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KISS
+ Weezer
+ Regurgitator + The Delta Riggs
@ Accor Stadium, Sydney,
7th October, 2023
(Live Review)

Review by Alec Smart (@alecsmart_fotos)

Photos by Wendy Robinson (@sharkywoo)

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KISS, Sydney, 2023 / Photo – Wendy Robinson (@sharkywoo)

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Kiss performed their last ever concert in Australia at Accor Stadium in Sydney’s Olympic Park on Saturday 7 October. Appropriately named The Final Curtain, the show, which was enhanced by their usual fantastic array of pyrotechnics, confetti, rising platforms and (fake) blood-letting, featured songs dating back to the 1970s and was enjoyed by an enthusiastic crowd of all ages.

Support came from Californian quartet Weezer, and Australian bands Regurgitator and The Delta Riggs.

The Delta Riggs opened the afternoon at the open-air Accor Stadium, renowned for international sporting events as well as the home ground for National Rugby League teams Canterbury Bankstown Bulldogs and the South Sydney Rabbitohs.

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The Delta Riggs, Sydney, 2023 / Photo – Wendy Robinson (@sharkywoo)

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Formed in 2010, the Gold Coast indie-rock band, with members originally drawn from the south Queensland punk rock scene, have enjoyed high-profile concerts over the years, including supports to internationally acclaimed artists touring Australia, like Billy Idol, Foo Fighters, Rise Against, Primal Scream and Eagles of Death Metal.

With four studio albums in their discography, their music is frequently played on radio and they have over 71,250 followers on Spotify.

Opening for an audience of Kiss fans, who tend to socialise in cult-like reunions off-site until their heroes are onstage, means the stadium was about 1/20 capacity when The Delta Riggs plugged in. Nevertheless, they put on a spirited show to an appreciative audience.

The Delta Riggs on YouTube

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The Delta Riggs, Sydney, 2023 / Photo – Wendy Robinson (@sharkywoo)

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Regurgitator strolled onstage wearing nuns’ habits – black tunics and white coif and guimpe headwear –eventually shedding them to reveal matching white tops and trousers adorned with black stripes, which from a distance resembled zebras.

Another Brisbane-originated band, with a longer vintage (formed 1993), they blend hip hop, electronica, techno and hard rock, the latter dominating the later half of the set.

They are known for their quirky inventiveness, with forays into radically different music styles and concepts. For example: their 10th studio album, The Really Really Really Really Boring Album, was recorded with children’s musical instruments; in 2004 they recorded their fifth studio album, Mish Mash, in a purpose-built glass chamber set up in Melbourne’s Federation Square; the video for the 1998 single Black Bugs, about addiction to video games, featured the four band members as cartoon animals in a video game.

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Regurgitator, Sydney, 2023 / Photo – Wendy Robinson (@sharkywoo)

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Lyrically, they’re renowned for their witty, sometimes smutty, subjects. One notorious song, on which the crowd enthusiastically joined in, utilised clever references to pop culture and TV personalities, whilst the chorus merely repeated the five-word chant “I will lick your arsehole.”

Another crowd favourite was I Like Your Old Stuff Better Than Your New Stuff, released when they changed musical direction and were poking fun at fan objections.

Conservative broadcaster Alan Jones infamously tried to ban their 1996 hit I Sucked a Lot of Cock to get Where I Am. This was ironic considering Jones’ biographer Chris Masters’ (unsurprising) assertion that Jones himself had a propensity for fellatio.

The attempt at censorship catapulted the song into the public domain and it ranked 23 in the Triple J annual top 100 most popular songs at the year’s end, less than two months after its release.

Regurgitator on YouTube

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Regurgitator, Sydney, 2023 / Photo – Wendy Robinson (@sharkywoo)

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Weezer ascended the stage bathed in blue light, an eclectic compilation of audio radio clips playing. The multi-million selling Canadian four-piece with a talent for catchy choruses performed in front of a giant screen showing animations of graphics and landscapes.

Of their fifteen studio albums, six are named after colours (Blue, Green, Red, White, Teal, Black, respectively). As well as a prolific output – 15 albums in 30 years – they’ve also recorded cover songs for tribute albums and contributed songs for movie soundtracks Shrek Forever After, Cars 2, and Frozen 2.

After declaring their love for Kiss, they played In The Garage, a song from their debut album, with the lyrics, “I’ve got posters on the wall, my favourite rock group KISS. I’ve got Ace Frehley, I’ve got Peter Criss, waiting there for me, yes…”

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Weezer, Sydney, 2023 / Photo – Wendy Robinson (@sharkywoo)

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They then followed it with a cover of Kiss’ Strutter.

As the stadium started filling with Kiss fans (a majority of them plus-sized – one assumes the chips and pie vendors enjoyed peak business!), it was obvious many were Weezer fans too, judging by the voices joining in the choruses.

