Fan Reviews
While it was a little sad to know this would be the last KISS show I'd ever see, it was still a blast, as I knew it would be. I'd never been to this venue before, so I was guessing when I picked a seat. I did even better than I thought; I was directly out from the corner of the stage, closer than I thought. And as an extra bonus, I had a great view of Eric playing, which is not always the case with drummers!
The guys were definitely "on", and I had a lot of fun watching Gene goof a lot with various audience members, as I was on that side of the stage. Paul and Tommy came over to the corner several times as well, so I was able to see them close too.
A great way to go out. I've had a lot of fun over a lot of tours, and this was definitely great fun.
Indianapolis, IN@Gainbridge Fieldhouse
I SAW KISS LIVE BACK IN 1977 AT THE CHICAGO STADIUM OR THE CHICAGO AUDITORIUM THEATRE, CAN'T REMEMBER WHICH ONE... IT WAS A GREAT SHOW, BUT DIDN'T HOLD A CANDLE TO THE NOVEMBER 1st SHOW AT THE ACRISURE ARENA!!! THEY WERE VERY PERSONAL WITH THE AUDIENCE (KISS ARMY) AND MADE EVERYONE FEEL AT HOME!!!
THE SHOW WAS 2nd TO NONE!!!!!! JOHN MARDOIAN, RANCHO MIRAGE
Palm Desert, CA@Acrisure Arena
Awesome, people were on their feet the entire show! They had their makeup on & all the things that I ever have been told about them were true! The blood, the flying in air & the drummer coming up & playing Beth & the fire & so much more. Words cannot describe the intense show! Paul Stanley’s son & his band, Amber Wild, played before KISS & we’re not bad at all for a band just starting up but show promise. It was certainly a night to remember, I just wish my oldest brother could have been there with me!
Fort Worth, TX@Dickies Arena
Anthony David
December 13th 2022
seen kiss everytime they have played uk in past 20years. recently suffered a stroke but cant miss this time around as still have a blood clot and i wont be around much longer.as such most groups have been very accomadating on fullfilling my bucket list and getting me on stage for a phoTo with them. rebuilding my life 1 rock gig at a time.ROCK ON
Derby, United Kingdom@Donington Park Circuit
I always loved kiss as a kid It was my very first concert I was just turned 10 this was 2 days after my birthday im now 15 going on 16 and I still how some much love for kiss that is one concert I’d love to see again the whole band inspires what I do and how I look thank you for being my biggest comfort in life and showing me it’s okay to be yourself and be different and not to be scared to show your true style thank you 🖤
Edmonton, Canada@Rexall Place
I am not a huge KISS fan, I likd a few songs here and there. But this show, the stage, the pyro, the band engagement with the audience was spectacular! I would definitely go again to see them and if you love rock, I would definitely recommend this show! I can add KISS to my concert list! If only KISS would visit El Paso more often in the past, I'm sure I would go to every event.
El Paso, TX@Don Haskins Center
it was amazing! so cool and i could hear them perfectly and it was so fun. the explosives and fire was so cool. kiss was just so amazing and their performance was actually super interesting and this was my first time seeing them too! even though we were seated and i was in the very back it was still super cool and i was able to see and hear clearly. loved the whole concert🤘
El Paso, TX@Don Haskins Center
I would have given 5 stars, because Kiss was awesome (as always) but I had to deduct a star because of their choice of an opening act. David Lee Roth was HORRIBLE! He needs to call it a day and ride off into the sunset. He can’t sing (was never all that in my opinion) and he is like caricature of his former self.
Los Angeles, CA@Staples Center
Another amazing show. Paul was super fresh and welcoming ("You don't have to go to a big city to see who loves rock n roll"), and Eric's drum solo had my buddy gasping, "Incredible." David Lee Roth was okay, but didn't affect whether I was going to the show or not, and the general audience reaction and crowd noise reflected that. David was good, but KISS is legendary! My buddy wanted to see them one more time and got to, and the two of us made it into the video of Paul zip-lining on KISS' website (look for a bloody-faced Starchild). I love you guys!
