Sunday, September 1st, KISS made a stop at Hollywood Casino Amphitheatre on their End of the Road World Tour. The show started with artist, David Garibaldi painting three portraits in his unique, fast style. The first painting was of Alice Cooper. While playing songs by Van Halen, Garibaldi painted an upside down picture of Eddie Van Halen. His last painting was of KISS with the arch behind them. Audience members could win the painting by donating at least $10 to the Make-A-Wish Foundation of America through a website posted on the screens during the time between the two acts. KISS and Garibaldi have raised over $200,000 for charities on this tour.
KISS kicked of their show by playing Detroit Rock City while entering from platforms above the stage. Fire and fireworks were also going off. On the screen behind them, old footage from other concerts that the group preformed at, was playing. They then went on to play Shout It Out Loud and Deuce. Before playing Say Yeah, Paul Stanley told the audience “There’s no KISS without the KISS Army.”
The next two songs were I Love it Loud and Heaven’s on Fire. During War Machine, Gene Simmons breathed fire and had a flaming sword. There was also a dragon, fire and a war machine on the screen behind the band. After War Machine the band performed Lick it Up with part of Won’t Get Fooled Again by The Who in it.
There were lots of pyrotechnics and fireworks throughout the show. At one point the cameras show a young boy in the audience with a sign that read “My 1st concert ever, thank you KISS.”
Calling Dr. Love was played before 100,000 Years which had a drum solo by Eric Singer. The following song was Cold Gin, which featured a guitar solo by Tommy Thayer that took out different screens in unison with notes on his guitar.
For the next song, God of Thunder, Gene came down from the ceiling on a platform, while spitting blood. Gene preformed the song above the stage. Instead of showing scenes on the screens, it was Gene’s face.
Paul talked to the audience again before the song Psycho Circus. He told the audience “Tonight we celebrate acting like animals. If we can turn St. Louis into a zoo, we can turn it into a Psycho Circus!”
Psycho Circus was followed by Let Me Go, Rock ‘N’ Roll. Paul preformed Love Gun and I Was Made for Lovin’ You on a stage in the audience. Before swinging out there, Paul asked the audience to invite him, “I know it’s hot, but I want to talk to you. I remember playing here in 1974. A lot has happened. Here we are on the End of the Road Tour. Because of that, I want to come down here and play with you. But St. Louis, you have to invite me.” The crowd invited him and he swung on out on a sort of zip line.
The group then played Black Diamond before the three song encore. The first encore song was Beth, which was performed by Eric on the piano. Next, Paul introduced Crazy Crazy Nights by telling the audience “This is the kind of show we won’t forget. The thing about coming to see KISS is you have to keep getting crazier. Are you ready to get crazy?” Then giant white balloons with KISS symbols were released into the audience.
The last song of the night was Rock and Roll All Nite. All though their make-up was smeared and they were all sweaty, KISS still preformed the song as if it were the 70’s. Confetti cannons shot off and the band’s platforms raised up. Fire was going off simultaneously with Eric’s drumbeats and there was fireworks in the background. The show ended with Paul asking the audience “Did you have a good time? Did you get what you came for? You know something? We love you. Goodnight.”
Written by: Danielle Winter
Photos by: Dustin Winter
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