That was a cool and interesting documentary, I hadn't seen it before. Thanks for posting. Touching stuff at the end, when he is taking the make up off.. That deep sigh. Gene is a good person, when he leaves his "on stage ego" at home. I met him three times, and he couldn't have been nicer. I wish more people would see that side of him.
i used to work the richmond coliseum. gene simmons was the only performer ever who came around to the concession stands before the doors opened and thanked all the people working saying something like "thank you for all the hard work you are doing to make tonight a great experience for the fans"
I'll never understand why Gene and Paul felt the need to create a rock star public persona, both of them of are much more likeable when they're just being themselves without the bluster and rock star nonsense. Maybe it to keep their private life separate from the KISS business?
See, that's exactly what I mean! It's like the nice, likeable person is still 'the old' Chaim Witz, and the loudmouth is his created persona 'Gene Simmons'. With Paul, it is his insecurity. All the times I met him, he was nice, but aloof. When you meet Gene, you get a big hug - as if he greets an old friend. Gene listens to you, asks questions about you, he is really interested in meeting people. And yes, he gets paid to do so, but there is a difference between "being nice" and "being nice". You can tell Gene really likes meeting people. He also stays the longest during fan Meet & Greets. Paul is the first one to leave. As with Gene, I think it has to do with his youth. Coming to America, being bullied because he couldn't speak the language, etc.. He built a wall, in this case his alter ego 'Gene Simmons'. It makes him feel safe. But now he gets older, as is seen in the documentary, you see more and more of Chaim Witz.
I remember when his huge boxset of demos (The Vault) came out 2-3 years ago there was a forum member here who was battling cancer at the time who was a huge Kiss fan and could not travel to meet Gene in person to receive his box. Gene somehow got word of his condition, and inside his vault box Gene put the cross that he wore around his neck in his early years with Kiss. There are pictures out there of Gene wearing this cross in the early Kiss years. Gene made sure this person got a very special item from his archives. I thought this was such a kind, thoughtful, and generous thing to do for a fan who was facing a major hardship. ---update---- Here is the thread where the recipient indicated Gene had picked out the crucifix for his vault box. It is post #80 Gene Simmons vault review
it was during the 90's too so he had on the makeup early to come around and say that. now any other musician I meet was also very nice and friendly and appreciative but they didn't go out of their way to thank everyone
i was on stage with Gene during one of his solo shows and he signed my KISS tattoo on my back in front of everyone for me. and for that, he is definitely a kind and great guy in my book! plus having a photo of him personally signing my Vault at another instance is also very high on my list of things that are cool as far as Gene Simmons goes for me.
More pyrotechnics went off during this one song than an entire KISS concert from 1976-77. Not an exaggeration.
The canned vocals were there from the start of the tour. Even KISS fans who still like the band will acknowledge that the vocals are canned. I think he does sing live when possible, but they have the pre-recorded vocals ready just in case. I'm a KISS fan since 1977. I saw them on their first Farewell Tour in 2000 and that was enough for me.
True, while KISS concerts of the 70's were considered big at the time for an arena show they pale in comparison to modern productions of the last 20-30 years. They certainly helped to push the presentation of live music forward.
I've seen people credit Bowie's "Glass Spider Tour" in 1987 as the origins of the modern-day Big Theatrical Spectacle. Not sure I agree. Yeah, it did have an unusually elaborate stage and a lot of Big Spectacle, but it wasn't like it came out of nowhere. But... maybe? The Stones went from a basic stage in 1981-82 to a tremendously elaborate stage in 1989-90, and then Madonna's 1990 tour went down that path as well after also having a fairly simple stage in 1987. Of course, Bowie had a pretty elaborate for its era stage in 1974, too!
True, but it seems like they're overcompensating. More explosions and more bombast. I think less was more when it came to that stuff, but ya gotta give the masses what they want, right?
$20 End of the Road tickets, if your show isn't selling you might be able to attend cheap. KISS is on the list of artists. $20 All-In Tickets Live Nation: Return to Live
I just got a $20 ticket. Lawn seating, so not a great deal but about half price with no added fees. Was on the fence about going at all so this pushed me over.
I was curious so I checked it out a few minutes after the sale started. Website was overloaded. I saw $20 was only lawn seats which I hate so I passed.
Paul's teleprompter has red and white lines indication which is live and what isn't and it's all premeditated. It does switch up some verses over the course of a tour just to give youtube videos some variety. Same teleprompter method used by Dolly Parton. ZZ Top have done canned lead vocals on small number of 80's songs like "Legs" for several years now. Paul's audio is from 2008 and the live drums are following a click track. IMO, his voice is only passable for about 15 mins max per night, so Paul's live vocals/banter are rationed out. I'd still pay to see ZZT for the guitar, Dolly since half the show are live mic storytelling and another unnamed 80's act who still puts out great albums while touring smaller venues. Def Leppard/Roger Waters/Kiss are a "no" from me on this front. Maybe that's arbitrary to you, but it's black/white to me - you have to bring something new to the table other than a nifty light show.
Dolly(matching overlapped youtube videos)/Roger(since 1984, maybe 1/3rd is live now)/kiss have been established. Def Leppard used some the SAME vocals on 2 different live releases. In 2008 Kiss went to the studio to re-record old hits for future use. 32:40 is one of the only side view clips to surface showing Paul's teleprompter. Red writing is live vocal and then white for the chorus and on other songs. Dolly uses the same method in her 2009 London official DVD. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=08UlUyjOS_w this is not a live ZZT vocal. it'll match other fan clips. What else do you need proof on?
All of it? Let's start with 2008. KISS re-recorded their hits for publishing and released it in Japan as jigoku-retsuden and as KISS Klassics on Sonic Boom. As for the teleprompter I have no idea if the different colors represent pre-recorded vocals or a chorus or what.
1:43 is a verse with clearly live Paul vocal along with the intro and a couple "oh yeahs". The rest of Paul's mic is not. Band is live but playing to a click track for all production to line up. 2018 Barcelona KISS is how Paul's sounds if he tried to sing a full show.
I’d be interested to know what % of the audience are bothered. I don’t mean that to sound facetious. So many of the audience are looking at the show from their mobile phones, so whether or not the vocals are actually live would be moot.
Yes, I agree that Paul is doing some lip synching...especially on this tune. I think I even brought that up that when I saw them on the EOTR tour this song stood out. I'd argue that the show is about 15% canned, not as much as you'd like to believe. Also, has the band not been playing to a click track since the Reunion tour? I don't think that is news.
I'll go one step further and venture that, given a conscious choice, many of them might actually opt for the pre-recorded versions. Makes for a more pleasurable evening as long as you can buy into the fantasy. I don't know why Vince Neil doesn't at least explore this.