Manchester, NH@SNHU Arena
Bettie
September 27th 2019
I want to give my humble Thanks for ALL the many great Concerts over the last 47 years ago my Life to Paul, Gene, Tomny, Eric, Ace, and Peter!! You guys have truly Rocked like only a very few other Bands could have done over the many Decades and kept the younger generations interested!! I only wish that you ALL weren't going to be calling it "The End of the Road" for Kiss!! YOU GUYS TRULY PUT ON ONE HELL OF A FINAL SHOW.
Denver, CO@Pepsi Center
I have been a fan of KISS since 1975 and a KRAZED KISS fan since 1976. The highlight of my life, for a few reasons but honestly, MOSTLY because the bandI love like NO OTHER band I had only ever been allowed/able to see live beginning in the mid 80s when their show just wasn’t what I grew up dreaming of witnessing. And by that same point, the very band that I’d grown up ‘Kollecting’ EVERY item they slapped their images onto and ‘Kovering’ my bedroom walls with posters of. “KISSisms”. So when they reunited the original four members and put together once again the ‘Klassic’ KISS stage and ‘Kostumes’. In 1996 I saw two shows in two nights in Chicago with one of them including being INVITED backstage and seeing one from upfront and the other from the ‘Sound Table’. I was BLOWN AWAY! The first night I was SO in awe that they were right there, Honest-to-God, in all their late 1970s glory, in front of me!! I was seeing them after all!! I believe I was tearing through the first half of that first show.
Now, fast forward past ‘Kountless’ more MAD Successful tours, on which I have seen them now SO MANY TIMES I can only take time to tally up all my tickets and shows when it truly is all over. And despite having seen THIS ‘End of the Road’ tour show in Chicago on March 2, 2019, I will hold out hope STILL that they will come around nearby enough yet again and I will see this MAGNIFICENT SPECTACLE one more time. I will continue to go on their amazing annual KISS Kruises for as long as they will do them. My hope is that they will do no less than a full TEN YEARS of KISS Kruises. They’re very close now. And that this tour continues through to a GLORIOUS Celebration of FIFTY YEARS of KISS. Again, they’re very close. Too close, I believe, to stop short.
So, my wife and I were headed to the Chicago show. And although many might think I’m not truthful, the time and days have come where I have gotten to know them and particularly their Manager well enough that I sent him a message while we made our way into the City. I said, “Doc, it’s Brian Kann (& wife, nameless here). We’re on 290 right now headed to the United Center and we this friend of yours - and lifelong KISS loyalist - would love to come see you, catch up, see the guys before the show and talk about some other things (that we had to discuss). He replied right back, and he said, “Obviously the guys are there getting makeup on. I’m in a limo now headed there from the hotel. How about meeting me at the Michael Jordan statue in about 30 minutes. Can you do that?” I replied, “YES, we’ll be there!” And so we were - he called me though, and he said that he now realized that HE wasn’t going to be able to personally meet us there, so he was sending his Head of Security. Leaving some details out. So we met with this great gentleman with a British accent, and were immediately given backstage lanyards and passes. He told us to put them on right away. Of course, we joined him, escorted down to the main floor (our seats were up close to begin with), past some big Security dudes guarding all possible points by which someone could sneak backstage. We were led to Doc, KISS’ Manager who warmly welcomed us, made us (too!) comfortable, and we enjoyed the niceties laid out for them in what is always labeled the ‘Nashville Room’. Code name for HIS Entertaining Suite, where guests of the band, who might be “anyone you’d imagine” all were. I was talking to Doc and he was introducing me to his wife and a couple of other fun people when I noticed that my wife wasn’t there any more for me to turn to to introduce to them. I asked to be excused for a minute, and I looked out into the hallway, looking left (nope) and looking right... WAIT... she was in the arms of Gene Simmons who had JUST exited his own dressing room (at least I think!!?) and he had her lifted up fairly high. Bear in mind, with boots on Gene is 7’ 0” tall and my wife is 5’ 3”. I took out my iPhone and snapped a couple of photos before going over to them. I took some time to talk up “the Demon” and then it seemed we were surrounded by the whole band, Doc, and a couple of others who I believe included Eric’s Drum Tech and either Paul or Tommy’s Guitar Tech. This being at least billed as THE LAST TIME they will play in Chicago, I had each member sign a special tour promo poster. Suddenly, not by any intention or effort, we were caught inside their brief pre-show band huddle where Doc always gives each member their “calls to action” for that night, due for example to whatever special conditions may exist within that night’s arena or maybe simply a pep talk no different than a coach does for an intense sports team; “Guys, Chicago is MY hometown! Go out there and make me obscenely proud!” - Doc McGhee
