KISS rocks Nashville's Bridgestone Arena one final time. Here are the highlights.

On Monday evening at Bridgestone Arena in Nashville, for the 24th and final occasion, rock mega-star act KISS turned popular music into a brutally gruesome and pyrotechnics-laden ode to spectacles born of gimmickry and heavy metal.

And yes, they took a capacity crowd to "Detroit Rock City" and were "Calling Dr. Love" as the tongue-lashing "God of Thunder" proved rock 'n' roll reigned supreme.

Growing from a band playing venues like Music City's Muther's Music Emporium while gigging in a station wagon eating beans and franks from a can to celebrating rocking and rolling all night and partying every day with 15,000-plus people amid a balloon drop and confetti cannons is quite the journey.

Here are more reflections from KISS' (supposed) Nashville finale.

KISS remains a fundamental part of global pop culture

Everything about the band, from its pre-show playing of Led Zeppelin's "Rock and Roll" to Paul Stanley's vaudeville carnival-meets-medicine show huckster intro selling the act as the best and hottest band in the land, is a fundamental part of the modern global pop cultural tradition.

This tradition is most reflective of the sons of America's Greatest Generation. It combines a hodge-podge of cultural traditions in a manner so bizarre that the manifest destiny required to claim them is entirely forgotten because they're deployed so stunningly well in the live concert realm.

Japanese Kabuki culture blended with drag show androgyny, blue-collar British takes on pre-rock era American Delta blues and theatrical, exploitation-era film-style horror are all still present in KISS' performances.

These are also mixed with a particularly shameless brand of self-aware merchandising that would seem absurd if it wasn't derived from a need to maintain a perpetually mind-bending array of costuming, lighting gear, pyrotechnics, sound equipment and stage sets.

That being said, all of the previously mentioned notions didn't make the dizzying pyrotechnic shows, smoke-breathing dragon sculpture, searing heat from three-dozen towering plumes and, yes, dual jib arms, and raised platforms to allow band members to appear anywhere above or around most of Bridgestone Arena any less impressive during their two-hour set.

They're a forever timeless act

The first two of the band's four original member, — Paul Stanley (lead vocals, rhythm guitar), Gene Simmons (vocals, bass), Ace Frehley (lead guitar), and Peter Criss (drums) — remain with the act. Currently, Eric Singer (work with Black Sabbath, Alice Cooper and Lita Ford, among many others) is in his third stint as the band's drummer, while Tommy Thayer has replaced Frehley since 2002.

The band members' average age is 68. Stanley's son, Evan, had his new rock band, Amber Wild, serve as openers. The last time they contemplated retirement and played in Nashville, their average age was roughly 50.

Expanding potentially hackneyed stereotypes even further feels apropos for the band.

Thus, on Monday evening, the band highlighted how someone can evolve from middle-aged and crazy to old enough to know better and young enough not to care.

The songs (and the culture they inspire)

It's almost impossible to stand back from KISS' catalog of over 75 million albums sold (including 30 Gold-certified releases) and distill them to their essence.

However, on Monday night, age created reflection as a perfect mirror.

Stare at the massive screens broadcasting KISS to an arena, and it becomes clear that these men may not, on the surface, seem wiser but are certainly older than ever.

That's the perpetual trick of KISS, though.

Their music doesn't celebrate wisdom. Instead, it marks a brand of devil-only-cares, post-teeny-bopper pop that never apologizes for being precisely that.

For context, it's a non-stop party that arrived during an era where teenage drinking and unprotected promiscuity could be pursued equally, almost seemingly without consequence. Moreover, their music was also born of an era where films like "The Exorcist," "Texas Chainsaw Massacre," "Rocky Horror Picture Show" and "The Omen" dominated at the box office.

Whereas most of the global mainstream aspired for broader tastes, KISS never advanced past that. The demographic long known as the "KISS Army" is entirely OK with this.

At Bridgestone Arena on Monday night, they were costumed in garb celebrating perpetual Halloween while face-painted like a Catman, Demon, Spaceman and Starchild.

It's a timelessly irreverent showcase of the power of the human imagination made shockingly real.

Does Gene Simmons bellow and spit blood like a furious demon while bass-driven sonic eruption "God of Thunder" rings out around a building? Sure. Did KISS supersede critical rock acclaim for crossover pop stardom because of the quality of Paul Stanley's ability to deliver sleek hooks driven by layered melodies, intricate grooves and wild virtuoso riffs? "I Love It Loud" and "Shout It Out Loud" still sound like they're written and play according to the lyrics.

By the time the set arrives at disco banger "I Was Made for Loving You," the idea of dancing in garish platform boots — among the many wild notions the evening has celebrated — seems normal.

Finish that with drummer Singer performing the Beatles' "Let It Be" meets Elton John's "Tiny Dancer" piano ballad "Beth" amid a three-song encore, and the dizzying spectacle of KISS ends in bewildered, sweaty delirium.

This article originally appeared on Nashville Tennessean: KISS in Nashville concert: Highlights from Bridgestone Arena