Reacquaint Yourself with My Style

KISS
Alive 35 Tour
Opening Act: Buckcherry
Madison Square Garden
New York City, NY
Saturday, October 10, 2009
Section 425, Row F, Seat 17
$25

KISS was my favorite band in high school. It's not that I stopped loving their music, I just discovered a world of other music that I loved more. KISS became less and less relevant. Now, I'd call them a guilty pleasure. I saw them three times as a teenager, and once more on their 1996 reunion tour. I thought it would be fun to see them one more time, but it hadn't worked out yet.

So Roy and I were planning a trip to New York and Philly to see the Renaissance reunion tour. We had a day off on Saturday, and Roy suggested looking at other bands playing that night. I wanted to spend Saturday in Philly, visiting friends and seeing my hometown. But the most intriguing show for me was KISS at Madison Square Garden that night. My best friend Angela wanted to go to a concert with me again, for old times' sake. I called her up and asked if she'd see KISS with me in New York. This was becoming more of a New York trip than a Philly one, but at least I'd get to spend more time with a Philly friend.

The whole day felt like one reunion after another. Roy and I were able to meet up with my friend Dawn and her daughter Sarah. They were in the city before flying out to London the next day. The night before, they saw a live performance of the first Lord of the Rings movie score at Radio City Music Hall. Roy was heading to that show this night, as he didn't want to see KISS with us. We met up with Dawn by some steps near Times Square and just sat talking for an hour.

We left to walk back to Penn Station. Angela took the train up. I hadn't seen her in over a year. She doesn't get to Manhattan often, so we walked back to Times Square and went to the MTV store and Toys R Us with the big ferris wheel. Everywhere was so crowded that day. We took a cab to dinner at Mustang Harry's, near Madison Square Garden. Angela made reservations, so we didn't have a wait. Plenty of people there were going to the concert, judging from the t-shirts. They were playing KISS music. After dinner, Roy left to go to his show at Radio City, and Angela and I walked over to the Garden. We weren't going to try to meet up afterward, just head back to the hotel in Newark.

This is the first concert I've gone to where I've had accessible seating. I've gone with Angela to a number of concerts over the years, and she's always managed with steps or standing in crowds. But here, Ticketmaster offered options not just for wheelchair seating, but "Patron W/Disability" seats, on an aisle with minimal steps. Tickets had already been on sale for awhile. I got the cheap seats - $25 for seats in the top level, but they turned out to have an excellent view.

We even got to use a special entrance, near 8th Avenue and 33rd. A woman from their accessibility office called me to see what accommodations we needed. She took Angela's name, and gave me all sorts of warnings about needing her ID. In reality, the guards took one look at her crutch and leg braces and let us in. We didn't even get searched. She obviously belonged there. This was also the entrance to the backstage area. I think one of the members of the opening act was on the elevator with us. He was escorting some people to the backstage level. We got off on the top floor. Our seats were on the aisle, but three steps down with no railing. It was still hard for Angela to get up to the bathroom and back. There was no merchandise on this level either. I ran down a few flights of steps to buy a program and pick up a t-shirt for Angela.

We watched the crowds come in. Quite a few families were there, including a dad and son next to me. Later on during the show, the boy got tired and fell asleep, partially leaning on me. The dad looked over and smiled. I guess he was glad I looked relatively responsible and safe, not drunk. They left partway through the show, and strangely enough, the seats were filled by another dad and son. Our seats might have been in the second row from the top, but they were at a good angle. We could see the whole stage and it didn't seem like we were that far away. (Ironically, the only other time I was at this iconic venue, my seat was in the second row from the stage.) Other kids in our section were wearing the KISS makeup. Years ago, Angela and I dressed up as KISS members for Halloween.

I didn't know anything about the opening act Buckcherry. After their first song, I noticed Angela and I both politely clapping. I whispered to her, "Are we old?" Later on in their set, they did a cover of Deep Purple's Highway Star. Finally a song we both recognized! We laughed.

Seeing KISS was so much fun. I knew more of the words than I thought I would, after not listening to them for so many years. The tour was billed as the Alive 35 tour, and most of the songs they did were on their first live album, originally on their first three studio albums. They were releasing a new album that week, and did one new song called "Modern Day Delilah".

The guys in the row in front of me were all standing, so I stood for most of the show. Because she was sitting on the aisle, Angela could still see while sitting down. I joined her during Rock and Roll All Night, so we could sing it together.

I thought Paul Stanley did a great job as a frontman. He managed to play this larger-than-life character, but still connect his personal experiences to the audience. Perhaps it worked so well because he and Gene Simmons are from New York and got their start here. Stanley told the audience how he used to be a cab driver, and would drop people for shows here at this very venue. He said KISS got their start at the intersection of 23rd and 5th. I just ate around there for dinner the night before, at a restaurant called Live Bait. I was even more surprised to look online and see that KISS rehearsal space was described as being "above the Live Bait Bar". Nice connection I didn't know about!

Most of the concerts I go to these days are just about the musicianship, with maybe a light show. This concert had a lot of special effects. Gene Simmons was on wires, which carried him up to the lighting rig to sing Calling Dr. Love. Paul Stanley stood on a small platform that flew like a Sky Ride above the crowd to a small stage near the back of the floor, where he sang Love Gun. It wasn't nearly as charming as the Coldplay concert, when the whole band walked back to a small stage to play a set, but it was still a nice touch to let the people in back have a good view.

KISS did bits and pieces of other bands' material, but not any fullblown cover songs. Paul Stanley had a bit of solo guitar part before Black Diamond, and he started playing Stairway to Heaven, going so far as to sing part of the first line. Later on, during the encore, the band was doing a long instrumental part in Lick It Up. It morphed into The Who's Won't Get Fooled Again, complete with Paul Stanley doing Roger Daltrey's great scream. I had a thrilling time, but mostly for the nostalgia factor.

After the show, Penn Station was packed. Angela and I managed to see Roy, so the three of us waited for the train together. Madison Square Garden was so good from an accessibility perspective. At Penn Station, they didn't announce what track the train would be on until 10 minutes beforehand, and then there's a rush down the steps to the platform. We didn't see any signs for an elevator, and someone told us that there wasn't one. It was crowded from all the concert-goers, and late enough that we couldn't find any staff to direct us.

It was scary thinking about Angela possibly getting pushed off balance by all these people rushing passed us. Roy and I formed a buffer around her as she went down the steps. I walked in front, and Roy walked behind her to keep people from crowding her. There was room for people to walk down beside us, which would have been fine, but another lady saw what we were doing, and kept the same pace. We made it down the steps. The train was packed, with people standing in the aisles. I called out that my friend needed a seat, and people got out of the way and someone scooted over to give a seat to her. (I guess it's easier for someone to make a request like this on behalf of a friend, rather than having to do it for yourself. I realize that Angela was perfectly capable of taking the train up to New York by herself. I just became protective with all those people around.)

With so many people on the train, we got separated. The crowd thinned out at the first stop, Secaucus Junction. Roy and I were able to meet up with Angela and even get seats by her.

Angela said this day was like reliving her teen years again. We spent so much time together and went to so many concerts. It was good to add another one to the list.