CityLife

Kiss

Gene Simmons

Kiss
MEN Arena
May 10, 2010

Shocking, funny and very, very long: words that could be applied equally to Kiss’s epic new stadium show and to Gene Simmons’s infamous tongue, which hangs out of the self-styled demon’s mouth throughout, pouring with saliva and wiggling lasciviously at members of the audience.

Back in Europe to tour new album Sonic Boom and overdue a visit to Manchester (or “Myan-chest-uh,” as singer Paul Stanley pronounces it), the iconic Brooklyn band play a set that’s split between old hits and tracks from the new album which, given their stoic commitment to a musical formula, blend in seamlessly with three-decade old material.

Of that, solid rock ‘n’ rollers Cold Gin, Deuce and Call Me Dr Love prove Kiss are still a rock band with serious chops, if one whose image - and excessive merchandising - has always overshadowed the music.

Kiss shows are a pantomime; the antidote to every band that plays in jeans and T-shirts and pretends to be bored. They begin with an intro tape that promises “the hottest band in the world,” they wear platform heels that give them the stature of superheroes and make-up that disguises years of rock ‘n’ roll excess.

We see guitarist Tommy Thayer apparently shooting fireworks from the neck of his guitar, we see drummer Eric Singer fire a bazooka, and we even see a portly 60 year-old man fly (though you have to squint pretty hard to miss the wires) when a bloody-mouthed Simmons launches himself to the rafters above the stage.

The show’s best is saved for the encore, which Stanley promises will be the longest we’ve ever seen. Shortly, he’s whizzing over the audience on a zip wire to a revolving platform at the very back of the auditorium, where he sings the disco-fuelled I Was Made For Loving You to the folks at the rear.

Returning to the stage by the same method, the show wraps up with a double whammy of the 1992 hit God Gave Rock And Roll To You II and the band’s signature anthem Rock And Roll All Nite, which is accompanied by a barrage of explosions, plumes of fire and a storm of tickertape.

As the face-painted crowd files out, only the merch stall tills ring louder than our ears.