This past Sunday, I was the guest of KISS guitarist Paul Stanley at the Pittsburgh KISS stop on the ‘Alive 35′ tour. Actually, things began on Saturday night when I went down to the William Penn hotel in downtown Pittsburgh to have dinner and drinks with Paul’s assitant and guitar tech, Fran Steuber. Over the past 4 years, Fran and I have become good friends and we had a wonderful time breaking bread and drinking a few ‘adult’ beverages.
Fran really went out of his way for me from the time I arrived at the Mellon Arena at 4pm on Sunday. I was given true first class treatment and – wow! Did that make a difference!
At times I felt like a little kid. I entered the loading area and into the area- walking on the arena floor and watching the stage being built and then looking around at the near empty seats, I just thought back to all the KISS shows I had seen in that very building. I remember seeing KISS as early as 1980 in the Mellon Arena which was at one time called the Pittsburgh Civic Arena. It was also a bittersweet because my late your brother Brian was always with me at EVERY KISS show. It was one of those common threads which held us together as while we were brothers, we were so very different. But Brian and a bunch of our other friends just always dug KISS and the band and the music was a unifying bond between us all. Since Brian’s passing in 1996, I’ve lost contact with most of those friends and it was just a little sad that here I am, working with Paul Stanley, my childhood hero…walking around the Arena with an ‘All Access Pass’ all these years later and Brian and none of our childhood friends were here. But – so is life. And as Mick Jagger once wrote, ‘Time waits for no man.’
Fran took me on the tour of the backstage and all the equipment and controls which direct this bombastic show. It’s really, really an impressive operation. I got to see and hold all of Paul’s Washburn Stage guitars which was really, really cool. Then Fran took I upon the stage. Now this was a trip!! I got to stand in Gene Simmon’s spot where he is harnessed up and he ‘takes off’ into flight. Just to walk on that stage! WOW!
Fran went back to work for a bit and I just parked myself backstage and watched all the activity. I saw a van roll up and out popped Gene Simmons. Gene walked into a ‘Production Office’ as another van pulled in and Tommy Thayer and Eric Singer got out. They made their way down the Dressing room & Hospitality room hallway. About 10 minutes later another van rolled in and out stepped Paul Stanley.
As soon as he saw me, Paul came over greeted me and said he would go drop off his bag in the dressing room and come back. I talked a bit about BSG and guitars with Gene and his current Ax bass marketing…etc. I was a bit flattered he knew about Boogie Street Guitars. Pretty cool!
Paul brought me back to the band’s hospitality room and told me to make myself at home. Very cool. I hooked up with KISSonline.com’s official photographer, Al Soluri. Al and I have ALWAYS got along so well and I’m telling ya, there is just something about the two of us. Like we known each other our whole lives. He is just the most awesome cat. Al instructed me that he would follow me into the meet greet then right after he would take me down front before the show, place me in the pit. Very cool.
Paul came back into the hospitality room with Eric Singer. I told Eric I had brought a vintage Zenith watch to show him and that led to Paul showing me two of his watches from his collection and the three of us discussed timepieces. And it’s indeed true- Eric Singer DOES know his watches. No doubt.
Fran came and got me and we went off to eat in the staff catering. Very nice. Then we were off to the meet and greet.
So, long story short – the Meet and Greet was amazing, as expected. I have to say that when it was my turn for our photo with the band…it was so cool when Paul said “Eric, get over here!!” Just nuts.
So – I snapped a few random pics as the guys started signing and Gene asked me to take his gum and and sell it for him on eBay. I declined.
Al led me out of the Meet and Greet and I made our way back down the tunnel and through the back of the stage, through Fran’s area and into the front of the stage. I then proceeded to the pit. I have to say, turning around and seeing the fans excitement, then looking up at the HUGE KISS stage curtain.. it was ON! It was like being a kid again. I knew this was once of the coolest photograph opportunities I was EVER going to have..so I must have check my camera’s settings numerous times in anticipation of the curtain dropping. Knowing that with all the random lighting – I’d need to constantly be shooting in manual and adjusting anyway. But, when the curtain dropped… the ‘fan’ in me wanted to take over!
The pit was not crowded with photographers. To me, it seems like just 4 total and the other 3 were positioned left center. Gene’s side. I was the only one right center, Paul’s side. Well they launched into Deuce and it was AWESOME! Blew me away!
