Kiss, Skid Row And Ted Nugent In Winnipeg

Winnipeg Arena

Winnipeg, MB

on Jul 16 2000

Kari D. (CHARTattack)

07/18/2000 6:00pm

You don't just go to a Kiss show. People don't just show up and sit down. This is an event unlike any other of its kind. Filing in, I walked past multiple Kiss families and friends, each group dressed up in a bodacious effort to pay tribute to their rock gods.

The merch tables alone suggested the immense magnitude of what I was in for. Stacks of T-shirts, guitar strings, albums and books lined the walls while peons of the Kiss Army came in hoards to gather their supplies. Judging from the prices and the amount of material being bought, I wouldn't have been surprised to learn I was in an arena full of doctors and lawyers.

Then there was the stage. Like any large show, most of the set was covered by curtains, leaving the opening acts mere feet of floor to perform on. This seemed enough room for Skid Row, however. The hyperactive group played to a half full room, pumping out the metal as all four guys sped from one side of the wide set-up to the other. The crowd awoke only for the last song, "Youth Gone Wild."

Ted Nugent was next. Yikes. I felt the insatiable urge to duck and cover, especially when he called for his weapon. Too bad the seats were so close together. This guy just screams self-indulgent rock, honouring himself with eight-minute guitar epics that go nowhere and do nothing.

His attitude is about as contrived as his music. He could even be called the John Rocker of rock, as his pugnacious attitude and discriminatory spewings sickened this concertgoer and many around her. I'm not your blood brother, and you really, really don't have to go out and sacrifice a buffalo in my honour.

The anticipation for Kiss to hit the stage was easy to feel. There was an incredible buzz in the air when the lights dimmed and a colossal roar as the curtain fell.

Ace, Gene, Paul and Peter were lowered from the ceiling as pyro flamed, smoke billowed and fans cheered relentlessly.

Backed by the biggest wall of amps I have ever seen, Kiss stormed into "Detroit Rock City." A vast array of material was covered, as the setlist took cues from the 27 years worth of material this phenom has produced. Thirty-foot streams of fire shot into the air, the heat from which could be felt far from the stage.

Ace, Gene and Paul dispensed guitar picks faster than Elvis and his scarves, often throwing them out to the crowd before they were used. Paul ventured out to a small platform in the middle of the room near the end of the set to get closer to his fans, while Gene flew up to his platform near the roof to get a better look at the crowd somewhere in the middle of the performance.

The famous Bloody Tongue was in full effect, much to the delight of the blood-splattered front row.

The Farewell Tour left its mark on Winnipeg, and no KISS fan left without bittersweet memories of the wonderful night.