Day 7 – Bluesfest 2009 – BEAST, The National, KISS

Does anyone not know that KISS was coming to Ottawa?  Word of KISS hitting town was in the air for the month before…with talks of Shannon Tweed planning to tour around with partner Gene Simmons, the fear of KISS breaking the decibel by-law, and the sheer onslaught of rock that was about to descend onto the capital…it was a great time for everyone.

It was also going to prove to be a little too crazy for us.

Garbed in full KISS makeup, Vero and I started out the night by going to see BEAST on the main stage as per Matt and Karilee’s suggestion.  BEAST is supposedly the only band that Matt has purchased an album from in the past decade, because he just likes to sample music by ways of downloading it.  Clearly this must have been an AMAZING band from Montreal if he chose to support them!

We had a great, great, GREAT spot to see them…third tree and in the center.  Excellent view for the industrial/electro/whatever band.  The band even had a keytar!  I really enjoyed them although Vero couldn’t get over the girl’s singing…Vero is a fan of understanding words when people sing and you couldn’t really capture many words (unless you knew them by heart).

Before I digress, can I say that Vero’s KISS outfit was amazing, whereas my makeup was quite lacking.  So, severely lacking that we bumped into Mike’s friend Remi who was taking photos of KISS fans for a magazine and then he ran off to take a picture of someone else other than ourselves.  I am sure that he still wants Vero’s picture so I will send it to him one day!  I personally looked like a zombie.

After they were done, there was a moment where Vero had to decide whether to stay or whether to come along with us to see The National.  She decided to follow me to what I thought would be the main event of the entire Bluesfest.  I really, really, really love The National, a band out of New York and was honoured to be able to see them live.

The National were amazing.  They really were.  They aren’t straight out rocking, but they have this air to them with the baritone vocals, the churning guitars and the horn section…it’s really something to listen to and I’m glad I got to see them.  They played quite a few tunes from their Boxer album which is amongst my favourite of the past years.  Do yourself a favour and check out their music.

We decided to leave The National once Fake Empire was playing and I was dismayed to realize that we couldn’t listen to the band once we neared the main stage as the radio was blaring their own music near the stage!  We realized that the crowd was a little bigger tonight than we had planned on and we had an extremely hard time to get close to the stage.  In the end, Matt and Karilee decided to stick back so Vero, myself and Mike tried to get a little closer to the stage.  We were behind the soundbooth at this point and it wasn’t looking pretty.  It was chaos, to put it mildy.

Vero decided to lead the pack, and we had a straggler in the form of some stoner dude who was saying “I’m going wherever you guys are going!”.  No problems buddy!  We lost Mike along the way.  KISS was Vero’s main event and we didn’t want to hinder any plans for her to rock out the most that she could!

Unfortunately, she ended up in a pit of vipers, otherwise known as ‘the lawnchair gang’.

You see, there’s a tradition at Bluesfest, and that tradition is that there are two factions.  These two factions are the Greasers and the Socs.  Ha ha, I jest (hello S.E. Hinton!).  The real factions are those with lawn chairs, and those without.  Those with lawnchairs like to take up real estate.  I can understand if they want to simply sit in their lawnchair and watch the show.  But if they do that, they give extremely mad if there is someone in front of them (with just reason!).  But then there are the lawnchair people who simply put their lawnchair down and stand up in front of it during the concert, rocking out in their own little three square foot space, while the rest of the world is jammed up against their closest neighbour.

This poses a problem on many a front, and a particular one is the fact that it restricts crowd-flow movement during a concert.  Let me describe to you what it feels like when you are in a crowd of 30,000 people.  You don’t move yourself, the crowd moves you.  Many concert-goers have experienced this and it can only be described as ‘going with the flow’.  Now, if that flow is interrupted by…let’s say…a bunch of lawnchairs, it makes for extremely bad news.

Into the pit of vipers we went.  We ended up in between a group of people who had been hanging out together.  Women yelling at us “We’ve been here for an hour!”.  Someone’s husband, blue in the face screaming at me “WE’VE BEEN WAITING HERE FOR AN HOUR!  HOW COULD YOU DARE STAND IN FRONT OF US?”  Can I point out that at this point, we are nowhere near the stage.  We have managed to be in line with the lighting rig in behind the sound booth.  The stoner dude and I look at each other and he says “Dang.  I guess they haven’t been to many rock concerts.”

You see, as concert goers, we really try and make everyone feel welcome around us, but sometimes it just doesn’t happen.  If I notice a short person behind me, I offer them my spot. Why should I be the backside that someone stares at all night long?  That’s the credo of the concert goer.  Try and have a little fun while you let others have fun also.  But when you get into the lawnchair crowd, unfortunately some of them think that the area ‘they’ve laid claim to’ is rightfully theirs and nothing should come in from of it.  Ever.

That being said, as soon as the band started, I did manage to move myself to the right of the group.  Vero was not as lucky as she was in front of them.  After a few songs, she realized I had moved back and she could sense the daggers in her skull so she came back with me.  Unfortunately (and I didn’t find this out until after the show), when she said “Sorry” and proceed to get out of their way, one older woman pushed her and pinched her.  Vero was livid.  We’re at a rock concert people!  Have a little heart.  We’re at a freaking KISS concert here.  In the end, she ruined the entire night for Vero and I must say I was glad when a spot opened up for us away from the seething viper pit.  We then found true rockers who were having a grand old time.  The stoner dude also approved.  Although Vero is pretty sure he never opened his eyes once during the entire night as he was rocking in his own little world.

