Review: KISS Turns Back The Clock During 'End Of The Road' Tour Stop In Chicago
By Jim Ryan / Forbes.com
In perhaps the entirety of rock and roll’s brief history, no band has better marketed itself than New York hard rock stalwarts KISS.
Over the course of their 46 years, the group has put their name on everything from condoms to caskets, continually cashing in despite an era where its become increasingly difficult to monetize recorded music.
Though they’ve sold records too – 100 million of them (25 million albums), making them one of the best selling groups in the history of hard rock.
But KISS’s true legacy has been and will always be their seemingly ubiquitous presence on the road.
Their breakthrough record was a live album and Alive! (1975) remains one of the most influential live sets ever.
Since staging their first “farewell” tour in 2000, the last to feature the group’s original lineup, each subsequent road trip has elicited a wink, nod and occasional chuckle from fans.
So it’s with moderate disbelief and slight trepidation that KISS fans approach the group’s current “End of the Road” tour, one which makes its way through the midwest, northeast and into Canada before heading abroad with dates scheduled through the rest of 2019.
“Chicago!” bellowed the familiar opening stage announcement following Led Zeppelin’s “Rock and Roll” Saturday night at United Center. “You wanted the best, you got the best: KISS!”
As rock and roll disappears from terrestrial radio in America, it can be easy to forget just how many hits KISS has had in parts of five decades. Nothing hammers that home though quite like a live set and the group wasted no time getting to their biggest tracks, opening with “Detroit Rock City” as each band member flew into the air amidst a trail of sparks and smoke on hydraulic lifts.
“How you doin,’ Chicago?” asked co-founding guitarist/vocalist Paul Stanley, hamming it up in his thick New York accent. “Here we are on a Saturday night – the ‘End of the Road’ tour. We’ve been coming here since we did the Aragon Ballroom in 1974!” he recalled of the group’s earliest days playing clubs.
Stanley remains vastly entertaining in his role as KISS master of ceremonies, going to great lengths to find new ways to familiarize his banter for the crowd in every city with each passing tour.
“Chicago, just in case you didn’t realize it, you’re looking at a band that’s in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame!” he said following “Deuce,” reminding fans that it took until 2014 for his band to be enshrined. “Now it’s no secret that the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame hates KISS,” said Stanley to laughs from the sold out Chicago crowd. “But they had to listen to you,” he continued, singling out the unparalleled role of the “KISS Army” in the group’s ongoing success.
CLICK HERE to read the rest of the review & view more KISS concert photos.
