KISS hold a minute's silence in Birmingham in memory of music fans killed in Manchester
Moving tribute added something special to a Barclaycard Arena night of unforgettable powerhouse rock and pyrotechnics
Graham Young / Birmingham Mail
What a gig! And what a life-affirming night of nights.
After just two songs came the most important bit at the packed Barclaycard Arena � a minute�s silence in memory of the 22 souls who perished in Manchester after a suicide bomber attacked a crowd of innocent young girls leaving an Ariana Grande concert on what should have been the night of their lives.
It was the second event of its kind withing 36 hours as the Birmingham Pride weekend had also had a minute's silence in Victoria Square at noon on Saturday, which followed a vigil on May 23.
On the back of that atrocity, KISS have had to cancel this week�s planned show at the Manchester Arena , leaving Birmingham in the middle of just two more UK gigs � Glasgow before and London to come.
The band said they were �heartbroken� by the news of last week�s killings, but they certainly stood up to be counted like never before in a venue guarded by armed police with machine guns � just like the neighbouring Symphony Hall hosting an Anastacia concert.
But if you wanted any superstars to come rolling into town ready to lift the gloom on the back of a terror attack as devastating as Manchester it would be larger-than-life KISS.
The US rock giants are like cartoon characters waking up in a panto created by Ozzy Osbourne .
Check back later on Bank Holiday Monday to see our video of their fans as KISS rolled back the years to deliver a show that literally had everything.
There was a giant screen of the highest clarity, flames galore, fireworks aplenty, two crane lifts, two wire lifts, two podiums and a brilliant barrage of stadium-shaking riffs which underpinned some of rock�s greatest anthems.
Take your pick from Lick It Up to Crazy Crazy Nights through to the double encore of I Was Made For Loving You and Detroit Rock City, the fourth song of the night from the seminal Destroyer album which also spawned Shout It Out Loud, Flaming Youth and God of Thunder.
From the regular opener Deuce and Shout It Out Loud just before that minute�s silence, KISS were literally on fire as they plucked some of the choicest cuts from their back catalogue of a score of studio albums.
Other highlights included Firehouse and Black Diamond off the first �KISS� album, as well as Say Yeah from their 19th album, Sonic Boom, while War Machine from the Creatures off the Night album was their equivalent of Black Sabbath�s War Pigs.
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