THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Saturday, October 5, 1996 TAG: 9610050389
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B1 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Music review
SOURCE: BY CRAIG SHAPIRO, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: HAMPTON LENGTH: 61 lines
Gene Simmons was wrong.
Speaking from Kansas City, barely a week into the long-anticipated KISS reunion tour, he said if it weren't for some jokers named Barnum, Bailey and Ringling, this clearly would be the greatest show on earth.
That was three months and dozens of record ticket sales ago.
Friday night at a crammed Hampton Coliseum, Simmons, Paul Stanley, Ace Frehley and Peter Criss left no doubt that no three-ring circus can hold a Roman candle to KISS.
Just play loudly and carry a big schtick.
It's been KISS's maxim since their first dab of Kabuki makeup, and to no one's surprise - and everyone's delight - two decades later, they're still following it to the letter.
Simmons did his fire-breathing act and skied to the rafters, presiding like some demon king as he barked out ``God of Thunder.'' First, though, he worked the 13,000 members of the KISS Army, who were on their feet throughout the show, into a frenzy. Fans in the pricey seats were anointed with fake blood by the serpentine-tongued bassist.
Stanley posed, pranced and preened with all the aplomb of a runway model.
Criss, his drum kit mounted on a hydraulic platform, hovered over the crowd.
Frehley levitated his guitar on ``Shock Me,'' and literally had it smoking.
Figuratively, sleight of hand and histrionics hardly masked the fact that his fretwork is on par with that of Spinal Tap's Nigel Tufnel. Which leads to the flipside of the KISS coin: As musicians and songwriters, it's a good thing these guys are savvy showmen.
That's not to say ``Love Gun,'' ``Detroit Rock City,'' ``Firehouse,'' ``New York Groove'' and the frat-house party anthem,``Rock and Roll All Nite,'' don't have their nudge-nudge, wink-wink charms. They do. And each got a supercharged kick in the seat Friday.
But without the glimmer and flash, you have to wonder if a KISS ticket would be the hottest of the year.
Enough hypothesizing.
Propped up with enough pyrotechnics for a dozen Fourth of Julys, more lights than all the marquees on Broadway, a sound system that would shame a jumbo jet, and state-of-the-art video, KISS went straight for the solar plexus. There is not a darned thing wrong with that.
Simmons was right about one thing when he spoke in July.
``KISS has always been a working man's band,'' he said. ``We show up on time, give them bang for the buck, and send them home saying that was the best show they ever saw.''
Long Island's Bogmen opened the show. They worked hard, too. Mixing funk and Latin percussion into their brief set. Seriously, though, who can possibly warm up for KISS? ILLUSTRATION: Color photo by GARY C. KNAPP
Friday night at Hampton Coliseum, Gene Simmons and the rest of KISS
gave their die-hard fans what they came for - loud, familiar tunes,
and plenty of theatrics. by CNB