sometime after 11:00pm - We're backstage again. I run into our nose-picking friend and realize I've left that Kleenex box under my seat in the arena. Run back to the arena, where the crew is already tearing the place apart. The Kleenex box was right where I left it (who would steal a box of Kleenex?) and I grab it, running back through the backstage hallway with the box held high.
11:10pm - Present the Kleenex to this friend in front of the rest of our KISS family. He promises not to pick his nose in front of Paul again.
11:20pm: KOL webmaster is getting some Paul Stanley Washburn guitars signed by Paul for a KOL contest/giveaway. They're gorgeous, gold sunburst. Paul signs the guitars so we can take them back to the hotel. Before we go, someone suggests we all go back into the arena and take photos of each other in front of the iconic curved back wall of the arena (shown on the back of the "Alive!" album.)
We go in shifts with one of us watching the three guitars at all times (backstage is a busy place after the show, and while most of the people back here are working in some capacity, nobody wants to see three autographed guitars go walking off either.) I sit with the guitars while some other friends take photos in Cobo. One comes back and relieves me of guitar guarding detail... my husband and I head into the arena and take our photo.
When I come back, nobody's sitting with the guitars, though some fans are checking them out and trying to open the cases. I swoop up all three and sling them over my back in succession -- wearing three guitars at once is heavy! I then seek out the guy who was supposed to be watching them and chastise him gently -- only to find he'd passed guitar-watch detail to yet another one of our friends, who in turn walked off to take his photo in the empty Cobo.
(It's worth mentioning here again that, at this point, we are all operating on about 3 1/2 hours' sleep over the past 41 hours. A lapse of reason is almost understandable. Almost.)
11:40pm - Spot our friend Dale Torborg, former professional wrestler backstage & realize I haven't said hello. We hug, and he says "Jill, I tried to stop you before, but you tore past me with a box of Kleenex in your hand like it was the Olympic torch or something!" Fill Dale on on the Kleenex and nosepicking story since he too knows the culprit.
12:00am - Midnight -- I'm sitting on a road case watching the crew tear down. Get chastised by KISS crew for sitting down on the job - crew points out they haven't sat down all night. Hop off road case. Indeed, the KISS crew are some of the most devoted, hardest-working people you will ever meet. KOL webmaster learns there is video footage of crew setting up stage at Cobo and gets a copy so we can edit it later. I plan to make a 5-minute montage showing Cobo in a completely empty state... transforming to the point where the band walks in and sees it ready to go:
But it's hard to want to leave. We should be exhausted at this point, but... nobody really is. And it's already starting to hit me that tomorrow, we'll go home. If you've ever seen the movie "Almost Famous," with fans following their favorite band around the country, there's a scene where, after days on the road with the band, William laments, "I have to go home." Penny motions to the band, the fans, and their tour bus and states... "You are home." Powerful words.
12:05am - Discuss car options for getting back to the hotel without pulling another clown-car scenario like we did last night as Dale is now coming back with us too.
12:15am - After deciding to make two trips for our group, we go outside to the crew parking lot and find that our car has been blocked in by a pyrotechnics truck and another large van. Ponder (briefly) walking the four blocks to the hotel and quickly decide against it.
12:45am - Locate driver of pyro truck, who backs it up just enough that our car can squeak through an impossibly small space. I go back with the first group of people, head up to our room and start pulling video from KISSonline's camera for tonight's web clips of the show.
1:30am - Realize I still haven't had dinner. Grab a box of Ritz crackers I had packed in my suitcase and munch crackers while editing video.
2:10am - My husband and the rest of our friends return to the hotel with a large pizza. I have no idea where they got a pizza at this hour... nor do I care. They have also brought some cans of pop and bottles of water (we won't make that room service mistake again!)
2:15am - Packing up the laptop and video camera, we move across the hall again to "KISSonline Central," setting up shop in the other hotel room to edit videos again. Tonight, our friend Russell (who films a lot at shows for KOL... and is also the unofficial KISS historian of our group) has shot some gorgeous footage of "Love Gun," and it's the first clip I transfer:
(Want to know how devoted Russell is to filming these shows for KOL? He was running around the arena, from the front row to the upper balconies like a madman, getting the best angles and perspectives for various songs -- and we were signaling to each other when it was time for tape and battery changes, so I could run over and swap them out of the camera. Russell, I salute you!)