So when someone came running from the stage area with the word that their time remaining was “FIVE MINUTES, GUYS!” Doc said, “Okay, let’s go!” My wife and just walked with them, immediately behind Paul Stanley, whose chains clanged on the back of his boots with every 6” platform step he took. My wife had her iPhone out and was filming them walking in front of us, toward the stage, so I began filming with mine, too. She has a much steadier hand, so my video is fun for us, but might make you vomit. The United Center, of course, is great big, and so the halls are long as well. As we got nearer to the stage, still “hanging onto the ‘we’re with the band’ concept” we could hear louder and louder roars. I shouted out, “Hello Cleveland!” Interestingly, of those near us, only Paul Stanley caught the humor, which is from a classic 1980s Rock and Roll movie called ‘Spinal Tap’, which pokes fun at bands like KISS. And literally, as we approached the final turn in the hallway before the straight “chute” out of the hallway directly to the back of their MASSIVE stage that area of the hall was packed full of fans trying to be right there as the band went from hall to stage. I believe most of those people had to have been able to be there from being members of the paid pre-show ‘Meet and Greet’ (something I’ve otherwise intentionally not bothered writing about here). As KISS (with us in tow) came upon that crowded hallway the intimidation work of the actually very nice Doc McGhee and Security seemed to instantly part that hallway like Moses parted the Red Sea, leading the Israelites through it to the other side. We have to admit that it was fun joining them all the way up to where, behind the veil of darkness and an all-black, top-to-bottom curtain emblazoned with a huge silver KISS logo, they separated from us to each step onto their own hydraulic platform elevator and the deafening sound of 20,000 fans who by now know to join the screaming introduction of, “AAAAALRIGHT CHICAGO, YOU WANTED THE BEST, YOU GOT THE BEST; THE HOTTEST BAND IN THE WORLD... KISS!! Of course, by this point we were well situated at our 2nd Row center seats. And after seeing no less than 20 KISS shows over the years, witnessing many different stages, the coming and going, and returning of lineups, NO KISS concert I’ve EVER seen could possibly compare to the stage spectacle that this was. We who are fans would always like to hear “deep cuts” that we haven’t seen them play before. And we all have opinions on what song or songs may not deserve to be in the Setlist, although THEY seem to disagree and probably have studies to sway them heavily in whatever direction - after all, it isn’t the fans who are risking nearly a $1 Billion when they build a production like this and take it around the globe. So I say that I could definitely have put together a better Setlist of their enormous catalog of music. But THIS TIME, I will say that they REALLY, SERIOUSLY nailed the stage show. If you haven’t ever seen KISS before or is you haven’t seen this tour, but have seen others, DON’T miss out on seeing this show LIVE (or Alive!) and in person. Pay to get great seats, because although everything is so big there’s no chance of you not clearly seeing it from everywhere, it’s really more about your placement in front of, away from, or beneath their effects. But you will thank me either way.
Chicago, IL@United Center
The best show I’ve ever seen, in my lifetime. KISS opened their chest cavities and poured the contents of their hearts all over the stage. If this truly is their last tour, they will have done the impossible, satisfied the masses of insanely loyal fans. Watching them do it all, the theatrics, the hits, the macabre lust for entertaining, on wonders... why stop? But I get it, leave while you’re still the best. You owe us nothing, KISS. A hall of fame career, crafted and governed by rock gods. Thank you.
