KISS, Daughtry, Pat Green, Drowning Pool, The Academy Is..., The Envy, Revengeance
Pizza Hut Park
Saturday, September 18, 2010
(Way) better than: getting drunk and watching KISS Meets the Phantom of the Park.
Billed as "The Hottest Show on Earth," the crowd that came out to Pizza Hut Park had plenty of space to walk around throughout the day. It was not until sunset--while Pat Green played--that a lot of people started to show up.
And, since KISS is meant for everyone these days, every kind of rock fan showed up: from parents to kids, the members of the KISS Army and non-members.
Still, by the time KISS arrived, the field and stands were surprisingly only
half-full.
Blame Grapefest, the Plano Balloon Festival and Oktoberfest
all happening this weekend, but, whatever, the turnout was what it was.
And it didn't impact the band delivering the best kind of rock show
possible. Those who braved the whole day and night came out got their
money's worth with a relatively decent lineup of opening acts.
Taking stage shortly after 9--or rather, rising from the stage on a
large platform over Eric Singer's drum riser--Paul Stanley, Gene
Simmons and Tommy Thayer ripped through "Modern Day Delilah." Jumping
from their latest album to their first album with "Cold Gin," there were
plenty of fireworks, explosions and lights, as expected.
Paul Stanley's voice sounded pretty rusty at first, but it somehow
smoothed out later on in the set. Always the mouthpiece for the band
between songs, Stanley could get the crowd to do anything, from leading a
cheer-off between one half of the crowd to other half, to getting the
audience to say the Pledge of Allegiance as the band presented a check
to a wounded service veterans' fund.
As for the set list itself, those who have followed KISS during the
years with makeup on and without the makeup on came away very satisfied.
Of course they played songs like "Detroit Rock City," "Firehouse" and
"Deuce." But they also played songs like "Crazy Crazy Nights" and "Lick
It Up."
The crowd went wild over the various stage spectacles that KISS has done
either since the '70s or the '90s--from Gene breathing fire to Gene
spitting blood to a drum riser taking off like a space ship to Paul
taking a zip line to the center of the audience--and have all been done
plenty of times. But ask any die-hard KISS fan who has seen the band
multiple times, and he or she would not complain about seeing that stuff
again and again.
In the middle of the 21-song set, Eric Singer and Tommy Thayer got a
chance to really show their stuff, proving they are definitely more than
two guys brought into replace the egos and booze found in Peter Criss
and Ace Frehley. After a well-received rendition of "Shock Me," Thayer
and Singer jammed together, took solos and set off explosions together.
By the time the band called everything a night, two and a half hours had passed.
Ending with "Rock and Roll All Nite" and with thousands of white confetti pieces shooting everywhere,
fireworks went off behind the park as people filed out quickly.
The eight hours before KISS felt like a talent show, frankly.
Local metal act Revengeance kicked things off with a three-song set that
seemed to owe plenty to early Megadeth and Iron Maiden. No thanks to a
very limited sound coming from the P.A., the band came across rather
soft and weak while they were clearly trying to get that metal crunch
out. Drummer Vinnie Parma played with a lot of flash and made plenty of
rock faces, recalling a certain viral video.
The Envy came out looking like pretty boys and they proceeded to play
like pretty boys. Playing a mall-friendly version of poppy rock, the
band could share a stage with Attack Attack! or The All-American
Rejects. Once again, the P.A. made them sound pretty weak, but they
weren't trying to rock the joint.
The Academy Is... has always seemed like a poor man's Taking Back
Sunday, and their 30-minute set did nothing to prove that wrong.
Frontman William Beckett had stage presence, but his fey voice and
prancing didn't make him a Rock God. The crowd seemed to respond more to
when Beckett announced that Tony Romo was on his fantasy football team.
The cheers were much louder than any of the band's songs. What's that
say?
Once Drowning Pool got onstage after four, the P.A. sound was greatly
improved, thus giving the band a chance to really deliver. With a tall
stack of amps and a fully-loaded drum set, the local metal legends
inspired a mosh pit a few times. They played songs from the early days
to the present, giving the crowd songs like "37 Stitches," "Feel Like I
Do," and of course, "Bodies." As an added bonus, the band encored with a
faithful rendition of Pantera's "Cowboys from Hell."
At 5:15, things didn't look so good; the venue was barely a quarter
full. And what could have gone over like a lead balloon ended up being
the best part of the show before KISS.
That's right, Pat Green was fantastic. Green came out with his regular wide grin and delivered 15 songs in an
hour and a half. Kicking off with "Carry On" and five guys backing him
up, he showed no hesitation or hostility for playing a rock show. The
audience, interspersed with hardcore Green fans, cheered
enthusiastically after every song. Cracking jokes and making quips between and during songs, Green took the
whole show in stride. "Does this sound like country music? No, this is
my music," he said halfway through.
Following Green was Chris Daughtry and his namesake band. The band
seemed to move through the motions with their 14 songs. Playing
slightly-tweaked versions of songs that regular Top 40 and Adult Contemporary radio listeners have heard plenty of times, Daughtry was
predictable and safe. His cover of "Rebel Yell" was a nice touch though.
Critic's Notebook
Personal Bias:
My sister used to work with Pat Green at a Texas Tech bookstore.
By The Way: The first audience member I saw in KISS makeup was in Vinnie
Vincent's design. I hope the dude wasn't expecting songs from Music
from the Elder.
Random Quote: "We're not solving the energy crisis here
tonight," Pat Green began. "We're just making drunk people happy
tonight."