3:05am - "Love Gun" is done and uploaded, and I continue editing two more clips for the web site. Everyone is on the verge of falling asleep. I'm teaching a workshop tomorrow (technically, today) at noon back in Illinois, and my husband and I estimated we'd need to leave around 6am for me to be home in time to get home, breathe, and turn around and head to class.
4am-ish? Can't even remember! - Finally finish editing video. Say goodnight and goodbye to everyone, as we're going home in the morning (it is morning...) & head back to our room to sleep... for two and a half hours.
6:30am - Wake up. Realize we're semi behind schedule. Pack everything up haphazardly, get the car, get going. Thankfully, my husband has had (slightly) more sleep than I have at this point, and he graciously encourages me to snooze on the drive. Which I gladly do.
10:45am (gained an hour driving home!) We stop and pick up our children, who want to hear all about the trip. "When do I get to go to the KISS show, mama?" asks my middle son. Soon, little man... soon!
11:45am - We're home. I run inside, change from my KISS pajamas into business casual, get back in the car and drive for two hours to my workshop.
And for the entire drive, I smile.
I spent my weekend with KISS.
Uptight? Perhaps not... but indeed, I'd be happier if I were at tonight's KISS show!
As I write this, I'm listening to tonight's Mohegan Sun KISS concert on my phone. Yes, a friend has called me from Connecticut so I can hear the show..! How bad is that?
Actually, it's great. Even through the phone, KISS sounds vibrant and energizing and alive. All night I've been thinking about where I was a week ago today, when KISS kicked off their Alive 35 tour with two electrifying shows in Detroit's Cobo Hall.
So what's a weekend like in the life of this KISS fan?
Friday, September 25th, 2009
(All times are semi-approximate... I don't wear a watch!)
10:30am - Husband and I, after leaving our KISS children in the excellent care of their grandparents, drive 5+ hours from home in Chicagoland to Detroit. Throughout drive, we receive phonecalls from friends who attended Thursday night's dress rehearsal & we lament that life, work, and children prevented us from leaving a day earlier. Friends dish details on new stage, new costumes, and how dangerous/unsavory downtown Detroit is. Friends also advise that under no circumstances should we attempt to walk the four blocks between the hotel and the arena, again due to the current state of downtown Detroit.
5:00pm - Band's arrived and is currently in dressing room. Visit with numerous friends who have converged on Detroit for the same reasons we have. Film backstage footage for KISSonline. Venture outdoors to take photos in front of Cobo under KISS marquee. Interview fans outside arena for KOL as well.
5:45pm - In front of the arena, someone in the throng of people notices a great deal of blood on the sidewalk. Everyone looks around to try to determine where it came from and whether there is some kind of threat to our safety.
5:50pm - Notice that blood on sidewalk originated with fan dressed as Gene Simmons spitting fake blood as he walks around. Crowd is relieved.
6:10pm - Head back inside the arena to hunt down a tourbook. Earlier this summer, my friend Keith (KISSonline webmaster) and I wrote the text for the new KISS Alive 35 tourbook - and as a fan, anytime you can contribute to something that becomes a piece of the band's KISStory, it's an incredibly rewarding experience. At any rate, I haven't actually seen the book yet since submitting the final text.
6:20pm - Lines to purchase tourbooks are insanely long. Husband stops someone carrying new tourbook and asks to see it. Flip to page 3, see my byline... and smile :)
6:45pm - Head backstage again to help with meet & greet. I'm filming the event for KOL and my husband is taking photographs for the site as well.
7:05pm - Meet and greet area is quickly overrun by throng of fans. I climb on top of a semi-stable pallet of cases of Fiji water bottles behind me to continue filming event over heads of fans.
7:45pm - Buckcherry takes the stage - can vaguely hear them off in the distance. Continue watching and filming fans meet the band for the first time, which is always great fun to see. Many parents have brought their children to see the KISS spectacle, and I look forward to doing the same later in this tour with our little guys.
7:55pm - Band is signing their last autographs. I get close to Gene and put the camera about 18" from his nose. He responds by pulling me around by the laminate around my neck, then signs it and holds it in front of the camera.
8:00pm - Band leaves to go warm up before the show. One of the crew snags some Cokes from KISS's hospitality room and we enjoy a quick caffeine fix before the show.
9:00pm - In a change from KISS's previous concerts, they do not use a curtain drop, nor does "Won't Get Fooled Again" precede their entrance -- they are, after all, recreating the "Alive!" years. Band opens with "Deuce" and Cobo erupts. It's insane. I've been to a lot of KISS shows in my time, but the energy in this place is so thick that you can feel it on your skin.
