KISS Shows Young Pups A Thing Or Two

In this day of boy bands, scantily clad teen chanteuses and misogynistic rappers, has the idea of a band that actually plays its instruments gone the way of DeLoreans and beta tapes?

Judging by the stellar performace by heavy metal legends KISS at Columbus' National Arena, the answer is "no."

With the North American leg of their "Farewell Tour" coming to a close, Ace Frehley, Paul Stanley, Gene Simmons and Peter Criss are still delivering a sonic, yet melodic, assault. Combined with sexual innuendos, wild fans and a song list that spans almost 30 years, the band delivers Las Vegas-like dazzle that makes the somewhat pricey tickets worth it.

At Nationwide, KISS performed one of its longer shows of the tour, clocking in at just over two hours. Ted Nugent, who, along with New Jersey boys Skid Row, was the co-opener for most of the tour, wasn't there. His gig is over, leaving the Skids with a bigger piece of the spotlight in Columbus.

The Skids, who have taken some critical drubbing as a result of the departure of lead singer Sebastian Bach several years ago, still managed to offer blistering guitar work, tight musicianship and melodic anthems with new vocalist Johnny Solinger.

However, the fans were there to see the "Hottest Band in the World," and they got it. Kicking off the show with "Detroit Rock City," KISS quickly got into a groove, following that up by cranking out two more up-tempo ditties, "Deuce" and "Shout It Out Loud."

Lead singer Stanley, who is most likely headed to Broadway to play the lead in "The Phantom of the Opera," as he did in Toronto last year, was in fine form both vocally and physically. At 48, Stanley has the vocal chops and the physical stamina that would put singers half his age to shame. He prances, dances and wiggles like a runway model on speed.

Of course, it wouldn't be a KISS show without pyrotechnics, and there were plenty of explosions, fire, sparklers, dry ice and flame towers during "God of Thunder," "Shock Me" and "Love Gun." The latter song got off to a dubious start when Stanley halted the introduction and implored his bandmates to "jazz it up a bit" after Simmons flubbed his bass lines. The band recovered, and the song went off without a hitch.

The band also managed to sneak in a couple of songs from the non-makeup era (the '80s), when Frehley and Criss were MIA. "Lick It Up," "Heaven's on Fire" and "I Love It Loud" were welcome additions to the set. But it was odd to see Frehley and Criss play these numbers, just as it was strange to see their replacements, Eric Singer and Bruce Kulick, play "Rock and Roll All Nite" back in the '80s.

Speaking of the latter, that song proved to be a fitting conclusion to the show, with the 8,000 in attendance singing along as confetti shot out of cannons.

As KISS rose above the audience on hydraulic lifts, the band proved once again that many new music artists could learn a thing or two from four guys in clown makeup about delivering the goods on stage.