Another really cool thing was Paul came to the front of the stage, bent down and made sure that I got plenty of shots! And I rattled them off! I lowered the camera when I was done and gave him the thumbs up and he had this coy grin on his face and nodded back to me as he then made he way over to mic to sing the chorus of ‘Deuce’. I think he was laughing because it must have been obvious that I was struggling between taking pictures and ‘rocking out’! How could I not? Crazy.
So I shot the songs Deuce and Strutter in the pit. I then moved off to the side of the stage and Al came over and told me ‘keep shooting’! So – I did! I had brought both my wide angle zoom which was perfect down in the pit and I also had my 70-200 zoom which was PERFECT for the side stage position I had. I had brought with me this new Nikon D90 I had just picked up for it’s high iso performance. And I also had my trusty Nikon D2x which did a very good job even in dark conditions. Between the two camera’s, I shot well over 4600 pictures total for the night. And I could have shot so many more.
After Gene did his blood spitting… Al came over to me with a small cup smeared with fake blood and luckily for me – it was in a plastic bag. Al said this cup that is given to Gene when the lights are off and this was the cup Gene uses to ‘drink’ the blood. Al scooped it off the stage and told me take it with me! Needless to say – I was oddly ‘stoked’!
The concert was amazing. And I made sure that I did not have the camera up the whole time so I did get a chance to ‘rock out’ as well. I was amazed at how many folks were their with their kids. Many with painted faces. Simply AWESOME! Kinda made me regret not bringing Austin and Gwen. I initially did not want to bring them because it was Buckcherry originally scheduled as the opening the act. And – quite frankly – they are way, way too rude and vulgar for me to consider subjecting my kids to that. Turns out they did not open and we could have brought the kids and they would have had a blast. But – next time for sure.
The show was bombastic and simply the best KISS show I ever saw. Yes, my ‘inside’ experience was over the top but…musically – I don’t remember a KISS show ever sounding this good. Maybe the 1990 Hot in the Shade show came close. But – this version of KISS is mind blowing good.
After the performance was done… Al grabbed me and whisked me backstage since the stage ‘teardown’ was happening immediately. I saw Gene, still in makeup and spandex with a long black robe with a hood over his head come out and raced to a van waiting for him. And away he went. I was mingling backstage just a bit with others there when a tour director came and got me and brought me back down the hallway and back into the band’s hospitality room. Tommy, now in street clothes, came in and ate a bit and chatted and then he was off to the hotel. I was kind of wondering if I should just sit there and relax for a bit ..or should I kinda just get on my way home. I did not want to be a bother to anyone. But soon, Paul walked in and asked how I dug the show and asked me to join him for food and wine. So – I did. I spent a good hour or so enjoying Paul’s company. Discussing guitars just a bit but mostly discussing our kids and sharing pictures of our kids that we had stored on our cell phones. Paul is such a proud father and husband – that comes across instantly. Very genuine person. Again – while all this is going on… I have to say, it was all quite surreal.
Fran came in and joined us for a bit and after a good hour or so, I decided to go. Paul said his flight schedule was all mixed up and he thought his new flight was scheduled to leave the next morning early so Paul was going to head out of the Arena with us. So, he went back into his dressing room to grab his bags and then all of us exited the down the hallway. Paul’s van was waiting for him and Krissy I gave him our most sincere ‘Thank You’ and we agreed to see each other again very soon. I then turned to Fran and gave him the most sincere ‘Thank You’ as well. Fran’s just the BEST! I looked for Dean Snowden and Al but there was so much chaos with the stage teardown, etc..I just walked down the underneath corridor to the other side of the arena and then off to the FJ. Totally exhausted… I cruised home. Still amazed at what I just experienced.
Again, very special thanks to Fran Steuber, Dean Snowden, Al Soluri and of course, Paul Stanley. Everyone so was nice and for Paul to express to me that I was his guest for the show… just blew me away.
Forget about the guitars Paul and I market together through Washburn, yeah, that is all good and wonderful. But on this night – I was a KISS fan and a Paul Stanley fan who was actually Paul’s guest at a KISS concert! How cool is that?
.
by Eric McKenna
2 comments