Lights dimmed at the Hampton Coliseum on Oct. 16, 2009 as the eerie bank of graveyard fog came rolling in, the Black and Silver emblazoned KISS curtain fell, and from the smoking depths of hell, dressed in all their regalia, and faces painted came Gene “The Demon” Simmons, Paul Stanley, Tommy Thayer and Eric Singer to a near sold out crowd.
They started the night with “Deuce” and “Strutter” with Paul playing his Washburn “V” guitar behind his head, then he asked “Hampton, how you doin’?” He stated, “Although this is a small crowd, you sure are a loud one”, which led right into a riff blaring “Let me go Rock & Roll” and “Hotter than Hell” with blazing red fire engine sirens lit on the stage and huge flaming video cubes that were spewing fire from the top of them, at this point Gene stepped stage left, grabbed a sword torch and spit fire towards the ceiling and then looked to the crowd for their ultimate approval.
Next up was “Got to Choose” and that is when Paul engaged the audience in a shouting contest, pointing left side, right side, then center to see who was the loudest, and from our vantage point we think the left side won, because that was where we were standing and could hear the most screaming and hollering. Paul shook his head yes because he couldn’t choose then opened his arms to embrace all the LOVE KISS was getting from the crowd.
After the contest, Paul mentioned their new album entitled “Sonic Boom” which as of last night was # 2 on the Billboard.com Rock Album charts http://www.billboard.com but as of today, has moved to the #1 spot for the week of Oct. 24, 2009, which is no surprise given the devotion of the fans, new recruits, and current members of the KISS Army.
Paul took a minute to stop and say that he remembers Hampton and remembers being in this exact coliseum back in the 70’s and how it had been such a long time but he has never forgotten the fans then, and he will never forget the fans now.
They debuted “Modern Day Delilah” from the new album and Tommy Thayer stepped stage left onto risers that went clear up to the balcony, shredding his “Les Paul” guitar for the appreciative fans in the balcony, you could have felt every splinter that he ripped.
“C’mon and Love Me” was up next, followed by “She”. This is where Gene and Paul stood center stage with Gene wagging his tongue to lick up the fans and Paul making a phallic gesture with the neck of his guitar and the crowd ate it up with excitement.
The rest of the band exited the stage to leave Tommy Thayer all by himself to perform one of the most outrageous, awe inspiring, riff breaking five to eight minute solo, which included him masterfully playing behind his head. Coming close to the end of the solo Tommy put one guitar that magically was somehow still playing a steady note on its own, stepped stage left, and was given a second guitar. He continued his solo when all of the sudden he stepped stage right and fireworks shot from the neck of his guitar. After the second shot from the neck a set of three lights came falling from the ceiling, whether intentional or an accident the crowd went absolutely ballistic and then Tommy turned center stage and fired two more shots in the air finishing his solo. He looked stage right, and you could barely see a glimpse of Gene down in the depths of the stage set nodding his ultimate approval.
The remaining members of KISS came back on stage to “Parasite” and “100,000 Years”. After ending “100,000 Years”, Gene, Paul, and Tommy left the stage to give Eric Singer time to impress the crowd, playing a five to eight minute solo on his Pearl Drum set, Zildjian cymbals and Latin Percussions. The Drum set raised at least 3 stories high, rotated to stage left where Eric started pounding his drum sticks, asking the crowd to clap each time he pounded his sticks together. Starting slow, as he got faster, the claps from the crowd increased and stayed on beat with him as he started his solo. After a couple of minutes of beating the crowd to the bottoms of Hell, the drum set rotated stage right and he treated that side of the coliseum to the same punishment, but nah, he wasn’t even finished yet, the drums turned center stage and the rest of the crowd joined the rest of his minions in the depths of Hell, then the drum set rotated with his back to the crowd where he continued his punishment even longer before he rotated a full 360 degrees twice to finish everyone off.
This is where Gene and Paul came back on stage with Gene donning his Trademark Axe bass guitar with Paul swinging the microphone like a lasso out to each section of the crowd roping them in for what was to come.
Paul stepped off the stage, the crowd went nuts and started chanting, “GENE, GENE, GENE”, the stage went completely black, the graveyard fog came rolling in once again with lightning bolts on the video monitors, red and green stage lights, along with a strobe hitting Gene on the back with each lightning strike. Gene was transforming into the “DEMON” that he is. Gene’s mouth was full of “Blood” as it flowed down his chin, he motioned for the crowd to get louder, and as they did, he played his bass harder than I have ever heard him play.
This is when he ascended to the ceiling to a platform situated near the top of the coliseum, when Paul, Tommy and Eric rejoined him on stage to roll into “Wanna hear it Loud”, and “Black Diamond”, ending in “Rock and Roll all Night”, during which KISS made it snow inside the coliseum by plastering it with white confetti.
Close to the end of “Rock and Roll all Night”, Paul, Tommy, and Eric rose above the stage and as the song was complete, Paul KISSED the back of his guitar and started smashing it on his riser and it took 4 hard swings and she finally smashed to pieces.
They all descended, said “Good Night Hampton”, and left the stage. All the lights went out except the flashing KISS lighted logo center stage. The crowd was screaming “KISS, KISS, KISS”, KISS returned and Paul said “ I know you’re used to bands saying goodnight, leaving the stage, everyone screams, and the band comes back, plays an encore, says good night, and leaves again”. He said “NOT TONIGHT”, “We are going to give you the Longest Encore you have ever heard”.
The encore rolled into “Shout it out loud”, “Lick It Up”, and “Cold Gin”. After “Cold Gin”, Paul stood center stage and said, “It’s been a long time Hampton, there are a lot of old friends here and a lot of news ones I would like to get to know. To do that, I need to come out and join you but I can’t come out unless you invite me.” The crowd did indeed invite Paul to join them and he obliged them by stepping stage left onto the riser and said “I’m coming out there”, and flew to the center of the coliseum and they started hammering out “Love Gun”, and Paul returned back to the stage as the song finished.
Last, and certainly not least they ended the over 2 hour, hardest rocking, pyro filled, flames shooting to the rafters show with “Detroit Rock City” which simply can’t be described unless you were there.
After the concert we caught up with Ron Whitmore 40 of Richmond Virginia who had seen Kiss at the age of seven. Tonight, he brought his seven year old daughter Hannah Whitmore, who held a Virginia “KISS ROX” license plate the whole night. They were about to enjoy a backstage experience I am sure they both will never forget and per Ron “Kiss was absolutely awesome with Hannah!! Gene and Eric were goofing around with her making her smile quite a bit, she loved it!!” She’s ready to see KISS again, they really had a great time, this was his 41st time seeing KISS and was Hannah’s First time (“and surely not her last”). (photo courtesy of Ronald Whitmore from Richmond)
We also had the chance to speak to Derek Garman, Freddie Hamm, and Dustin Clark all from Virginia Beach, along with Mitch VanDyke from Kentucky all dressed as the members of KISS who stated “The show kicked so much ASS”, and “It was the best show we have ever seen.”
This was our first KISS concert and we kind of knew what to expect, but never did we realize the LOVE, RESPECT and DEVOTION demonstrated by the KISS Army last night. If there was a list for signing up, KISS gained two new recruits. This is definitely one concert that will FOREVER be emblazoned in our memories and we would especially like to thank all those who made this unforgettable night possible.
