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Friday, December 08, 2023

50 years of KISS: Band prepares to take final bow at NYC's Madison Square Garden

NEW YORK CITY - KISS is taking over New York City this weekend in celebration of their final "End of the Road World Tour" shows at Madison Square Garden. 

The band plans to hang up their platform boots after two back-to-back shows at The Garden.

*****

Kiss never did much for me. I bought their Kiss Alive! album right after it first came out back in the mid 1970s, but it wasn't anything I played when I was alone and wanted to listen to music.
I honestly think if it wasn't for their costumes and theatrics, they'd have died out long before now.

28 comments:

  1. I always considered them " all sizzle and no steak".
    Musically lame, basic garage band talent with fireworks.
    If you cant dazzle them with brilliance, baffle them with bullsh*t

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    1. Agreed....in Texas, it would be "All hat and no cattle"....

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  2. I scoffed at them when I was a teenager, never bought any of their albums, but in retrospect they really had some snappy tunes. Frehley, I think, at the time was pretty underrated as an axe man. Saw the reunion tour in Boston, in '96 on a whim. Surprisingly good show, but let's face it, they haven't done anything worth listening to since 1977.

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  3. Saw them in concert back in high school.
    86 or so. Was never one of my favorite bands, but I liked them.

    Listened to them years later and shook my head wondering why I ever liked them.

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  4. My wife said they're entertainers not musicians. I think she's spot on.

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  5. Never liked Kiss at all. There were just too many other good bands around when I was in high school, graduating in 78, to waste my time on a group that I thought was only so-so.
    Now a lot of the groups that I liked back then are still trying to continue touring, which makes them look sad. I remember saying when Elvis died that we were lucky that we didn't have to see an 80 year old King trying to stay relevant. Somebody should tell that to the Stones and Aerosmith, et al.

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    1. Yup. Kiss was a band Jr. High school boys liked more than anyone else. One of the "Fan" behaviors was to cover every inch of the walls in your room with Kiss posters. The lack of quality song writing was their main problem, ( Christine.... 16. Christine ...16, yeah yeah) not exactly Lennon and McCartney. The Little Hat superiority complex that Simmons cultivates is also unendearing.
      I liked the Stones a lot from 1979 to the early 1990's. I had most of the old albums and knew quite a bit about the band, but I really did not like most of their newer efforts with the exception of Voodoo Lounge. They were also terrible at doing their own songs live, which seems to have been the case going back a long ways. Bill Wyman got smart and retired in the late 80's, the rest of them should have listened to him.

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  6. Crucified my young bro over his like of this shit. One time target.

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  7. The only thing worse than listening to a Kiss album, was seeing them without makeup. The only time I ever wished for a dude to put makeup back on.

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  8. Saw 'em 'live', kinda sorta. Worked at a guitar shop. lots of used and rare stuff. They dropped many kilobucks on really good vintage gear. Ugly dudes (it's the greasepaint, induces horrible acne), who had evidently packed street clothes but not street shoes. 4" pink Lizard shoes will not go un-noticed here in Texas. They were accompanied by a large gentleman wearing a 'KISS STAGE CREW' tour jacket (low profile?) and repeating the phrase 'No Pikturs'. HIs jacket bore his name. MONGO.

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  9. In high school we made fun of people that listened to Kiss.

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  10. Wow ! 50 + years of not seeing them...but, I've seen Uriah Heep twice !

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  11. Gene Simmons (real name is Chaim Witz) is a real piece of shit. On his reality show there was an episode where his son was working on his car and was having trouble fixing it. Gene looked at him and said "why are you wasting your time on this -that's what gentiles are for"

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    1. Yes, this. Arrogant pri**, a disgrace to all bassists

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    2. I didn't know he had a reality show, in fact I couldn't name more than one Kiss song. And that's the way I want to keep it.

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  12. I have a friend who is a good guitar player with local cover bands. He was there for both of those last two shows at MSG -- his 39th and 40th Kiss concerts. I always thought they were kind of like the Monkees.
    However, my friend, like me, is also a Robin Trower fan. We went to see Trower in Tulsa a few years ago. Absolutely the best concert I have ever attended, almost a religious experience.

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    1. Amen to that Brother. Robin Trower is god.

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  13. I saw Kiss in the gymnasium of Palatine High School in Palatine Illinois in the early 70's. Nobody had heard of them but tickets were cheap. The opening band, Rush.

    https://www.loudersound.com/features/i-was-trying-to-get-them-laid-what-happened-when-rush-toured-with-kiss

    Mark

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  14. Dumb name, dumb act. Even on Long Island where they originated, and where I lived my whole life, they were considered kiddie rock. Good riddance.

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  15. My wife and I saw Kiss at an indoor event about 10-12 years ago. I've never been what you could call a fan of Kiss, but they had some good tunes. Anyway, they rocked the roof off of the place. They never dropped the energy or dropped a note. They are all very accomplished musicians.
    One of the most fun parts of the show was when they took a 2-minute pause later in the show. Then the lead guitar came out, sat on a stool under moody lighting and began a perfect Stairway to Heaven intro. 15 seconds in, he stopped and said, "nah, fuck this" and got into the next Kiss song. Good times.

    FJB and covid is a scam.

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  16. As a child of the 70s, with ears, those guys sucked, even in their prime. Playing dress up so nobody noticed they only knew 3 chords, none of which they could play competently. Good riddance.

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  17. Way back when there was a music venue called The Warehouse, it was a converted storage warehouse along the Mississippi River..... Everyone that was anyone at that time played there, Kiss was like the Halloween party concert regular so I've seen them live plenty of times... They definitely were not great musicians and sounded very rough but they were a great live party band and they always put on a hell of a show for us.....
    JD

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  18. i remember listening to Kiss on a boombox, skipping school in Germany at that lake by the school. can't remember the name of the lake.

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  19. The one we called Massa Lake? I believe it was located near the route to Landstuhl.

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    1. thats it. do you remember Rick Nichols? it was his boombox.

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  20. Their early to mid 70s shows are actually really good, very powerful rock. The problem was by the late 70s, egos had ballooned out of proportion to their abilities and it was clown central. Still, they could write a catchy song.

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