1) I'd only ever seen KISS before one time, April 18th, 2000 in Columbia, SC. This was ironically on what was being billed as the "Farewell Tour", and I guess it was for the original lineup. It was a decent enough show, but it was held at the Carolina Coliseum/Frank McGuire Arena, which was kind of a dump, even by 2000 standards. I almost didn't go because somehow my ex had thrown away the tickets, so I ended up buying another one for myself and going alone. Frehley and Criss showed that they didn't belong on stage with Gene and Paul, and I'm actually impressed that they kept that lineup together for another year or so. Ted Nugent's band blew them out of the water.
2) Being that this was probably their last tour, I figured I should go see them one last time, so I waited until the last minute and picked up a ticket on SeatGeek. Ended up getting a seat third row straight back in the first raised section, about 15 feet from the "second" stage, and it was definitely more than I wanted to pay, but the show was also completely sold out, so there weren't a whole lot of options.
3) Got to the arena a little late due to google giving me a wrong turn on the interstate, and then again, parking was a shit show because of how full the arena was. Got to my seat I think a song into Amber Wild's set. They were...fine, I guess. The last song they played was decent. David Lee Roth would have been 1,000x better, and I'm still pissed that Covid fucked that up. One thing though, for the eventual KISS touring company that will replace KISS, there's no way in hell Evan is replacing Paul. He can't sing. Decent guitarist, though, so maybe he could play the Spaceman role. Also, their sound sucked, and it magically got better when KISS went on, so that didn't help matters. Evan mentioned on stage that they had only been together like a month, and honestly, that's what they looked like, four completely different musicians just thrown together randomly.
4) The hour wait between Amber Wild going off and KISS going on was a bit much. I know there was probably a decent amount of setup to be done, but DAMN. Fans started doing the wave about 45 minutes in because they were so bored.
5) There's no comparison between Paul and DLR in the effeminate scale, and had DLR still been opening, that would have shown. DLR is a hyperactive kid looking for attention, Paul looked like he should be on a drag queen show.
6) Ace has to be the biggest moron to ever live, and Tommy Thayer struck gold. There were plenty of times during the show, not just in the solo spots, where the focus was clearly on Tommy taking center stage, Gene and Paul clearly didn't mind letting him run with things.
7) From the main stage, the show seems totally live, but when Paul came out to the second stage, Love Gun at least seemed totally lip synced, with a few times where Paul wasn't next to a mic, but his vocals were still coming out during a chorus.
As far as deeper cuts go, "Say Yeah" went over like a lead balloon, even though they tried to get the crowd participation piece going, but people went nuts for "Makin' Love". If they were going to play something newer, they really should have done "Modern Day Delilah" or "Hell or Hallelujah"9) From a stage show perspective, it's probably the best production I've ever seen. The only shows I can even think of to compare it to would be Motley on the Carnival of Sins tour, or Pink Floyd on the Pulse tour. When the Alice Coopers/Motleys/KISSs of the world are gone, I really wonder who's going to be doing those crazy presentations from a Rock perspective anymore, or maybe it's only going to be Pop acts from now on like Taylor Swift and Beyonce.
10) Paul mentioned at least three times that this was going to be their last show in Chicago, but the merch leaned heavily into the "LAST TOUR EVER", definitely leaving an opening for residencies and such. Also mentioned they had only played Chicago 28 times in 50 years, which seemed low.
Overall, I'm very glad I went, and say what you will about the band, I think they're going to be missed.
