I lucked into some free tickets through work to see KISS Alive 35 last night at Cobo Arena. KISS in Detroit, Cobo Arena, for free? That’s a no-brainer! Check out the setlist here!
I decided I would park for free at Greektown Casino and ride the People Mover over to Cobo. Got there right on time, about 7:30, it was cool to see everyone all pumped up and excited, a lot of them wearing makeup. Even cooler was seeing all the kids with their parents…you gotta love it when parents get their kids started on the good rock and roll early! LOL
The seats were awesome…lower bowl, section 17, just a couple rows up from the bottom. The opener was Buckcherry…not my favorite and I didn’t think they sounded that great but there were a lot of people who liked them which made everyone get excited for KISS so it was all good. Probably the best part of the night for me was just before KISS came out. You know that time right before the headliner comes out, when the lights dim, and you see people moving around on the stage? You think it is the band, and you and everyone else starts yelling and screaming but it turns out it is just a roadie and you’re disappointed. Then it happens again, you get all excited, but its just another roadie. Well, KISS took it to another level. I don’t get out much, so maybe this is normal for rock concerts now but I had never seen it before.
The lights dim, and instead of the band coming out, the jumbotrons (there were three of them) start showing backstage. There’s a guy with a camera walking in front of the band as they’re leaving the dressing room for the stage. They’re walking through the halls of Cobo Arena (man, if only those walls could talk!!) and mugging for the camera. “We’re coming for you Detroit”, etc. People went nuts. I went nuts, and the band wasn’t even on the stage yet. It just took the anticipation to a whole new level. The camera guy stops right next to the stage entrance and as each member of the band walks by the camera, pointing at the crowd and smiling, you see the transition from jumbotron screen to stage. I know it sounds silly and simple, but it was just an awesome way to crank up the fans without even playing a note.
They come out and everyone obviously goes nuts. KISS in Detroit, Cobo Arena? Come on…in rock and roll terms that’s the show of shows. What’s comparable? Maybe Springsteen at the Meadowlands. Or Seger at Cobo. Hmmm…Cobo in two out of three…. Anyway, they come out and go right into “Deuce”. Awesome. I’m looking at the stage, and what I think are about 50 4×12 amp cabinets are actually TV screens with images of 4×12 speakers. Throughout the show, they proceed to change the images on those screens to coincide with the three big screens up top. Sweet! It was a really nice effect.
Everyone was singing along, even the kids. Paul Stanley was his typical showman self, cranking up the crowd, talking about just how much history there was with Cobo, with the D, with KISS, about how important Detroit was to music not just rock, etc. Just awesome, it gave me chills thinking about just how much music has come out of and through Detroit in the past 40-50 years, and how many millions of people heard it and jammed to it. All the shows at Cobo, Detroit loving bands before anyone else knew who they were, and so on.
The encore was one long party of the favorite songs…of course they ended with “Detroit Rock City”. DUH! LOL I headed out, got onto the People Mover, and was back in Greektown 15 minutes after the last note. I got out of there and headed home on Michigan Ave so I could swing by Telway for sliders. All in all, a great show. You cannot go wrong with Cobo Arena for a rock concert, and KISS makes it a no-brainer. Add in free tix, free parking and Telway sliders after, and you have a perfect night for an old cheapskate rocker like me. 
My voice is gone, my throat is toast, but man what a show.
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