Read the review on Pure Rawk

On a Thursday morning in March my camera bag and I returned to Pontins in Prestatyn, the venue for Hard Rock Hell, to cover Hammerfest II for Pure Rawk. After a surprisingly mellow train journey, I arrived in Prestatyn mid-afternoon, and settled myself into the chalet to get ready for three nights and two days of metal.

Here are just a few of the photos I shot during the festival – the whole set (200+) is linked from Pure Rawk’s gallery page

Kiss was one of the first bands I ever saw, in the cavernous Wembley Arena, so the thought of them playing Islington was surreal at the very least. As the gig reportedly sold out in under 8 minutes, I was absolutely stoked about being one of the lucky few to get through to the online ticket sale.

I had questions – being arranged at such short notice, would this be the kind of ‘back to basics’ gig that you often see at intimate club shows? Would they still be in full make-up and costume? Would there be a stage set, and if so, how the hell would they fit it into the venue?

On the morning of the gig, some soundcheck photos were published. I needn’t have worried. This is KISS we’re talking about, after all. Low key isn’t an option! Yes, KISS had a stage set that could be scaled to fit Islington Academy. Game on.

Doors were scheduled to open at 6.30. When we arrived at about 6.20, the queue was already stretching into the shopping centre practically all the way to Upper Street. We saw a few people in full make-up, and a couple of enterprising ladies were working their way down the line offering face painting.

Jase and I got in at around 7pm, and managed to get a respectable three rows from the front. I immediately clocked a pair of confetti cannons taller than I am.

KISS were due on at 8.30 – there was no support the wait was long but not unbearable, and suddenly, there they were – opening with ‘Modern Day Delilah’ from latest studio album Sonic Boom (possibly a bit of a gamble as an opener, but one that worked, judging by the volume of the crowd). They then launched right in to Cold Gin, at which point the place completely erupted.

The one problem with any KISS gig, indeed the problem with going to see ANY band with an extensive back catalogue, is that no set could ever be long enough to hear everything that you want to hear. If I have a criticism of the night, it’s that the set was on the short side, with 12 songs in total (a slight disappointment after reports of 16 songs being soundchecked); however, what we did get was gold.
***EDIT*** Here’s an explanation for the shortened set, published this morning ***

‘Say Yeah’ was the only other track from Sonic Boom, the rest of the set was full of classic KISS including Doctor Love, I love It Loud, Love Gun – and the crowd participation at the start of Black Diamond so good that Paul insisted it was done twice. These guys are masters at playing to the crowd (and to the media of course – the photo pit got some great moments from them); and Paul certainly doesn’t seem to have lost his touch with his female fans if the screams from the balcony were anything to go by.

Closer Rock & Roll All Nite was the moment when the arena show was truly squeezed into the club, with an outrageous eruption of white confetti and dry ice, that kept pumping for the duration of the song – yes, there was still a band on stage, but with the fog inhalation and spitting confetti out of my mouth every five seconds, sometimes it was hard to tell! The stage resembled the aftermath of a blizzard, with confetti inches deep.

They returned to encore with a blistering Detroit Rock City, and with that, the show was at an end, leaving a sea of slightly dazed people milling around, covered in confetti, probably (as I was) trying to get their heads round the weirdness of having just seen KISS at close range, in a tiny club. There was a brief commotion as one of the crew hurled a load of white plectrums into the crowd, which melted into the mulch of white confetti and spilt beer, and we watched the scuffle for a while before heading home, remarking on the distinct lack of merchandise on the way out (arguably the biggest surprise of the night – guys, you would have made a killing on this!)

Full setlist:
Modern Day Delilah
Cold Gin
Let Me Go Rock ‘n’ Roll
Say Yeah
Doctor Love
Got To Choose
I Love it Loud
100,000 Years
Love Gun
Black Diamond
Rock & Roll All Nite
Detroit Rock City

Full set of photos on Flickr and my gallery page. Not to be used elsewhere without permission.

Dan Reed is due to play Union Chapel on Friday, March 5th. The date, which is a full band show, was rescheduled from November 5th. Tickets are still available from http://www.livenation.co.uk – this is a show you should really see!

Photos taken for Pure Rawk – more will be online shortly.
You can also read Nix’s interview with Joey Tempest on the Pure Rawk website.

Unfortunately for me, SBE’s policy is to make photographers leave after the first three songs, but if those first three were anything to go by, I missed a fantastic night – next time I will make sure I have a ticket in my grubby paws so that I can stay for the duration!

Diamond Head: