Gallery: Kiss and David Lee Roth – End of the Road Tour in NC
If you want to Rock n’ Roll all night and party every day, then you are in the right place. On Saturday, February 8, 2020, concert-goers in Greensboro, NC were in for a special treat at the Greensboro Coliseum for the KISS End of the Road World Tour. The venue was filled with a variety of fans, ranging from the old-time hardcore rockers to the youngest of rock n’ roll fans. Hard-core concert goer Phisith Van of Charlotte, NC (IG: @floorseatguy1), brought his son, age 4, to his first arena concert, sitting as close to the stage as possible to get than one of a kind experience.
I caught up with him after the show, and he had this to say about the show,
“If there is any question about what a 4-year old’s first major concert should be; the pyro, fire, lights, and entertainment value confirms it has to be KISS”.
Every music fan remembers their first major concert, and this experience will definitely sow the seed for the desire of more concert experiences like this one in the future.
Opening up for KISS was David Lee Roth, yes, that David Lee Roth. You know, the energetic 65-year-old rocker that fronts the band Van Halen, the one who has an animated stage presence that works the video camera every chance he can get. His set was full of fan favorites, and while his voice has diminished just a bit, his energy level was still quite impressive, giving us photographers several attempts to photograph his multiple high kicks during his set. David Lee Roth is opening the remainder of the End of the Road World Tour during 2020, as well as doing 6 dates in Las Vegas in March. Concert goers in the Greensboro area can also catch DLR at the Epicenter Festival in Concord, NC on May 1.
After David Lee Roth closed his set with “Jump”, the KISS Army had about a half-hour to wait for KISS to take the stage. There was a black curtain up, hiding the stage. As the time approached for the set to start, two video boards displayed footage of the band making its way to the stage. And within a few seconds and after a thunderous pop of pyrotechnics going off, the curtain drops and the band appears, with both guitarists descending on platforms as the stage rises.
Detroit Rock City is the first song this tour, filled with poses galore for all the photographers covering the show. These guys definitely like the spotlight and aren’t afraid to be in front of the camera. Like myself, if you have never experienced a KISS concert, it was definitely the beginning of a wild night filled with everything a rock n’ roll concert should be filled with. Paul Stanley and Gene Simmons have their fair share of lead vocals on different songs, but all the band members are pretty awesome musicians.
During the course of the night, we were treated to solos from Tommy Thayer on guitar, Gene Simmons on bass, and Eric Singer on drums. Being an indoor arena show, one would think pyrotechnics would be kept to a minimum, not this show though. Fire was coming from all directions, booming across the stage, firing from the neck of guitars, and huge sparkly spinners at the back of the stage had everyone bringing out their phones to record the spectacle. There definitely was no shortage of fire! And what comes with fire? Well, all the booming and popping of sparkles, of course, the kind that makes you jump out of your seat (for those that were seated), especially if you weren’t prepared for it.
There were many surprises throughout the evening and without mentioning them all, a few include the rising stages, the piano solo from Eric, the B-stage performance from Paul, the fake blood pouring from Gene’s mouth during his bass solo, and last but not least, the arena filled with confetti for the final encore song, “Rock and Roll All Night”. Before the band could take the stage for their encore songs, I could hear concert-goers sitting behind me mentioning that this is the best show they have been to, ever.
Then they proceeded to go online right then and there to see where the next stop is on the tour. If you want to catch KISS in the U.S. before they end their career of touring, you can catch them through March, and then again starting the end of August through the beginning of October. Otherwise, they will be touring outside of the country during the other months. I don’t know what I’ve been doing the last few decades of my life, because I’ve never seen KISS perform live, but I’m definitely glad I got the chance to see them before calling it quits on touring.
It really is a show to remember, whether you are a Boomer rocker, a 4-year old rocker-in-training, or any generation in between, this definitely is a show not to miss.
