New Years Eve 1999/2000 with KISS

We lost our mind in VANCOUVER ROCK CITY.
You want Kiss. I know you do. That is why I am going to tell you about all that we went to see on the trip to Vancouver. Of course you will get an review of the concert also, but what about everything else that got Kiss to it. Anyway let me first tell you about the day of the concert, and the concert itself.

PART ONE - THE REVIEW.
No Kissfan with respect for Kiss and everything it stands for, can go the distance we did, without Kiss make-up. So we started to put on make-up at nine a.m the day of the concert. First of was Henrik Engebretsen who became Ace. Next of was Richard Kristiansen who wanted to be Paul, and Gry Thorsen became Peter. I, Truls Søbakk was Gene with my Dressed to kill costume on and then the Kiss line-up was complete.

When we was finished seven hours later, we went down in the lobby at the hotell, and a lot of people were looking very strange at the four of us. We sat down for something to eat, and it was fun. We later took a cab down to BC Place, and there was a lot of fans there. We walked along BC Place, and got a lot of attention from the people in the line up. Some people wanted to take pictures together with us, and they asked us to do some visual exciting thing, so I showed them the tongue.

After some time a lot of look-a-likes showed up, and this was very exciting. They had some incredible costumes, but it was mostly Gene costumes. There was two male Gene look-a-likes, one female Peter and one male Paul. They knew each other, and was sitting togheter behind us at the concert. Except for that there was a lot of other people with make-up. Four fans came with Kiss Army outfits, and each diffrent make-up. It was very exciting to be there, and the concert had not even started.

The concert it self was the best one I had been to, and we all agreed on that actually. Not even the Oslo concert here in 1996, was equal and that was the best concert I had been to. Even though I had been to five concerts
in february and mars in Oslo, Stockholm and Gothenburg that could not even top this New Years Eve concert. When we entered BC Place I got to see a Harley Davidson motorcycle, with the Kiss logo on it. It was very beautiful. Later we bought some merchandise, and when we entered the arena several Kiss logos was lighted up in the roof of the stadium. I bet there was about twenty logos moving around. I got very excited.

Kiss had done a great job. The arena was BIG, I can tell you and they had hung two Kiss Army flag very close to the roof. It was the first time I had seen those flags in real life, so it felt special. On each side of the stage they had put up the big Kiss dolls as shown on the Second Coming video. It was from left to right, first Gene then Ace on the left side of the stage, and on the right side Peter and Paul. When the time had come for Kiss to begin they had added something new to the show.

On the screen they showed a short story from the first days of the beginning of the KISSTORY. It was something from the recording with the first TV apperance with Gene, to the interview where Ace is asked what he acutally is, and he answers a plummer. You could read on the big screen: "They said it couldn't been done. But we did it"!

Then the show started of with Psycho Circus, and when they had come to the second song Shout It Out Loud, I was standing and doing my thing. The next of was Deuce, and since I know the lyrics to that song I sang along with my hand into the sky. OOHH YYEAAH. After that Paul took the microphone and told: "they should do some new stuff with PETER and ACE", and he shouted out: OOOOOHHHHHH!! It was time for Heavens on Fire. The big flames at the stage played a big part in the song, since when he came to the chorus and he sang Heavens on FIRE, the big torch was lit. It was very special and I took several pictures. I tought the song came very early in the show, but that had only to do with me having so much fun.

There was still much to come. After Heavens on Fire it was time for Shock Me, Firehouse and Do you love Me. As usual the fans joined in on the beginning of Do you love me, and sang: You really like my limousine - You like the way the wheels roll - You like my seven inch leather heels - And going to all the shows, BUT DO YOU LOVE ME. This song is great live, so the 17.000 people in BC Place did a really good job about it. This song went really well, and I must say I think Do you Love Me was the best of the three songs.

But when they started to play Let me Go Rock 'N' Roll. This one could not even Do you Love Me, top of. It is one of Kiss greatest live songs I think. I roared OOOHH YYYEEEAAHH together with Gene at the end of the song, and it was really great.

Now Paul took the microphone and said: "It is ONE MINUTE left to midnight". The people roared like nothing else. At the strike of twelve, BC Place was covered with confetti from one end to the other, and you could see 2000 flash on the screen, while Paul cried out: HAPPY NEW YEAR! I got so excited that I didn't see the flash of the 2000, but I was told that later. Ace came out and did the best 2000 Man he had done in a long time. He didn't mumble so much with the lyrics this time, like he does on Shock Me. It was great since Kiss didn't make such a big effort at the strike of twelve, as I had expected it to be. So actually the way I can see it was that Ace had to pull it of, and he most certainly did. One thing that was a little bit unusual was after 2000 Man. Ace started the solo after he had finished of with the entire song. Usually he has started on the solo, while he is finishing the song, but not this time. It didn't matter much, except for that it was cool to see something different this time.

