KISS goes out with a bang at the Milwaukee stop of their 'End of the Road' farewell tour
By Piet Levy, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
"Can you feel the heat?" the guy with the crazy eyes screamed excitedly at me as KISS rocked in front of towering flames and thousands of Milwaukee fans Friday.
If I had to guess, I suspect you could have felt the heat in the Fiserv Forum lobby.
Few rock bands blow stuff up quite as good as KISS. And with this being the "End of the Road" farewell tour, the flames and fireworks were really flying.
They naturally made an explosive entrance for set opener "Detroit Rock City." Rockets fired off across the ceiling of the packed arena, as Gene Simmons, Paul Stanley and Tommy Thayer descended onto the stage on separate platforms, a shower of sparks rained down behind them.
There were also fireworks. And bursts of flames.
There were enough fire and fury to have pyromaniacs' tongues wagging like, well, Gene Simmons. Near the end of "Black Diamond," stoic drummer Eric Singer pointed to different parts of the stage with his drumsticks, cuing up bursts of fireworks, the song's bombastic finish accompanied by spinning cartwheels of white sparks — and more explosions.
KISS even stuffed a blinding fireworks display into a seemingly random lull during "Psycho Circus." And Thayer occasionally interrupted his solo during "Cold Gin" — just one of his many dazzling guitar moments Friday — to launch some fireworks from his instrument.
It was something any card-carrying members of the KISS Army would recognize from previous shows. But along with the greatest hits, the fans no doubt wanted the greatest bits.
And so Simmons spit fire near the end of "War Machine" and during a bass solo for "God of Thunder," opened his mouth and let a pool of blood dribble down his chin, his tongue slashing around, looking like that creature in "Alien" after it burst out of that guy's chest.
