Gig review Rock2Wgtn (+pics)
Mar 26th, 2008 | By admin | Category: FoodsRock2WgtnWhere: Westpac StadiumWhen: March 22 and 23
The first night of Rock2Wgtn featured three bands that have all drawn heavily from the horror movie genre and cartoon/comic book ideals for their overall look and inspiration.
Headlining the show, Kiss; the business-franchise/band featuring Gene Simmons (bass, vocals) and Paul Stanley (rhythm guitar, vocals) and a better guitarist and drummer wearing the spaceman and cat-man makeup, replacing original members Ace Frehley and Peter Criss.
The Kiss stage shows were legendary in the 1970s - and the band, now celebrating 35 years, played a set that had faithful members of the Kiss army chanting along, arms in the air. Shots of fire and a flashing neon logo in the background all made for a great show.
It is a pity that Kiss songs are close to terrible. Rudimentary riffing and basic rhythms are their stock in trade; the band members make-up and personas cannot mask the lack of hooks in the songs.
Still, as a show, it was full of spectacle. In Gene Simmons one-note bass solo, bathed in green lights and coughing up stage blood, he was elevated (barely) by wires. The cheap trick might have been amazing 30 years ago, but now seems sad.
Fans applauded - perhaps for the trip down memory lane?
Current guitarist Tommy Thayer sang Ace Frehleys Shock Me (from 1977s Love Gun), Stanley and Simmons went back to 1974s eponymous debut for 100,000 Years and Firehouse, and from 1976s Rock and Roll Over Simmons gave the rather embarrassing plodder Calling Dr Love.
Alice Cooper would have blown Kiss off the stage, given the chance to headline. The ageing rocker - leading a band of the same name - ran through early 1970s classic hits (No More Mr Nice Guy, Billion Dollar Babies) to his late 1980s comeback (Poison from the Trash album).
In a stage show that featured harmony guitar lines - evoking the classic twin-guitar attack from his mid-70s heyday - and plenty of Coopers signature horror-show theatre (culminating in a fake hanging) there were constant gems (Only Women Bleed, Elected, Schools Out, Welcome to My Nightmare). A class act.
Lordi, from Finland, were the opening nights curtain-raisers. Their monster costumes (a direct nod to the influence of Kiss) were close to hysterical.
The drummer looked like a Gamorrean Guard from Return of the Jedi; the lead singer (known as Mr Lordi) appears to have snapped up John Travoltas Battlefield Earth suit in an eBay bargain.
The band played Dungeons %26amp; Dragons-metal songs like Hard Rock Hallelujah (from their third album, The Arockalypse) and fireworks erupted in front of the group.
It was like 1987 all over again (despite the song being written and released in 2006).
The Sunday night headliner was ex-Black Sabbath lead singer/reality-television self-parody Ozzy Osbourne. Metals legendary prince of darkness hooked the crowd in with solo hits from his back catalogue (Bark At The Moon, Mr Crowley, Crazy Train) and an electrifying mid-set rendition of Sabbath%26rsquo;s War Pigs saw Ozzy peak too soon.
After that the interminable soloing from guitarist Zakk Wylde threatened to ruin the gig and Ozzy closed off with obscure, newer material, encoring with Mama, Im Coming Home and Paranoid; too little, too late.
Whitesnake possesses a charismatic frontman (David Coverdale). It%26rsquo;s a pity the bands songs are generally awful. Talented musicians made the most of flaccid Iron Maiden-wannabe material.
Fortunately Coverdale did pen Here I Go Again, a positively anthemic experience to participate in with a stadium audience. This was fun.
Poison rocked the crowd early on and nonsense hair-metal ditties from the late 1980s like Unskinny Bop served as decent curtain-raising fodder. The ballad Every Rose Has Its Thorn is a cowboy-classic and Dont Need Nothing But A Good Time, the bands encore, just might have been the mantra for Rock 2 Wgtn.
Unfortunately the good times only arrived sporadically. Nice idea though.