For the next two and a half hours, KISS does what they do best. They rock. We scream. We sing. We live and love and breathe this band. I film about a third of the show to post clips on KISSonline later tonight.
12:00am (I'm not even certain, exactly -- sometime after midnight.) Backstage again. I've got confetti in my hair, shirt and purse from the air cannons raining it down during "Rock and Roll All Nite." About half the people we see backstage are also covered with random bits of confetti as well. Band is getting out of makeup & preparing to return to hotel.
12:30am-ish - We discuss how to return to the hotel. As our friend who drove made several trips running back and forth from the hotel to Cobo, we now have 8 people who need to go back to the hotel in a car that seats 5. Detroit is not a pretty place at night.
12:45am-ish- 8 of us indeed squeeze into a 5-seat Chevy Cobalt. The driver is the only person seated safely. Two friends sat on top of each other in the passenger's seat, and five of us crowded into the bench in the back, which should have seated three. We laugh like idiots and remark that none of us have done anything like this since high school. I silently wonder what we should say if we're pulled over by the police -- then look around and see no police anywhere in the city.
12:48am-ish - We arrive back at the hotel after a four-block drive. Hotel doorman and people on sidewalk crack up witnessing so many people climbing out of such a small car. Car is left with the valet so no one actually needs to walk back alone from the parking deck.
12:50am - KISS's van pulls up to the hotel and the band enters the lobby. Tommy comes over and tells us that they just saw a shooting in the street a block and a half from the hotel - the band's van was right behind us! I say a little prayer to God thanking him we all got back to the hotel safely.
1:00am - Realizing no one has had dinner yet, we discuss food options that will not necessitate leaving the hotel (truly, the Westin Detroit is a lush, beautiful oasis of safety... surrounded by devastation and burned-out, boarded-up and abandoned buildings.) Tommy thinks the hotel bar also serves food. We head to the bar.
1:05am - Hotel bar is no longer serving food at this hour. Our group discusses other dining options. There is a bar and grille next door to the hotel. But this would necessitate walking in Detroit at night.
1:10am - RUN to the Big City Grille next door. Duck inside safely. Realize every KISS fan in the city is also eating here as the place is packed with KISS t-shirts. We grab a table in the back and order from the limited menu of bar food (wraps, wings, and pizzas.) KISS road and video crew members join our table and we discuss the finer points of tonight's show. Their insight into what goes into setting up each night's performance is fascinating.
2:00am - Return to the Westin (running again, me in the dodging-bullets-ducking-down pose, which cracks up rest of group.) Hey, I can't get shot! We have work to do tonight...
2:15am - Change into KISS pajamas (yep, really) and lug video camera and laptop down hall to friends' hotel room, which has become KISSonline central for this trip. Band photographer is on one computer going through photos from show. KOL Webmaster is posting show reviews and photos. I set up my computer and begin editing clips from tonight's concert into 10-minute montage:
3:00am - My husband looks out the hotel window and calls everyone else over to look out at the city at night. It is unlike anything we've ever seen. There are no cars in the street. There are no lights on in any of the buildings. It is eerily dead and desolate out there.
3:30am - Everyone is thirsty. Someone orders 4 bottled waters, 2 iced teas and 2 Cokes from room service.
3:45am - Room service arrives with our tray of drinks. The bill is $49!
4:30am - Finish editing video clips from tonight's show and begin uploading them to KISSonline. Lament that hotel wi-fi connection is slow as heck and realize that this will take awhile.
5:00am - Our photographer friend falls asleep on his bed. My husband falls asleep in a chair shortly after. I drink a very expensive Coke and try to stay awake.
5:45am - Still working on KISSonline. Internet connection is slow but we're getting clips posted. We discuss whether or not we're even going to sleep at all tonight.
6:30am - Video clips are finally uploaded and posted to the site. We decide to reconvene for breakfast at 10am. Wake husband, head to our hotel room and close the window shades as the sun is coming up..!
September 26th, 2009
10:00am - Wake up. Realize we need more digital videotapes for KISSonline and our photographer friend needs more memory sticks for tonight's show. We get the car and drive out of downtown Detroit. Again, the number of abandoned and boarded-up buildings is truly staggering.
