Kiss brings the spectacle in final Indianapolis performance

Kiss' 27th and final Indianapolis performance was, by design, something out of a history book. A relic. A snapshot of a time in which plentiful rock bands dominated popular culture in a way that's probably never coming back.

It was primal, with fire and lightning and blood and grunting. But it was also campy, with costumes and makeup and Paul Stanley's sing-song voice spouting choreographed introductory lines as the band moved through its half-century catalog.

Somehow, after two decades of near-misses, I had not seen Kiss perform live until Saturday evening. I knew the hits. I was familiar with their detective work alongside one Scooby Doo, and I once played a round of their branded mini-golf while waiting for Democratic caucus returns in Las Vegas.

I slid in under the wire, given the band has only four more performances on its farewell tour. And I can now confidently say: I get it.

After the initial buzz of opening songs "Detroit Rock City" and "Shout it Out Loud," doubt creeped in a bit. Twenty minutes of this is nice, but won't it run thin after two hours?

Kiss does not have the strongest catalog when you consider the great rock bands of the '70s and '80s, nor are they top level musicians. The backing tracks got some work in.

Tragically, I also have but only these 35-year-old eyes with which to view the world, and to them, the myriad pyrotechnics and other effects are a little dated.

But founding members Stanley and Gene Simmons, as well as longtime drummer Eric Singer and guitarist Tommy Thayer, leaned into all of this. Hard.

Kiss Army: Teen dream lives on for five decade

If there was just an ounce of cynicism present in bringing the circus back to the masses in 2023, it would all fall apart. It had to be genuine from start to finish, and it was.

Stanley and Simmons were out there in full makeup and platform boots in their 70s, playing these characters in what's really more of a freak performance art piece. It's especially true for Simmons, who I've seen give extremely articulate interviews and host reality series, but was out there on Saturday spitting blood and breathing fire.

There's just never going to be anything like this again — even if rock stardom and the genre itself hadn't been slowly watered down since the late '90s. I could trace the sounds and moves from this band to countless others over the decades while watching this show.

I just devoured it all.

A solid "Lick It Up" spliced with The Who's "Won't Get Fooled Again." Stanley's zipline ride for "Love Gun." Singer's solid vocal turn in "Black Diamond." A guitar solo. A drum solo. Another dueling guitar solo in which Stanley's fingers started bleeding. A bass "solo" that may have only been 20 plucks of the strings but was nonetheless made glorious by Simmons' commitment.

A packed crowd of black T-shirts and the occasional costume in Gainbridge Fieldhouse, likely after a week of Thanksgiving decadence, pulled up to the table alongside me.

We were lucky to get a taste at all. Kiss had canceled its previous three shows in Toronto, Ottawa and Knoxville due to Stanley battling the flu. If he was gutting his way through the show, he did not mention it. He thanked the crowd profusely for its support over the years while stressing this really was, as the tour name notes, the End of the Road.

He was working hard, too. He sang his leads, glided across the main stage, did all of the crowd work and flew over the audience to a smaller stage for a few songs.

But Simmons, who is about a year older than my father, was the key to understanding it all for me. He is a cartoon character. Literally, that's how I know him. But he lived up to the myth. That yell-talk-growl singing, his slight movements, the tongue. It was all perfect for the show, and he did it perfectly.

This will probably be my last review of 2023. I don't think I can count it among the best shows I saw, as musically speaking it was only decent. However, the spectacle married with the history at play may very well it make the most memorable.

Looking for things to do? Our newsletter has the best concerts, art, shows and more — and the stories behind them

Rory Appleton is the pop culture reporter at IndyStar. Contact him at 317-552-9044 and rappleton@indystar.com, or follow him on Twitter at @RoryEHAppleton.

This article originally appeared on Indianapolis Star: Kiss Concert Review: The circus returns to Indianapolis