Kiss at Barclays Center, Brooklyn

Guitarist Paul Stanley and bassist Gene Simmons floundered in several local bands before teaming as Rainbow in New York City in 1970; in 1971, Rainbow would become Wicked Lester, which likewise made little impact. Inspired by harder rock and roll bands like Slade and the outrageous stage antics of Alice Cooper, Stanley and Simmons in 1972 assembled what would become Kiss, with guitarist Ace Frehley and drummer Peter Criss. Thanks in large part to the local dominance of the New York Dolls and similar bands, New York's music scene was in the throes of its short-lived glitter-rock era, where make-up and outlandish wardrobe was the norm. Kiss' kabuki-styled face paint and space age costumes were above the norm in 1973, however, and helped the band stand out among the local rockers. Kiss became known for its stage act, which included fire-breathing, blood-spitting, and pyrotechnics. By the fourth album, Kiss became an arena band. Kiss is one of the best-selling bands of all time, having sold more than 75 million records worldwide. Kiss also holds the title as America's top gold record award-winning group of all time, having earned 30 gold albums. Kiss has 14 platinum albums, with three albums being multi-platinum. Since 2004, the band has been comprised of Stanley, Simmons, guitarist Tommy Thayer and drummer Eric Singer. The band's most recent studio album is 2012's Monster. The four original members of Kiss were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2014.

With Kiss' popularity experiencing many ups and downs, many tours were rumored to be the band's final tour until the first official farewell tour in 2000-2001. The band never actually retired, however, so even though the current tour is billed as the End of the Road Tour, could it really be the end of Kiss? If so, they went out with a blast. But then, all of Kiss' concerts always have been a blast, and the spectacle tonight at Barclays Center in Brooklyn was little different. Most of the staging was familiar. Fog, lasers, flash pots, flame towers, spiraling sparklers, confetti canons, balloon drops, hydraulic platforms, and B-stage interludes are rather common at arena concerts, but Kiss remains the only band that adds a blood spitter and fire breather. Stanley rode a zip line to and from the B-stage in the back of the arena; that was new, as were the cherry pickers that brought the musicians over the audience.  Guitar, bass and drum solos would have been a yawn if they were not elevated with special effects. More than half of the set was derived from the band's 1970s albums, and many of the lyrics sounded rather juvenile coming from senior citizen rockers, but long live rock and roll. Kiss' performance was for the Peter Pan in us; who wants to grow up when bigger-than-life rock idols continue to rally us to rock and roll all night and party every day?

Setlist:

1. Detroit Rock City
2. Shout It Out Loud
3. Deuce
4. Say Yeah
5. I Love It Loud
6. Heaven's on Fire
7. War Machine (Simmons breathes fire)
8. Lick It Up (with a snippet of the Who's “Won’t Get Fooled Again")
9. Calling Dr. Love
10. 100,000 Years (with Singer drum solo)
11. Cold Gin (with Thayer guitar solo)
12. God of Thunder (with Simmons bass solo; Simmons spits blood)
13. Psycho Circus
14. Let Me Go, Rock 'N' Roll
15. Love Gun (Stanley on B-stage)
16. I Was Made for Lovin' You (Stanley on B-stage)
17. Black Diamond

Encore:

1. Beth (Singer on piano)
2. Crazy Crazy Nights
3. Rock and Roll All Nite