“Wearing more makeup than your Mommy”

I’m a massive KISS fan. In fact, for Christmas, my wife bought me a new turntable and a 180-gram vinyl copy of Destroyer. It’s been fun to spin the old vinyl records and reminisce a bit about being in my bedroom and dreaming about what it would be like to see the “hottest band in the world.”

Over the course of my life, I’ve seen KISS nearly ten times, and while that may seem like a lot, there are obviously fans who have seen the band many hundreds of times. I’ve been about as far away as possible, and I’ve been center stage, about four rows back from the front. I’ve seen them in and out of makeup. I know what I’m getting when I see a show.

All three volumes of KISSOLOGY have amazing concerts from various points in the band’s nearly 50-year career, and I can watch the 70s, 80s, 90s, or 21st-century versions of the band anytime I like. 

In the before-COVID-times, KISS was on their END OF THE ROAD tour, counting down to their last ever concert event. I had not seen a show on the tour because I was hedging my bet that they might bring the show to the State Farm Center here in Champaign, where I would beg and plead with my wife and her DIA co-workers to get a good seat and maybe a backstage pass. I also think the band will set up a long-term residency in Las Vegas sometime soon, but I digress.

To finish off this horrible year, KISS has decided to put together a New Year’s Eve PPV streaming show on a massive 250-foot stage constructed at the Atlantis Hotel in Dubai. It looks sort of like a mashup of the Metallica: Live at Slane Castle stage and the Rammstein — Sonne Dresden stage. It certainly looks like it’s going to be the largest show of 2020.

However, I won’t be watching. At least not live. The KISS 2020 Goodbye concert experience will not be any less exciting when I watch it on New Year’s Day on YouTube instead of paying $30 or $50 on New Year’s Eve. Because it will absolutely be on YouTube the very next day, and I don’t feel like parting with any cash for the rights to watch it “live.” Seriously, the global start time is cool and everything, but that means it’s actually live at 11 am on New Year’s Eve, and nothing says rock and roll like watching KISS play a big concert over lunch. 

Maybe I’m just getting old. 

There’s obviously going to be a DVD and supposedly a behind-the-scenes documentary too. I’d say a live recording is in the works as well. I don’t “need” to see it now and I’ll be happy to purchase the products when they come out in March, probably around the same time the END OF THE ROAD tour kicks back up.

Better to rock and roll all night instead of rock and roll over lunch.