The next song was Cold Gin, and it did well as usual. The one thing I would like to see one day, is Ace doing Cold Gin since it is he who wrote it. Even though Gene does a good job, but it would have been great to see Ace sing it.

Then it was time for Gene to do his thing. He started of with the bloodscene, and it was a little bit shorter than usual. It took a short period of time before he spitted out the blood, and I thougt to myself that Gene maybe was restless that night. Cause we all know that Gene expresses his feeling in the bass solo every night, and that one bass solo can't be the same since it depends on what he feels. He stood with his hands crossed for a short period of time. We all cried GENE - GENE! When he started to go up he was hanging there for a couple of seconds, but then he got up and it went fast. When he was up there he cried one OOHH YEAHH and a second OOHHH YEAHHH, which was responded by the audience and finishing of with one OH RIGHT. Then the tunes of God of Thunder was of running, and I thought to myself what a song, even though it is written by Paul. The lyrics says everything there is to say about Gene "The Demon" Simmons: "The spell you're under will slowly rob you of your virgin soul".

After the bass solo it was time for two more of the "eighties" as Paul said, and they started of with Lick It Up. It was a song which to me was a little bit hard to judge, since I have been told that the solo is very easy to
play, but that the first time Kiss played it with Vinnie he played it with a special technique. This time with Ace I had only my own judgement to rely on, and I must say it sounded very well live. Everybody was singing along,
and it made it even greater since I think it helps Kiss to perform even better. I think the song sounded better with Ace and Peter, and that should answer Pauls question, since he hoped for the "eighties" to be as good as
they were the first time around without Ace and Peter.

After Lick it Up it was time for the OOHH YEAAHH song of them all: I love it Loud. To me this was the song which replaced God of Thunder with Gene on vocal, and it was great to hear it the first time ever live. Gene shouted: "Let me hear you", and the audience sang along from the begining. To me this is a great live song, but I can't say it is the best of the "eighties" at the concert. They all were, even though Heavens on Fire came real early and I Love it Loud came right after Lick It Up. I thought they could have played some more songs between Lick It Up and I Love it Loud, but it really didn't matter.

When they started of with 100.000 years the crowd exploded, and I started to dance a little bit since Kiss play a lot together on that song. It was really great, and now I started to be so excited that I can't remember everything that happened on the stage. Kiss were doing everything to please us. The fireworks went of with flames, lights and everything from the basscrunsh to Ace playing his solo
.
When it was time for Love Gun it was a little bit different with the meters shown on the screen. Usually Paul asks us to scream out, but the first time it doesn't go all the way to the red zone. But this time he had made it more easy, since we screamed for him and the meters went all the way over to the red zone on the first attempt. Now before he could begin with the song, he took a look around and Ace was no where to be found, so Paul went to the microphone and said something like this: Can we have Ace Frehley to come to the stage". Ace came jumping in and to me it sounded like Paul lost a little patience, but it's hard to tell. Love Gun went really well, and the greatest part of it I think is when Paul has gone back from his little stage, to the main stage, and they finish of the song with a lot of bombs on the top of the stage where Gene is during God of Thunder.

Then it was time for Black Diamond and Paul entered the stage with his Black Diamond guitar. They didn't alluminate BC Place with the same amount of light as they did in Oslo Spectrum, since BC Place was so big an arena, but they turned the spotlight on Pauls guitar, and it reflected on to the crowd in front of the stage. It was great. Paul didn't split the crowd in half like he usually did, but he played some intro to the song, and then they
were of. The song was great, and as you might understand the concert had soon come to an end. They didn't do a drumsolo, and it was OK. They made more room for more long songs, and I think that was the best. That was great with this concert.

They played a lot, and it was just like Paul said on the MTV Unplugged: "Tonight we gonna let the music do most of the talking". They most certainly did. Then they did Detroit Rock City, and I sang along on the song. It was great to really scream out loud: "You got to loose your mind in Detroit Rock City", which is the greatest part of the song to me.

They continued with Ace and to me this was a great moment since I had been waiting for Into the Void. The song went almoust as well as 2000 Man, and Ace did a great job. I read on another rewiew that this had to be a
compromise to get Ace to play, since they had moved it to the encore, but it worked so well, so it has to be a bad excuse for not playing it, I think.

After the lights went down we waited a little bit, and then Peter came out and did Beth, with the entire BC Place singing it together with him. This part of the concert was the greatest one I think after Into the Void, and
the reason why it was better than Oslo in 1996. Because when Peter was finished he said: "I want to bless each and everyone of you here tonight".

