KISS Are Far Less Alive At 35

Air Canada Centre

Toronto, ON

on Oct 2 2009

Ian Gormely (CHARTattack)

10/05/2009 4:33pm

Three minutes into their first song at the Air Canada Centre on Friday night, the P.A. completely cut out on '70s costumed rockers KISS. With the band seemingly unaware of the technical malfunctions, the quartet kept playing and mugging for the audience as if nothing was wrong.

Watching KISS parade around onstage without musical accompaniment is a lot like reading those Garfield strips with the cat removed and Jon, his owner, left talking to himself like a neurotic nut. Stripped of their musical shield, KISS are nothing but a bunch of middle-aged men trying to stretch out a dream that should have died decades ago.

Openers Buckcherry, from L.A., were dealt a similar card with the P.A. cutting out 30 seconds into their first number. After a 10-minute break that saw the band leave the stage and the audience left wondering if they'd return, the five-piece came back swinging launching into their 1999 hit "Lit Up," espousing the virtues of cocaine.

Dressed like cast-offs from Daisy Of Love, they delivered a tight set of late-1980s Hollywood strip-inspired rock that copped all of Guns 'N Roses swagger with none of that iconic band's sense of danger, or the tunes to match. Still, the crowd loved the band's take on Deep Purple's "Highway Star" and were up on their feet for set ender "Crazy Bitch," as lead singer Josh Todd screamed, "Never stop fucking me, Toronto."

After the sound problems that stopped their set short for a second 10-minute gap, KISS returned to the stage, launching into "Deuce."

The band's famous stage set ups, which set the bar for arena rock stages for decades to come, seemed muted, particularly given the mammoth "claw" set that U2 rolled into town with last month. Comprised of a barrage of video screens that displayed the most literal interpretations of the band's songs (fire for "Hotter than Hell," a scantily clad woman for new track "Modern Day Delilah") there wasn't much spectacle. Even the Jonas Brothers had a more ambitious stage.

Still, KISS remain one of the few bands to use pyrotechnics, which were fired off liberally throughout the two-hour plus set.

This being the band's "Alive 35" tour — even though only half of the band that recorded that record are still in the group — the setlist leaned heavily on tracks from the classic live album, as the band dropped seldom played vintage cuts like "Stole Your Love," "Watchin' You" and "100,000 Years."

However, the show's flow was constantly interrupted by Paul Stanley's cliched stage banter ("They were louder in Montreal") and reminders that, yes, this next one is a "classic vintage song." Of course, there was the requisite fire-breathing, blood-spitting and high-wire act, all of which were fun to finally watch in person.

But here is where KISS separate themselves from other past their prime rockers like AC/DC.

Watching the Aussie rockers go through their motions, there's a sense that yes, they're aware that this is ridiculous, but it's also kind of fun, so they're going to do it anyway.

KISS are desperately lacking this self-awareness, and it makes it difficult to really buy into their schtick. Of course, this isn't helped by the half-assed way in which the group members go through some of the motions. They at least redeemed themselves with a fast moving encore of hits that included "Shout It Out Loud," "Lick it Up" and "Detroit Rock City."

None of these criticisms matter to the converted in the KISS Army, many of whom brought their young kids to the show. KISS are merely an escape to a simpler time.

But for the uninitiated or skeptical, they remain barriers to truly enjoying this enduring, yet rapidly aging, group.