11:00am - Visit various electronics and camera stores to get necessary supplies. Eric calls and asks if we can get some Therma-care heat pads for him while we're out. Stop at Meijer and run in to pick them up. KOL webmaster calls while I'm racing "Supermarket Sweep" style through the store and suggests playing a joke on yet another friend of ours that we caught picking his nose in front of Paul. I pick up a box of Kleenex for the joke (we wanted to have Paul write "Please don't pick your nose in front of me again" ON the Kleenex box.) Perhaps you had to be there... but it was funny!
11:00pm - Stop for lunch in a mall somewhere.
1:00pm - Return to hotel to transfer more videotapes to computer for editing & post reviews and photos to KISSonline.
3:30pm - Head back to Cobo to get ready for tonight's show. Talk to the merchandise staff and learn that there are only 75 commemorative tourbooks left in the building -- they almost sold out completely the night before. I know I have a copy of the book somewhere backstage being held for me, but I decide to buy some extra copies of the tourbooks for our kids as someone says the $25 books are now selling for $95 on Ebay. (I am collecting a lot of KISS mementos for the kids this year...)
4:00pm - Our friend Al, who's photographing the show for KISS, sees our tourbooks and decides he would like one too before they're sold out. Run back upstairs to top of arena (over a huge, multi-level ramp that winds around the entire arena) and buy book for Al. Run back down, down, down and around huge ramp back to backstage area.
4:20pm - Paul's guitar tech Fran sees our tourbooks and asks if we can pick him up some Detroit tourbooks too before they're gone. Run back upstairs over that enormous, lonnnnng ramp again and buy more books for Fran. :) (And feel like I definitely got my exercise for the day already... easily ran a mile or more with all of these impromptu jogs around the venue.)
5:00pm - Band arrives and heads to dressing room.
6:00pm - Venture back outside to film and talk to fans outside Cobo. General air of excitement is even crazier than usual.
6:40pm - Find that my purse has quickly filled up with other people's stuff. As the only girl in our group of friends, everyone is stashing their t-shirts, concert cds and other merchandise in my about-to-burst purse.
6:50pm - Another one of my friends says "Jill, can you hold this?" and stuffs who-knows-what into my purse. That Kleenex box from earlier in the day? Also in there, and now there's no more room for it. I remove the Kleenex box and set it aside.
7:00pm - Meet and greet begins. Band enters, and we do it all over again tonight. This night, the NHL is presenting KISS with customized Detroit Redwings hockey jerseys, which are amazing. After that, the Alive guys take a photo with the band and their vintage banner, and then the flood of fans enter once again for their photos and autographs.
8:00pm - Band leaves to go warm up once again. Realizing we haven't eaten anything in hours, we scope the food scene at the venue and find it somewhat lacking. Decide to get food after the show.
8:45pm - Head out to our seats. Tonight our group has a block of eight seats in the fourth row on Gene's side. It's a completely different show when you're that close and we're looking forward to it. I realize I am still carrying this stupid Kleenex box around and stash it under my seat.
9:00pm: The show opens again with "Deuce," and I realize this is the LAST time Cobo will fill with the sounds of KISS, with tens of thousands of crazed KISS fans. It's an ethereal, surreal moment and I feel my eyes begin to tear up. Paul calls out from the stage that Cobo is our church, and we are in our holy land tonight. Indeed, it feels like a church.
9:00+ hour: Gene breathes fire. We're so close that we can feel the heat of the fireball Gene blows in the air after "Hotter Than Hell." Moments later, our Demon rinses his mouth out with mouthwash, then spits it out... and a mixture of kerosene and Listerine land in my hair.
Nearly 11:00: The band launches into "Lick it Up," and the crowd loses it. I've never seen such a jubilant bunch of KISS fans singing, dancing, swaying with arms around each other, shouting and calling out to the stage. It was joyous and crazy and wild and vibrant. The security guards keeping the aisles clear have given up on holding people back, and those on the floor rush the stage. There are no aisles. Just a sea of swaying, singing KISS fans.
The band plays "Detroit Rock City" for the final time at Cobo and launches more pyro that you can imagine. People are crying. People are waving their arms in the air and pumping their fists. It is a high beyond measure. And then... the band leaves the stage... "God Gave Rock and Roll to You" emanates from the PA, and reluctantly, the fans begin leaving the arena.
Sometime after 11:00pm - We're backstage again. I run into our nose-picking friend and realize I've left that Kleenex box under my seat in the arena. Run back to the arena, where the crew is already tearing the place apart. The Kleenex box was right where I left it (who would steal a box of Kleenex?) and I grab it, running back through the backstage hallway with the box held high.
