NEWS_ACE_AT_KISSSHOW

Kiss at Soboba Casino - San Jacinto - July 27th

Wow, what an experience. I traveled to San Jacinto yesterday to see the
last of the 3 hit'n'run Kiss shows. As you can imagine I had been
looking forward to that for months. And what a special night it was, a
show without front man Paul Stanley. Unbelievable...

Here's how it all went...

Shortly after 9pm Kiss Manager Doc McGee stepped on stage with the news
that 'there was a little problem'. He told the crowd (as most of us know
right now) that Paul Stanley had to be treated at the hospital due to
serious heart problems. His heart was pumpin at 200 beats a minute and
he had to have injections. Paul had been escorted to the hospital lying
on a hospital stretcher. Doc said Gene wanted to talk to his fans. At
that point Gene, Eric and Tommy came out. Gene was the spokesman for the
rest of the evening and asked the crowd if they wanted them to play or
not. 'Play!' was the answer and the band started off doing a set of
almost only Gene songs. Very special to see Gene suddenly being the
spokesperson, as he hardly talks when on stage with Kiss.

Gene was really doing his best in trying to make it a great evening for
all. He lost his voice a bit, but kept on going. And what a band... Eric
and Tommy rocked! Ever since Tommy replaced Ace I (as a huge Ace fan)
had 2nd thoughts about Tommy. But he impressed big time at this show. He
covered for 90% of all the guitar parts and made the sound full and
pretty complete. And of course Eric, well, who's a better drummer on
that seat than him...

Gene tried to make it a special show. For Christine Sixteen he invited
10 people on stage to sing along. Of course I jumped over the fence
immediately, and was on stage within seconds. Only to find out that they
were letting people on stage only from the other side... But security
was not that tight, so they let me stand on the side of the stage when
Gene and Tommy were instructing the people what to sing. Amazing to be
on that stage, I hope there is video of that somewhere. At one moment a
security officer came running at me and pushed me to the ground. I found
out 5 seconds later he saved me from severe ear damage as I had been
standing way to close to the pyro, which went of almost immediately
after. Thank you sir...

During the drum solo Tommy left the stage and started shaking hands with
some people on the front row. I was back in my seat at that point and he
was kind enough to pose for a picture (see below). Now who's the real
Ace on the Rocks? ;-)

They performed all Gene songs and included some things they hardly ever
did / did on previous tours only: Goin' Blind, Parasite, Christine
Sixteen, She. Eric Singer sang Black Diamond including the intro.

I was amazed how the band put up without Paul. Real pro's, that's all I
can say. Of course I would have loved to see them with Paul, and I hope
all is well with Paul now, but it was an experience. A Kiss show with
only 3 of the guys, wow...

Another funny thing happened before the show. Nick Simmons was being
spotted hanging out at the entrance of the gig, obviously waiting for
someone. The Family Jewels film crew was there with him. After 15
minutes we found out he was waiting for a crew member who brought Skippy
along, Gene's dog. A security officer refused to let the dog in, and the
crew member started an argument with the officer which got pretty nasty.
In that conversation the dog suddenly got loose and ran into the arena.
A scene from a Marx Brother's movie was the result: Skippy being chased
by Nick and the crew, who were chased by security people, who were
chased by fans. Not sure if this was staged or not (why would the dog
not be delivered to the backstage area?), but it was funny. Before the
start of the show I saw Shannon walking the dog behind the stage.

Anyhow, a fantastic evening with mixed emotions. I hope to see the band
with Paul sometime soon. Get well Paul!

Ace on the Rocks