Story and photos by Rob Grabowski
Halloween was extended another week this year as the unmistakeable rock group KISS brought their bombastic Alive 35 Tour with opening act Buckcherry to the United Center in Chicago last Friday night. Wearing full make-up and costumes, Gene Simmons and Paul Stanley are the only two original members remaining with guitarist Tommy Thayer and drummer Eric Singer rounding out the quartet. KISS still delivers an over-the- top stage show full of pyrotechnics, with a mass array of lights set against an enormous video screen. They thrust themselves squarely upon the capacity crowd with the frayed classics "Deuce" and "Strutter."
With a catalog spanning 35 years, they remain a greatest hits band and deliver a majority of early hits from the original make-up era. Since Ace Frehley no longer sports the spaceman outfit, Tommy Thayer does an admirable job singing "Shock Me." KISS does have a new CD, Sonic Boom, from which they played the radio friendly, "Modern Day Delilah" to a warm reception. "Black Diamond," with Singer in the catman outfit on vocals, and "Rock and Roll All Night" finished out the set with an encore consisting of "Shout It Out Loud," "Lick It Up," "Love Gun" that saw Stanley fly to a stage in the back of the crowd, and the seminal classic "Detroit Rock City."
Singer and Thayer really add a new dimension to the group with their own distinct musical offerings. Thayer's soloing and power chords are like tinsel on a Christmas tree and Singer's drumming style and background vocals really set a solid rhythm that is the glue holding it all together. The flamboyant Paul Stanley, who has never sounded better vocally, and Gene Simmons is the ring leader with his fire breathing and blood spewing antics. Going to a KISS concert has become a right of passage from the looks of the ages in the audience. A family outing seemed to be more accurate than the teenage rebellion from which they originated. The same kids who were listening to KISS back in the '70s and '80s are now able to bring their kids to see what their parents did at their age much like a father taking his son to a baseball game to cheer for his favorite team.
After 35 years KISS shows no signs of slowing down. As long as they keep putting on the seven inch heels and legendary stage show with a musical onslaught of hits, fans of all ages will come to rock and roll all night.