11:10pm - Present the Kleenex to this friend in front of the rest of our KISS family. He promises not to pick his nose in front of Paul again.
11:20pm: KOL webmaster is getting some Paul Stanley Washburn guitars signed by Paul for a KOL contest/giveaway. They're gorgeous, gold sunburst. Paul signs the guitars so we can take them back to the hotel. Before we go, someone suggests we all go back into the arena and take photos of each other in front of the iconic curved back wall of the arena (shown on the back of the "Alive!" album.)
When I come back, nobody's sitting with the guitars, though some fans are checking them out and trying to open the cases. I swoop up all three and sling them over my back in succession -- wearing three guitars at once is heavy! I then seek out the guy who was supposed to be watching them and chastise him gently -- only to find he'd passed guitar-watch detail to yet another one of our friends, who in turn walked off to take his photo in the empty Cobo.
(It's worth mentioning here again that, at this point, we are all operating on about 3 1/2 hours' sleep over the past 41 hours. A lapse of reason is almost understandable. Almost.)
11:40pm - Spot our friend Dale Torborg, former professional wrestler backstage & realize I haven't said hello. We hug, and he says "Jill, I tried to stop you before, but you tore past me with a box of Kleenex in your hand like it was the Olympic torch or something!" Fill Dale on on the Kleenex and nosepicking story since he too knows the culprit.
But it's hard to want to leave. We should be exhausted at this point, but... nobody really is. And it's already starting to hit me that tomorrow, we'll go home. If you've ever seen the movie "Almost Famous," with fans following their favorite band around the country, there's a scene where, after days on the road with the band, William laments, "I have to go home." Penny motions to the band, the fans, and their tour bus and states... "You are home." Powerful words.
12:05am - Discuss car options for getting back to the hotel without pulling another clown-car scenario like we did last night as Dale is now coming back with us too.
12:15am - After deciding to make two trips for our group, we go outside to the crew parking lot and find that our car has been blocked in by a pyrotechnics truck and another large van. Ponder (briefly) walking the four blocks to the hotel and quickly decide against it.
12:45am - Locate driver of pyro truck, who backs it up just enough that our car can squeak through an impossibly small space. I go back with the first group of people, head up to our room and start pulling video from KISSonline's camera for tonight's web clips of the show.
1:30am - Realize I still haven't had dinner. Grab a box of Ritz crackers I had packed in my suitcase and munch crackers while editing video.
2:10am - My husband and the rest of our friends return to the hotel with a large pizza. I have no idea where they got a pizza at this hour... nor do I care. They have also brought some cans of pop and bottles of water (we won't make that room service mistake again!)
2:15am - Packing up the laptop and video camera, we move across the hall again to "KISSonline Central," setting up shop in the other hotel room to edit videos again. Tonight, our friend Russell (who films a lot at shows for KOL... and is also the unofficial KISS historian of our group) has shot some gorgeous footage of "Love Gun," and it's the first clip I transfer:
(Want to know how devoted Russell is to filming these shows for KOL? He was running around the arena, from the front row to the upper balconies like a madman, getting the best angles and perspectives for various songs -- and we were signaling to each other when it was time for tape and battery changes, so I could run over and swap them out of the camera. Russell, I salute you!)
3:05am - "Love Gun" is done and uploaded, and I continue editing two more clips for the web site. Everyone is on the verge of falling asleep. I'm teaching a workshop tomorrow (technically, today) at noon back in Illinois, and my husband and I estimated we'd need to leave around 6am for me to be home in time to get home, breathe, and turn around and head to class.
4am-ish? Can't even remember! - Finally finish editing video. Say goodnight and goodbye to everyone, as we're going home in the morning (it is morning...) & head back to our room to sleep... for two and a half hours.
6:30am - Wake up. Realize we're semi behind schedule. Pack everything up haphazardly, get the car, get going. Thankfully, my husband has had (slightly) more sleep than I have at this point, and he graciously encourages me to snooze on the drive. Which I gladly do.
10:45am (gained an hour driving home!) We stop and pick up our children, who want to hear all about the trip. "When do I get to go to the KISS show, mama?" asks my middle son. Soon, little man... soon!
11:45am - We're home. I run inside, change from my KISS pajamas into business casual, get back in the car and drive for two hours to my workshop.
And for the entire drive, I smile.
I spent my weekend with KISS.
