www.couriermail.com.au
THEY came, they saw ... they rocked yet again.
KISS rocked and roll back into town last night, and the local garrison of the KISS Army "licked it up".
In their 40th anniversary year, mainstays Paul Stanley and Gene Simmons might be expected to plod through the motions, but they still threw themselves into the showmanship, even if the banter with the crowd hadn't changed much in the past few tours.
Despite this being billed as the Monster Tour, and the band having two albums of new material to draw on, they played it safe with a setlist dominated by the old staples such as Detroit Rock City, Shout It Out Loud, I Love It Loud and Dr Love, reaching right back to Deuce and Firehouse. The only new songs that got a look-in were Hell or Hallelujah, War Machine and Outta This World (with relatively new lead guitarist Tommy Thayer on vocals).
There were the trademark theatrics, from Simmons' fire-breathing and blood-spitting to Thayer's fireworks-shooting guitar. Thayer joined Eric Singer for a guitar/drum solo on levitating platforms, while Simmons soared atop the lighting gantry to perform I Love It Loud.
And, of course, there were enough pyrotechnics to bring down a small military regime.
But the stage setup was spartan compared to the elaborate setup of support act Motley Crüe.
In fact, after local rockers Diva Demolition and '70s legends Thin Lizzy had warmed up the crowd, the Crüe gave KISS's theatrics a run for their money with flame-shooting guitars, fireworks, trapeze artists and rotating drumkit.
KISS wrap up their Australian tour in Mackay on Saturday night.
