KISS Alive 35 at Cobo Hall

Last evening, after being stuck all day in Flint in a very long and uneventful deposition, I picked up Sam and George and headed toward Northville to pick up Crazy Dave. We all had plans to attend the KISS concert at Cobo Hall. When we got to Crazy Dave's house, Dave was still getting ready. We hung out with his dad, who is in town for a couple of weeks, until Dave came downstairs to depart. Much to our surprise, when ready, Crazy Dave entered the room with his face painted to look like Gene Simmons! OK, that's not really true, but it sure would have been hilarious! We drove down to Cobo Hall. As we were parking, legions of KISS fans were exiting their cars or tailgating, and a significant percentage of the crowd had KISS face paint on. This had the feel of a true phenomenon. There were more painted faces than you'd expect to see at a Green Bay Packers playoff game! As we approached Cobo, the concentration of painted and dressed up fans increased. There were Gene Simmons look-alikes with winged jackets, spiked boots and teased hair. The crowd was a riot. We arrived just after Buckcherry took the stage. They performed all the favorites, from "Lit Up" to "Next 2 You" to "Everything" and "Sorry." They finished their set with "Crazy Bitch" which brought the house down. KISS was up next. There were several kids right in front of us who loved the concert. And I don't mean that they were "kids" to a 42-year-old. They were actually kids, probably in either elementary school or middle school. They and their parents were having a blast! Although there were less kids than at a Jonas Brothers or Hannah Montana concert, there were far more than I've ever seen at any rock concert before. I guess if I loved it when I was 9, so must many other 9-year-olds. KISS did pretty much all of their notable songs. The only one I think they missed was Beth. There was spitting fire during "Hotter Than Hell." There was splitting blood during the bass solo. There were guitar solos with sparks coming out of the guitar. There was a drum solo on a circular riser. There was flying over the stage and over the crowd. There were pyrotechnics. There were numerous video screens. It was exceptionally loud. It was everything a KISS fan could possibly expect, and then some. I'll leave you with the KISS party all night anthem, in moving picture form: