REVIEW: KISS, Sheffield Arena
YOU'VE got to wonder at the job description for being a member of KISS.
Maybe a knack for applying Dulux gloss-consistency make-up at short notice; comfortable with flying over audiences and close proximity to explosions and 10-foot flames; an ability to swagger in eight-inch platform boots for two hours.
Kicking off the UK leg of their Sonic Boom Over Europe Tour, the veteran glam rockers returned to Sheffield packing more explosives than Red Adair, burning more gas and electricity than the city's east end in its industrial heyday and sporting as many winches and hydraulics as Dover docks.
Co-singer Paul Stanley confirmed the significance of the location in rock's hierarchy. "What better place for the first night," he yelled at the crowd. "Those hills are filled with metal."
To refer to KISS simply as a band is to do Gene Simmons' showmen a huge disservice. As would to brand this 'a gig'. What KISS do is roar and thunder out enduring, often clichd anthems while surrounding themselves with frills, thrills and high-end hijinx, from rocket-launching guitars to exploding lighting rigs, fire-breathing frontmen to floating stages.
While some folk might have been here out of curiosity, barely able to distinguish Crazy Nights from Detroit Rock City, few would have left this cordite-smelling cavern without a smile induced by a cheesy spectacle of a show delivered by a corporate rock phenomenon.
Thirty-six years on from their inception KISS remain a unique force to be reckoned with; an enigma - living legends who deliver a hearty rock romp of a night out as rip-roaringly bombastic as ever. You've gotta love them for it.
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