Uncasville, CT@Mohegan Sun
I‘ve never been to a kiss concert before and sadly I’ll never be on a kiss concert in the future. If you look up all are round 70 years old and see them on stage you will not believe it they are still on fire and their songs are still good. With my father I had a crazy crazy night. And for the younger kids who are able to hear their music it’s sad they’re not able to see them on stage again . But their history is awesome the rocked everybody since 1973 and yesterday they did it the last time in Leipzig . Thanks to Kiss I love you. #halloffame
Leipzig, Germany@Leipziger Messe GmbH
The show of a lifetime, an email electric, transfixing, transcendent experience. And having gone VIP, I can attest that Paul Stanley is the kindest, warmest person; even as I was dumbstruck and had absolutely nothing to say, he told me, "Hey, good looking guy!". I distinctly remember forgetting how to smile during my the photo session. Weeks later and I'm still floating. I want to see them again!
New York, NY@Madison Square Garden
Kiss was awesome as usual kiss is the best band in the land I love kiss kisses awesome kisses the best. This show they came back to their Hometown New York City Madison Square Garden this show was one of the best shows that they put on I was out there to see them in Long Island and it was fabulous 2
Every time I go to the concert I come back horse cuz I rock out all the time I go crazy I sing all the songs note by note I love everything about kiss kiss is the greatest. Kiss will always be number one in my heart and in my soul. Cuz forever this time I know it there's no doubt in my mind forever until my life is good girl I be loving you forever. You wanted the best you got the best the hottest band in the world kiss. All the best Jean Paul Eric and Tommy. This is one of your best fans in the world Frank
New York, NY@Madison Square Garden
First of all I was front row second wall kiss was always best man and he put on a hell of a great show I love the show the fact of seeing those people up close was awesome. I was going crazy and singing all the that I love. This setlist was great but I wish that they had some more rare songs in the setlist. Or like it's say is you wanted the best you got the best the hottest band in the world kiss. Thanks for a great night. I see you at the Garden on Wednesday
Uniondale, NY@Nassau Coliseum
It was my first KISS concert and I’m so sad it was my first and last. The concert was so good and the whole experience was amazing, waiting didn’t even feel like a bother cause you were either buying merchandise or buying food or just hanging out. My friend and I had this saying the whole time, that we better feel like belonging to another generation by the end of the concert. KISS has always had a reputation for their outstanding performance and honestly they did not disappoint. Best concert ever!!!!!!!!
Los Angeles, CA@The Forum
Seen them countless times starting in 84, I think like 17 times.. this was by far my most enjoyable and memorable experience seeing KISS.. if your on the fence about it or been subjected to the KISS haters or rumors... this is what I’ll say.. I saw No evidence of ANY trickery or deception as far as them lip syncing and I looked for it.. that being said the show was on par w/ groups like U2 and Metallica Pink Floyd etc. etc. yes I’ve seen them all... hopefully that’s enough info to make that decision... Btw it wouldn’t have mattered even if KISS was doing any of the rumored accusations.... why? Because they are LEGENDS that did their time over 45 years, gave their life to Rock and roll.. Enough said
Anaheim, CA@Honda Center
Great stage show, and energy, as always.
This was my third time watching their show but first with new members in the band (Eric Singer & Tommy Thayer).
Two disappointments:
1. Use of Backing Tracks
2. I don't believe Eric Singer was even playing the piano on Beth. Great job singing tune (assuming it there was no backing track).
Overall good show but backing tracks and fake piano playing take away from the integrity of it.
Vancouver, Canada@Rogers Arena
Good show, but it is the same show from past years + a few additional songs. Nice stage, open so there is really no bad seat in the house. The pyro is out of this world, amazing. However, Paul’s crowd banter is the same stuff he has done for years, Gene’s tricks are exactly the same he has always done ... The other two perform for what they are paid to do. All that being said, I’m still look forward to catching them 4 or so times on this tour.
Portland, OR@Moda Center
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