We arrived around 11 AM at the Stadion in Essen (Germany) for our first show of the KISS End Of The Road World Tour!
It was Hotter Than Hell that sunday june 2th, so Hot In the Shade, lol. There were about 25 fans waiting and we knew a lot of them, so passing time was no problem, we had a lot to talk about.
Around 5 PM we were let in to the stadion erea and got to the gates were we've to wait untill 6 PM when te big gates went open. We had
front of the stage tickets and as soon as we got in we run to the stage but had to show our tickets again and got a wristband before we
got into the front block for the stage. But we managed to get front row, and were so happy with this after hours of waiting in the hot sun!
It was so cool that they sell 3 different KISS Mugs with beer, I'm not a beer drinker, but of course we bought those mugs.
At 8 PM it was time for the support act, this time it wasn't no band, but a painter David Garibaldi who has a very cool way of painting. We liked his performance.
A copple of minutes for 9 PM it was time for the Hottest Band In The World...KISS!
As soon the curtain was gone, we saw Gene, Paul & Tommy coming down each on a platform to the stage with a lot of smoke and fire with Eric coming down on his drumriser behind them!
They started the show with Detroit Rock City! Here's our video:
The stage had some new elements, 11 kind of ufo-lights/platforms (less than in the US) a big screen at the back of the stage and Sam The Serpent was back! Those ufo lights/platforms were used during the whole show with special effects and brought a new demension to the show.
Even it was a show outside we could the feel the heat of the pyro's and that was so cool.
KISS played tight and sounded great! There was a great vibe amoung the 20.000 fans inside the stadion. During the show we had cool interactions with Gene & Paul that's always special to us!
When it was time for Gene's solo, he stood on the middle ufo platform to do his bloody bass solo and than the whole platform went up above the stage and he performe his signature song God Of Thunder.
Here's our video of it:
Of course all the other elements were in the show, Eric did his drumsolo on the riser, Tommy shooted off rockets during his guitarsolo and letting some ufo platforms exploding and of course Paul flew over the crowd to the little stage to perform Love Gun & I Was Made For Lovin' You!
Here's our little clip of ot:
During Let Me Go, Rock & Roll there was also a little jam between Paul & Tommy and than Gene would show off his jam with Paul & Tommy joining in. Of course there were a lot of pyro's, smoke & flames that makes a show a KISS show.
The first encore was Beth with Eric behind the piano and they ended the show with Rock And Roll All Night with Gene & Tommy not on the big arms risers (they only use them at the indoor shows) but on risers that only went up, with a lot of confetti and pyro going off!
Than it was all over, we were sweaty, hot, covered by confetti but feeling so excited, what a show, we had a blast! We knew this wasn't our final show ever yet, we've a few more ahead of us...
This was the setlist: Detroit Rock City, Shout It Out Loud, Deuce, Say Yeah, I Love It Loud, Heaven's On Fire, War Machine (Gene breathes fire) Lick It Up, Calling Dr. Love, 100,000 Years (with Eric's drum solo) Cold Gin (with Tommy's guitar solo) God Of Thunder (with Gene's bass solo) Psycho Circus, Let Me Go, Rock & Roll (with jam solo) Love Gun (Paul flying to stage) I Was Made For Lovin' You & Black Diamond. Encore: Beth (Eric on piano) Crazy Crazy Nights & Rock and Roll All Nite.
Here's a selection of our photo's from this show (click on play button):
Every time we'll see KISS we got the chills and are so excited to see a show again, we cann't get enough of it. Especially on front row, it's like you're sucked into the show and nothing beats a KISS show, it's a experience!
*(c) 2019. All personal photo’s/slideshows/filmed footage may only be used by others if is reference/linked to this site or me and ask me first!