The Show So Far: Taking Stock

When I read that Eric Singer was rejoining the band for Japan and Australia, I was dumbfounded. So great was the shock, I had to read KISSONLINE's 70-word announcement several times to make sure that I was really getting it. Like many fans, I was upset by its terseness and how it left a sticky residue of questions that would probably never be wiped off in a way any fan would regard as adequate. The whole thing was just another in the very, very long line of mysteries, half-truths and internal politicking that has characterized the so-called KISStory since its chronicling began almost three decades ago. I was further confused because the day before the news hit the stands I was in Yokohama at KISSFest 2001, which featured special guest Eric Singer. Eric had to know that this was going down. The whole thing, like so much of the band's behind-the-scenes career, felt ill-timed, unreal and confounding.

Slogging through dozens of the more than 5,000 comments that flooded KISSONLINE following the announcement, it was abundantly clear to me that the majority of devotees were beside themselves with displeasure, even anger. Sure, it was universally accepted that the band would sound a hell of a lot stronger with Eric, but that was not the point. The point was that it was not the original members who would be playing on the �Farewell Tour.� Soon after, when it was announced Eric would be wearing the Catman makeup and costume, and later when the first photo of Eric went up, the criticism trebled. Protests were rife that Gene and Paul (and to a lesser degree, Ace) were sullying the legacy of the makeup years and serving up a personal affront to Peter Criss. Fans, some of whom had been there a quarter century, were jumping ship like mugwumps.

My initial reaction? Foremost in my thoughts was that I'd never get to see the original lineup play live again. I think that was the basic issue for most fans, the sense that they were being denied the closure they had been promised, the closure for which they yearned. Though this was KISS -- only with another "member of the family" -- it was not the KISS they wanted to see, not the KISS to which they wanted to bid farewell. That was enough to set the world on its ear.

Still, by the time the smoke at the Big Egg had cleared (literally and figuratively), I surveyed the situation and collected a handful of observations, best presented as a list:

One: The band has not sounded better in recent memory. I believe this, as did every person I talked to at the shows, including several people who had worked on the U.S. leg of the tour. The reason? As Paul bellowed every night after "God Of Thunder," "Eric Singer on the drums!" With a healthy, enthusiastic drummer on board, KISS live rumbled forward like a nuclear-powered steamroller. What we lost in nostalgia value when Peter left was offset by what we gained musically.

Two: Peter was missed, but Eric was embraced. The idea that the pitiful attendance at Yokohama 1 was a protest against Peter's departure lost all credibility. The Japanese fans were treating KISS like KISS, not some imposter band trying to peddle something less than an original. Okay, so Peter wasn't there. Are we going to take a hard-nose, purist approach and write off the whole band? Or are we going to accept Eric, both as a former drummer and, now, as the current drummer? The overwhelming number of fans here went with the latter option.

Three: Peter was not missed. Incredible as it may seem, there were people who had no idea that the person behind the drums wasn't Peter Criss. I heard more than a few fans, Japanese and gaijin alike, say that they thought Paul was joking when he acknowledged Eric at the end of "God Of Thunder." Though laughable to dyed-in-the-wool fans, these comments cannot be ignored. Some people didn't know, perhaps didn't care. It was still KISS to them.

Four: Ace, Eric, Paul and Gene were enjoying themselves. Anybody else notice that virtually every person who reviewed shows from the �Psycho Circus� tour and the stateside shows on the Farewell Tour took pains to include a sentence or paragraph about how much fun the band was having, how much intra-song banter and laughing occurred and how the camaraderie had never been better? Why was that? Because we all wanted to believe that Paul, Gene, Ace and Peter really were best buddies, that all the nonsensical, egotistical bickering of the past had truly gone the way of a buried hatchet and we were seeing the "Four Who Are One." We ached to believe this mantra, and seeing it manifested in feel-good reports helped us do so, even if a modicum of doubt lingered.

In Japan, though, I think the giddy vibe was genuine, not just another choreographed accouterment to make the live show more lively. There are several reasons for this, only one of which is really worth mentioning: People on the crew, some of whom had done more than 200 shows, said again and again that the atmosphere had never been more loose, more enjoyable, more fun. I won't offer analysis on why � we can all posit -- but I am convinced the band's enthusiasm was the real thing.