KISS / CHEAP TRICK

Capo Jun 30, 2022

KISS became my favorite band for a few years after my brother brought home Alive! in the spring of '76. It never left our turntable all that Summer. I went all in, like many back then, with the posters, mags, ect. KISS became a way of life for a few years. Anywayfor my 14th birthday my folks got me a ticket, and I went with my brother Tony and his friends, the tag along little brother. Any way the first thing I thought when we got to the Coliseum was I never saw so many pretty teenage girls in one place. Cheap Trick, then an unknown band opended up. What hit me was how loud they were, the bass and drums rumbling in my chest. Rick Nielsen was all over the stage, put on one hell of a show. I remember Robin Zander all in white and Bun E. 's oversized drum sticks when they ended their set. The crowd loved them. When the lights came up I was shocked at how "foggy" everything looked, and that sweet smell, ha! After a while, the lights went out, the mirror ball in the middle of the arena started spinning and for the first time I saw thousands of lighters in the crowd flick on. Out came KISS, and it was a little anticlimatic. I mean they were great but you wait for years and then its over, and it wasn't quite what you thought. I think I built it up in my mind like it would be like the second coming or something. I remember Paul Stanley dedcating "Rock N Roll All Night" to Elvis, who had died the week before. So the lights came back up, and we all filed out, ears ringing with confetti in our hair. It was good.