This was the greatest moment of my life, and as the new millennium had started I was crying tears of joy. Then it couldn't have gotten any better than to have Paul come out and tell us to remember: to Rock 'N' Roll all
night, and party every day. Then the song began, and the confetti in front of the stage and back to the little stage where Paul played Love Gun started to flow out. They didn't fill the entire BC Place like they did at midnight. But the entire arena exploded with joy, and excitement. The people went wild and so did I. At the end Gene, Paul and Ace was lifted up on two elevators that was a little bit different than the ones they used on the Alive Worldwide tour. Gene to the left and Paul and Ace to the right. The elevators went straight up, and not so far out to the crowd as on Alive Worldwide. Peters drums went straight up and the four of them finished of before Paul smashed the guitar to the exploding of the bombs, the flames and the guitar crunsh. The lights went down, and we all had experienced the greatest New Years Eve of all time. Beginning the new millennium 2000, in Vancouver at BC Place with Kiss.

PART TWO HARD ROCK CAFE - Vancouver
On Hard Rock we was blessed by many things. Kiss had gotten them a personally signed record from the Unplugged record. It was written something like this: "To Hard Rock Cafe Vancouver. Thank you for great support". Other from that you had the guitar of Ace Frehley from his time with Frehleys Comet. It was great to see.

In the front of the entrance of Hard Rock Cafe you had a signed picture of Gene from two periods of time. Both were framed, and from left to right you could see Gene back in 1984 and the next photo was back in 1981 I guess with the big cape and everything, around the time Eric Carr joined. The most visuall thing maybe was the mirror with the Barry Levine photo, where Peter had his drum and the bleeding bandana on his head. All together with the Destroyer costumes. It was very big so it would have been great to have at home in the entrance, of course. We even thought about how we could have "smuggeled" it out of there in our jackets, in a
funny manner.

PART THREE SEATTLE
Another thing I must tell you about is our journey to Seattle. Home of Bill Gates, no sweat! And of course the place where we found a lot of RARE Kiss stuff. Here we got caught by surprise BIG TIME. Henrik and I were looking for a cash deposit in a area of the town where you only got to see a lot of offices. Not so many shopping malls at all.

We went into one of these offices called AAA (spelled triple A). After we had started talking to a lady at the reception she asks Henrik if we liked Kiss, because she could see his hat with the Kiss logo on it. Now it was like this. She had actually been working for Kiss in the early days. And as she told us: "Helped
making them FAMOUS". Now this could have been a lot of bullshit, but she told personal things about Kiss, that I as an Kiss fan have heard a lot of times. Like for example that Gene has a photographic memory and that Ace was really cute. She also said it with a lot of feeling, when I asked about Ace. She helped us a lot. She told about many second hand stores where they could have Kiss merchadise, and gave us a map. We asked about the place she was working in, and it was some kind of our organization NAF here in Norway.
She was real nice and for a lady who never had bought a Kiss record for the last 30 years, she knew about a lot of places with second hand merchandise.

We later found the cash deposit and headed back to tell our travel companions Gry and Richard about our meeting. We had then been in Seattle for only an hour short, and get to know a lady which had helped making Kiss famous. No sweat, once again. This office was not far from the Space Needle, so if you are in Seattle once you should look her up, and say hello, and tell her that you like Kiss. Here name is Julie Harrison.

Rest of the day we was walking a lot, and we got to see the Space Needle for many ours. After some food we went to a place called the U-District. It was very far from downtown, and here we found a lot of Kiss merchandise. You had one main street with several second hand stores. We also was told to look for a place called Second Time Around. I did not see a sign on the many stores that we went inside, but I didn't look so hard either.

It was a lot of the stores in the U-District, and there was one where you could see but unfortunally not buy. This was a shame since we found a store with a lot of merchandise from the early days. We was told by a young girl around 20, that here mother were collecting. We could see a original termos with the Love Gun logo on it. The grand price there was the original Kiss record player with a Shout It out Loud singel on it, and another thing was a lot of official concert posters from Dynasty I seem to remember. Another thing was three individual poster of Paul, Ace & Peter on the bikes with the Destroyer costumes. Gene was not shown, and it was a shame. She also had the original posters from the solo albums showing in the store. She had a big Psycho Circus throw and a solo faces throw hanging on the wall also. The Psycho Circus throw you can see in the David Snowden catalog. She had decorated the store with a lot of Kiss stuff, and on the upper shelf by the
counter you could see a lot of stuff. I remember the first edition of the Kiss cards and the Love Gun termos as mentioned.

I bought a cool CD with holograms of Kiss printed on the CD itself. Another exciting thing was that Henrik bought at another place, an early peace of the video Kiss meets the Phantom of the Park. It was great to see.
After a long journey in the U-District, we finally went downtown. Here we did some more shopping at Sam Goody to buy the Kiss Love Gun Miniature Figure Headliners, Barnes&Nobles to buy Black Diamond 2 by Dale Sherman and finishing it of with the Second Coming on video and Detroit Rock City on DVD. Now the time had come to go back to Vancouver, since we had been all day in Seattle. We headed back very tired, and felt good about all the merchandise we had bought.

Av Truls Søbakk