Enough of my ranting, let’s talk rock!

KISS came out in full force.  If this was to be the greatest rock and roll show on Earth, by jove, they started out great.  A KISS backdrop exploded down to the stage amongst pyro, fireworks and them descending on what I can only describe as a spaceship (scissorlift) from the heavens.  This was rock and roll from a space like time, where men dress up in crazy garb and makeup on their faces!  Awesome!

What can I say about the show?  I thought the AC/DC show in 2000 was the greatest rock and roll spectacle I have ever seen, but the new winners are definitely KISS.  They had everything a quintessential rock show has, and more.  I wouldn’t be surprised if they actually created half of the rock and roll cliches.  Let me talk about some of the amazing highlights:

– Guys in Makeup!  Come on.  Rock and Roll right there!
– Gene Simmons Breathed Fire!  That was incredible!  He had some sword/torch thing on fire and then he spewed out (what I can only describe as dragon’s breath) something and it burst into flame.  Awesome!
– Gene Simmons Flew Through the Air! No word of a lie.  The guy literally flew upwards into the lighting grid where there was a microphone for him to sing into above the crowd!  Amazing!
– Gene Simmons Bled!  Out of his mouth came blood and a lot of it.  He looked like he was chewing on some tasty demon.
– Paul Stanley rode a Pulley Across the Crowd!  My favourite event of the night, Paul Stanley puts his foot high platform boot through a metal ring which swings him across the crowd and lands him up near the lighting rig where a microphone awaited!
– KISS has a freaking large TV screen!  They know there’s a lot of people at the concert.  So they bring in this screen (LED strings) the size of the stage which has high-def video feeds of all the members.  What a great way to see the show up close and personal!  Much better than the regular Bluesfest screens!
– KISS has seven minutes of confetti!  No word of a lie…when “I Wanna Rock and Roll All Night” played, the confetti machines kept working for the ENTIRE SONG!  The sky was snowy white!
– KISS has a guitar that shoots fireworks!  What the heck?  Solo here, oh wait, let’s shoot a firework.  Solo there, oh heck, here’s another firework.  I NEED THIS GUITAR!!!
– KISS brings out topless lady!  Well, we only saw one for a second on the TV screen.  Mike says he was standing next to a mom and her ten year old kid and the kids eyes went wide as saucers and he said “Whoa.  This is what a KISS concert is all about.  Well done KISS, well done.  You now have a fan for life in the KISS Army.”  True story.
– KISS has fireworks and pyro!  A lot of them.  It was incredible.
– Gene Simmons has a crazy long tongue!  He let us see it a lot.
– Paul Stanley calling out moshers!  Paul Stanley says “Hey, you morons in the front starting a mosh pit.  Stop.  You’re at a KISS concert.  Go find some death metal band if you’re into moshing.  Respect the people around you.”  Then he gives them the finger.
– Paul Stanley talking after every song!  What a great frontman for the band.  I always assumed Gene Simmons was the frontman, but it seems like he is more the media frontman, whereas Paul talks to the crowd all the time.  He had some good cliché rock comments to make “We are the capital of Canada.  Let’s make you the capital of Rock and Roll!”, as well as trying to tell us that Sarnia was a better crowd.  Yeah right!

I can’t even get over how crazy this concert was.  It was a dreary night with it raining sporadically on us.  But the rock was brought and I ate up every moment of it.  I still can’t believe Gene Simmons flew!

Setlist wise, I don’t know many KISS songs, but they were all rockers.  My favourite moment was when the crew behind us kept yelling for ‘Lick it Up”.  Then after they played it, they KEPT yelling for it.  I thought this was hilarious.  So hilarious that I now find myself telling Mike the following things during the week:

Me: Mike, you know what I do with an ice cream cone in the summer?
Mike: What?
Me: Lick it up!  Lick it up!  Ahhhhahhhhhhaahhhhh!

Me: Mike, you know that Stompin’ Tom now has a postage stamp?
Mike: Really?
Me: Yeah!  You better Lick it up!  Lick it up!  Ahhhhahhhhhhaahhhhh!

KISS now takes the cake for the greatest rock spectacle these eyes (or any eyes?) have ever seen.  No lie.  Go see these guys before they finally retire.  They do indeed put on the greatest rock and roll show on Earth.

The National Setlist

Runaway
Start a War
Mistaken for Strangers
Brainy
Secret Meeting
Slow Show
Vanderlyle Crybaby Geeks
Squalor Victoria
Abel
Bloodbuzz Ohio
Apartment Story
Fake Empire
Mr. November

KISS Setlist

Deuce
Strutter
Got to Choose
Hotter Than Hell
Nothin’ to Lose
C’mon and Love Me
Parasite
She
Guitar Solo
Watchin’ You
100,000 Years
Drum Solo
Cold Gin
Let Me Go, Rock ‘N’ Roll
Black Diamond
Rock and Roll All Nite

 

Shout It Out Loud
Lick It Up
Bass Solo
I Love It Loud
I Was Made for Lovin’ You
Love Gun
Detroit Rock City

@Info[Kiss achieved a sound pressure level of 136 dB measured during this concert, breaking the world record of the loudest live performance (which excludes soundchecks or in-studio takes). After noise complaints from neighbours in the area, the band was forced to turn the volume down.]