KISS' 40th Anniversary Tour with Def Leppard rocks the Target Centre in Minneapolis, Minnesota tonight!
The Dead Daisies open the show at 7 pm.
Photo by Terry Wilson for KISSONLINE.
By Matt Wardlaw
One thing that becomes perfectly clear early in our conversation with Paul Stanley of KISS is that he doesn�t give a damn what the critics think. Instead, it�s the fans that have followed KISS since day one of their 40-year history as a group that really matter to the longtime singer and guitarist. During a phone call prior to the band�s current tour with Def Leppard, which stops in at Blossom Music Center this week, Stanley was happy to tell us exactly why the opinions of critics, �present company excluded,� as he added, don�t hold a lot of weight in his world.
�They didn�t go to school to get a degree in being critics � in a sense, they�re entertainers and they�re given a lot of credence by some people and ignored by others,� he says. �I don�t need somebody to tell me what good food is. Good food is what I swallow and bad food is what I spit out. Likewise, I don�t need to be educated about art or music, because it�s totally subjective. The people that count are the people who pay hard-earned money for tickets, hard-earned money for CDs, hard-earned money for T-shirts, belt buckles or whatever. So why would I chase the approval of people who really haven�t taken the test? So no, not at all. You�d have to ask the millions of people who are happy that we�ve done it. To this day, I still have issues with critics and with politics of critics and I am proud of what I�ve done and proud to continue doing it.�
From the band�s earliest days, Stanley says that they always knew what they wanted to do as a group and although they certainly made a big statement with their makeup, they wanted to make an even bigger statement with their music.
KISS ARMY Tinley Park, You look great! Here's the KISS Army at last night's show in Illinois.
Photos by Jill Cataldo for KISSONLINE.
Another great crowd at the First Midwest Bank Amphitheatre in Tinley Park, Illinois last night!
Photo by Keith Leroux for KISSONLINE.
Photo by Keith Leroux for KISSONLINE.
By Piet Levy of the Journal Sentinel
Photo by Michael McLoone
KISS wouldn't be KISS without the spectacle, and the band certainly wasn't skimping at its Alpine Valley Music Theatre show Friday as part of its 40th anniversary tour with co-headliner Def Leppard.
Fireworks erupted with the 75-minute set opener "Psycho Circus" � and popped during practically every song afterward; sparks even shot skyward from co-frontman Paul Stanley's guitar, "triggering" booming bursts above him for "Lick It Up." A dense fog shrouded the band at multiple points in the night and blasted down from above, as if the stage production itself was literally blowing off steam. There were flame throwers too, and co-frontman Gene Simmons spit fire at the end of "Hotter Than Hell."
But the greatest special effect was the showmanship of Simmons and Stanley � especially impressive considering the men are in their 60s and have been sporting the metal-studded black costumes and Kabuki-like face paint since the '70s.
Stanley was the relentless hype man, telling the crowd that Aug. 15, 2014, would be a night they would never forget, and doing everything in his power to live up to his promise. Before "Love Gun," he stepped onto a zip line with those monstrous silver heels to fly above the crowd toward a stage in the middle of the amphitheater � but not before demanding a deafening audience roar. Like Stanley, the crowd gave everything they got.
Simmons continued to personify the superhero-inspired, larger-than-life spirit of KISS, with a barking, booming voice and comically crazed eyes. He was especially animated during a bass solo, stage blood trickling down his neck and onto his metallic chest plate, his tongue whipping about like it was a living parasite trying desperately to free itself from its host.
Musically, the band was engaged for an energetic set spanning from a roaring "War Machine" to a boisterous "Shout It Out Loud" to "Rock and Roll All Nite." And sorry, Ace Frehley fans, but lead guitarist Tommy Thayer deserves a lot of the credit.
At one point, Stanley called for the house lights and asked for fans there with their kids to hoist them up. "We were there for your parents, and we'll be there for you guys," Stanley said. And on Friday, KISS performed like it still had another 40 years left in 'em.
KISS' 40th Anniversary Tour with Def Leppard invades the First Midwest Bank Amphitheatre in Tinley Park, IL tonight!
The Dead Daisies open the show at 7 pm.
Photo by Terry Wilson for KISSONLINE.
Here's the KISS Army at last night's show at Alpine Valley Music Theater in East Troy, Wisconsin.
Photos by Keith Leroux for KISSONLINE.
TORONTO - KISS rock stars Gene Simmons and Paul Stanley visited Mount Sinai Hospital�s Mothers and Babies unit Wednesday in support of the hospital�s fundraising event Rock N� Stroll, which is taking place this fall.
The fundraising initiative supports high-risk births at the hospital. Two-thirds of the 7,000 babies born at Mount Sinai are considered high risk, more than any other GTA hospital.
The band performed Tuesday night at the Molson Canadian Amphitheatre.
Photo: Dave Abel/Toronto Sun/QMI Agency