After performing Only In Dreams, which started as singer Rivers Cuomo’s solo acoustic number then ended in an intense, hypnotic coda after the band joined in, they ratcheted up a notch. The finale of the set was nearer heavy metal than indie-rock, putting us in the mood for the headliners to follow.

Weezer on YouTube

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Weezer, Sydney, 2023 / Photo – Wendy Robinson (@sharkywoo)

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Kiss were introduced with the familiar refrain, first heard on their 1977 live album, Alive II: “You wanted the best and you got the best. The hottest band in the world, Kiss!” A giant curtain with their logo then unfurled and in a burst of pyrotechnics and billowing smoke, the three guitarists were lowered to the stage from separate gantries.

Thereafter we were treated to a non-stop visual spectacular, an ADHD delight, which didn’t let up until the band’s departure two hours later. The fact that the two original founder-members, Paul Stanley and Gene Simmons, are 71 and 74, respectively, and the more recent members, Tommy Thayer and Eric Singer, 62 and 65, the stamina required of them to sustain a Kiss performance is incredible.

Although Thayer only formally joined the band in 2002 and donned the ‘spaceman’ make-up made famous by founder-guitarist Ace Frehley, he has been associated with them since 1989, co-writing songs, playing session guitar and other contributions.

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KISS, Sydney, 2023 / Photo – Wendy Robinson (@sharkywoo)

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Lead singer Paul Stanley is the consummate showman, strutting about, coaxing the crowd in singalongs, even flying across the front-of-stage fans on a trapeze to a scaffold tower.

A little-known fact: Stanley was born with a deformed right ear from which he couldn’t hear properly, and this wasn’t surgically corrected until 1982, when he was 30.

The set list was dominated by older material from their 1970s hard rock heyday, plus a few radio-friendly hits like I Was Made For Lovin’ You, Shandi, and Heaven’s On Fire, climaxing in a frenzy of ticker-tape, explosions and billowing smoke with Rock ‘N’ Roll All Nite.

105 minutes into the concert, an unidentified young male fan walked onto the stage during the closing seconds of Eric Singer’s solo performance of Beth on piano. The lad had just enough time to wave to the crowd before a security guard quickly whisked the interloper off backstage.

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KISS, Sydney, 2023 / Photo – Wendy Robinson (@sharkywoo)

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The band has been dogged around the world in recent years by accusations that they (principally Simmons and Stanley) lip-synched and strummed their instruments to pre-recorded backing tracks – something this reviewer strongly suspected at the August 2022 Qudos Bank Arena concert, when I stood directly beneath them at the front.

But it was obvious the Accor concert was live, with Thayer carrying the quartet with his incredible guitar prowess.

The last time Kiss performed in Sydney, in August 2022 during their two-night appearance at Qudos Bank Arena on their ‘End of the Road’ tour, they were advertised as their ‘final’ concerts in Australia. However, a year later the band returned and this Accor Stadium concert was again marketed as their final, final concert in Australia.

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KISS, Sydney, 2023 / Photo – Wendy Robinson (@sharkywoo)

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The band also staged a ‘farewell tour’ in 2000, the last to feature the reformed original line-up with drummer Peter Criss and guitarist Ace Frehley.

Addressing skepticism that Kiss might return for more ‘final’ concerts, Paul Stanley explained the situation in a media release in May 2023.

“You have made your voices loud enough that it was impossible for us not to hear you! We are overwhelmed by your petitions and calls for one last KISS so we are now announcing that the ‘End Of The Road’ will detour one last time to Sydney for a final bombastic farewell. As unexpected as this is for us, we will make it unforgettable for all who share the night with us.”

And unforgettable it was.

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KISS, Sydney, 2023 / Photo – Wendy Robinson (@sharkywoo)

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Kiss set list
7 Oct 2023

01. Detroit Rock City
02. Shout It Out Loud
03. Deuce
04. War Machine
05. Heaven’s On Fire
06. I Love It Loud
07. Say Yeah
08. Cold Gin
09. Tommy Thayer guitar solo
10. Lick It Up
11. Calling Dr. Love
12. Makin’ Love
13. Psycho Circus (intro only)
14. Eric Singer drum solo
15. 100,000 Years (intro only)
16. Gene Simmons bass solo
17. God Of Thunder
18. Love Gun
19. Black Diamond

Break

20. Beth
21. Shandi
22. I Was Made For Lovin’ You
23. Rock And Roll All Nite

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KISS, Sydney, 2023 / Photo – Wendy Robinson (@sharkywoo)

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Check out Wendy Robinson’s (@sharkywoo) full gallery of this event HERE

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Follow KISS
Website – Facebook – Instagram – Twitter

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KISS, Sydney, 2023 / Photo – Wendy Robinson (@sharkywoo)

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Press Release 5th September 2023 (below) HERE

Rock legends
KISS
to launch support for
Veterans Appeal
as they say farewell
to Australian fans

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AMNPLIFY – DB