KISS

In October of 2018, KISS announced their farewell tour, titled The End of the Road. On March 26, they rolled into the Boston Garden for one last time.

No details were revealed about an opening act, so as we entered the garden, lots of conversations were overheard with fans wondering who would be playing first. As the seats began to fill, the opening act took the stage: performance painter David Garibaldi. That’s right, not an opening band, but an opening painter. While music is playing, David speed-paints three pieces. The first two are portraits of various artists, tonight he painted Jimi Hendrix and Elton John. His final painting is of KISS, and features the name of the city. After the show, the band signs the painting, and it’s donated to a local charity, who can then raise money by auctioning it off. He’s certainly talented, and the proceeds for it are great, but it’s quite a different choice for an opening band. Between this, and Metallica’s recent tour with comedian Jim Breuer leading the pre-show activities, unconventional opening acts seems to be the new thing these days.

Once all the paint was cleared from the stage, a giant curtain surrounded the stage, featuring everybody’s favorite four letter word in big letters: KISS.

Before too long, Led Zeppelin’s “Rock and Roll” came blasting through the PA. The song ended, and the lights in the arena faded, and the crowd went wild. Then, through the PA, the announcement everybody knows and was waiting for, “ALRIGHT BOSTON! You wanted the best, you got the best. The hottest band in the world: KISS!”

The room is filled with explosions, as the curtain falls to the ground. Frontman Paul Stanley, bassist Gene Simmons and lead guitarist Tommy Thayer descended to the stage from platforms suspended from the rafters, while Eric Singer’s drum kit was also raised up on a scissor lift. Pyrotechnics continued to explode as they made their descent, while playing the intro to “Detroit Rock City.”

If you’ve ever seen KISS, you have a pretty good idea of what to expect from the show. No one aspect of the show was particularly ground-breaking, but all the elements of a KISS concert that you’ve seen over the years were here, many of them ramped up to their max potential. As I already mentioned, pyrotechnics were of course, very prevalent in the show. Gene spits blood and flies up to the rafters to perform “God of Thunder.” Paul flies over the audience to perform two songs from a small stage at the back of the arena. Tommy plays a guitar solo while launching fireworks from his guitar, which in turn knock lighting rigs down. Eric plays a drum solo as his kit levitates in the air. Confetti fills the arena, while Gene and Tommy are elevated over the crowd. The show KISS puts on is the stuff of legends, and it’s easy to see why.



Beyond the production of the show, the performances were all great. Early on in the tour, there were rumors of backing tracks being used. Because of this, I paid close attention, and to me, it never seemed that any were. If they had been earlier in the tour, my guess is they probably stopped after drawing negative attention from it. While the band plays the songs tuned down further than they were originally, that’s a common thing as bands age, and despite songs being played in a lower key, they sounded great.

Setlist

You may be skeptical that this is actually their farewell tour. In 2001, KISS played the final date of their farewell tour, and then in 2003 went back out on the road. We’ve heard all sorts of reasons over the years as to why the band proceeded on after replacing Ace and Peter, but supposedly, this is it. KISS has said they expect this tour to last three years, so don’t be surprised when they’re still announcing tour dates in 2019 and 2020. Says frontman Paul Stanley, “The tour may go three years, but once we play your city, it is done. That is our big thank you.” So you may have missed your chance to see them play in Boston, but if you’re lucky, you’ll still have a shot to see the hottest band in the world, one last time.