Date: Wednesday, August 17, 2016
City: Springfield, IL
Venue: Illinois State Fair
Opening act(s): The Dead Daisies
Headlining act: KISS
The Dead Daisies Setlist:
Midnight Roses
Mexico
Make Some Noise
Fortunate Son
Lock ‘n’ Load
Long Way To Go
Join Together
The Last Time I Saw The Sun
Devil Out Of Time
Helter Skelter
KISS Setlist:
Detroit Rock City
Deuce
Shout It Out Loud
Do You Love Me
I Love It Loud
Flaming Youth
Bass Solo / God Of Thunder
Psycho Circus
Shock Me [w/ Guitar Solo]
Cold Gin
Lick It Up
War Machine
Love Gun
Black Diamond
———————
Beth
The Star-Spangled Banner
Rock And Roll All Nite
Notes:
- Third KISS show, first as sole headliner.
- First time seeing “Do You Love Me,” “Flaming Youth,” “Shock Me,” “Cold Gin,” “The Star-Spangled Banner,” and “Beth” live.
- Show #6 at this venue; first since August 12, 2014.
Videos:
Review:
August 17 is a popular date for seeing concerts at the fair. My very first one was on August 17, 1999, when I saw Def Leppard for just the second time. I saw Velvet Revolver at the fair on August 17, 2005. This was my sixth grandstand show overall, as I also saw Def Leppard in 2000, Blondie in 2010 (since Cheap Trick got rained out), and Boston in 2014.
The venue itself is terrible, as most state fair grandstands are. The seating sucks, the sound sucks, it’s just all around terrible. So I had to wonder how well a band like KISS that relies heavily on the visual aspect of the show would fare in such an environment, as it would potentially limit their gimmicks throughout the show.
We took our seats, which were in the third row of the lowest section of reserved seats, just behind the track. On the seating chart, these seats looked amazing. Hence why we bought them, as I even conferred with Brittany about what seats to buy when they went on sale. But once we got there… They were awful. The section wasn’t actual seats, they were bleachers, and people were crammed in like fucking sardines. It was hot and miserable and the show was still 25 minutes (or so) from starting.
Making matters worse, the fair’s schedule apparently caused them to leave the large wires that line the grandstand for races up, so they were in the direct view of everyone on the lower part of the grandstand (and the bleachers).
The last time I saw KISS was when they toured with Def Leppard in 2014. Tonight’s show featured the same opening band from that tour: The Dead Daisies. The band has gone through a few lineup changes since then and just recently released a new studio album.
They hit the stage shortly after 7:30 and had quite a bit of energy and some good, heavy guitar riffs. But I can’t say the crowd was too impressed with them, as they were fairly quiet and unresponsive throughout the band’s entire set. On one hand, the band featured nearly as many rock cliches as KISS. On the other hand, they are a solid live band with seasoned musicians and they put on a great performance.
There were a few recognizable songs, including “Mexico” and “Lock ‘n’ Load” (both of which they played in 2014). They played a handful of new songs and a few covers, including CCR’s “Fortunate Son,” The Who’s “Join Together,” and once again, The Beatles’ “Helter Skelter” to close out the show.
I’ve really come around to KISS since seeing them in 2014. My review of their first couple of shows weren’t exactly gleaming with accolades. And to be honest, many of those criticisms are legitimate. But after that tour, KISS became somewhat of a guilty pleasure band for me. I beefed up their selection of songs on my iPod and even picked up their Alive! 1975-2000 box set. Don’t get me wrong, the majority of their songs are god awful. But for what seems like a song or two on each album, they can write the hell out of a simple, catchy, three minute rock song chock full of double entendres.
What the band lacks in songwriting, they make up for in performance and visual flare. It’s mindless entertainment at its finest.
The KISS curtain was draped over the front of the stage, but I don’t think it’s as effective as it should be when it finally drops. The thing didn’t even looked like it had been raised all the way up before it fell. And it didn’t fall smoothly, as it fell more like a shower curtain being pulled down one ring at a time from left to right. Making matters worse, it took six or seven roadies to collect the thing and pull it off stage before the band could slowly step forward to the front of the stage instead of exploding onto the scene with a burst of energy.
Definitely an anticlimactic way to start the show, but the band utilized a fair amount of explosions of fire and sparks to boost the opening tune “Detroit Rock City.”
Being at a state fair, I knew the giant spider stage featured in 2014 would not fit on the stage. By KISS standards, it was a pretty basic set up. Some lights on the drum riser, which lifted drummer Eric Singer up into the air; lights on either side and the front of the drum riser, and a fairly small screen behind the band.
The smaller stage presentation definitely hurts a band like KISS, as it makes them seem that much more ordinary and puts more of an emphasis on the actual songs and performance.
Still, it was far from a bad show. In fact, it was a lot more enjoyable overall than the last time I saw them.
“Deuce” and “Shout It Out Loud,” both holdovers from the 2014 tour, followed before they played “Do You Love Me,” the first of several songs I hadn’t seen live before.
They took a leap into the 80’s with “I Love it Loud” before digging out a deeper cut from the Destroyer album, “Flaming Youth.” I wasn’t familiar with the song, but it was pretty good and I always appreciate a well established band being willing to dig a little deeper into their catalogue for the long time, die hard fans. If I don’t know a song, that’s my own damn fault and as a casual fan, I shouldn’t expect to be catered to with only hit after hit after hit.
And I don’t.
The second gimmick of the night (following the pyro) was, of course, Gene Simmons going all demonic on us by spitting blood and playing a bass solo. Again, bass solos are not my thing (nor are they anyone’s thing, I’m sure). But it served as a segue into “God Of Thunder.” In 2014, this portion of the show featured Gene not only drinking blood, but also flying up into the air and onto the spider, where he remained to perform the song. Here at the fair, he just remained down on solid ground like an ordinary human.
I’ll always admit to being wrong, and this is one of those times. In my review for my first KISS show, I called their opening song “Psycho Circus” ‘mediocre.’ Since that time, it’s actually become one of my favorite songs of theirs. So I’ll happily eat my words, and I was happy to see the song live once again.
One complaint I’ll stand by is the excessive banter from Paul Stanley. I’ve discussed stage banter in several of my recent concert reviews, as bands like Tesla and REO Speedwagon have been robotic in saying the same thing, nearly word for word, every night. I imagine Stanley does the same thing, but he does it about 10 times more than any other band I’ve seen recently as he stops to spit out the most cliched of cliches between nearly every single song. It got old quick.
Tommy Thayer took the mic for a performance of “Shock Me,” a song originally written and sung by Ace Frehley. Thayer got a solo of his own that was semi worked into the song.
Another oldie, “Cold Gin” followed, before Stanley kicked off yet another banter session. This one took a turn into questionable territory, as he was separately asking all the men and women to cheer if they like to “lick things.” It doesn’t get much more awkward than that when you’re at a concert with your girlfriend, her dad, and your mom.
Not surprisingly, “Lick It Up” followed. They remained in the 80’s for “War Machine,” which featured Simmons breathing fire at the end of the song and those same 1989 computer graphics occupying the small video screen behind the stage. Despite that, “War Machine” is another song I’ve come to really enjoy, especially live.
Yet another speech followed, and the venue once again took away from the KISS experience as it did not allow for Paul Stanley to fly out into the audience for the performance of “Love Gun.” These gimmicks are important enough that they are noted on every performance on their shows on setlist.fm. Go ahead, take a look.
“Black Diamond” closed out the main set. The band returned after a brief encore and performed a quiet version of “Beth,” sung by drummer Eric Singer.
A host of people were brought on stage for a moment both honorable and cringe-worthy. KISS is excellent about honoring and lending support to our armed forces. On the Leppard tour, a dollar from every ticket sold went to a charity to benefit the armed forces, and they hired veterans to be roadies for the tour.
For this tour, they hired a local veteran to be a roadie for this show, and the band donated $150,000 to the Hiring Our Heroes program.
Stanley then brought out Mayor Jim Langfelder, who presented a key to the city to the band. And then comptroller Leslie Munger was introduced, and she made the mistake of saying she was there on behalf of Governor Rauner, which got the loudest reaction of the entire night as the crowd booed the hell out of him. And rightfully so, because he’s a piece of shit.
She also called KISS “the greatest band in the land,” and I’d LOVE to see her iPod or CD collection (or cassette collection) to see just how many KISS albums are in there.
Props to Paul Stanley though, as he recovered nicely from the awkwardness of the loud booing and got things back on track by saying “it doesn’t matter about politics and who we like and who we don’t like, we love our military, we love our country.
And while I appreciate the hell out of what the band does for the military and the patriotic aspect of this whole thing… Having the crowd say the Pledge of Allegiance like we’re all in second grade (and not at a rock concert) swung the pendulum back to the awkward side.
After that lengthy break, the band performed The Star Spangled Banner.
While it wasn’t quite everything one expects from a KISS show due to the venue limitations, the band made the most of it and it was a really fun show. I’ll definitely check them out if they come back around.
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