Concert Review: Freedom To Rock Tour

“Freedom To Rock Tour”

Kiss, The Dead Daisies
Monday, August 29th 2016
Blue Cross Arena, Rochester, NY

Our Score: 4 out of 5 Stars

Kiss blasted in to the Blue Cross Arena in Rochester, NY on August 29th as part of their Freedom to Rock 2016 summer tour. Along with the make-up clad Rock and Roll Hall of Famers was veteran rock super group The Dead Daisies. After an 18 year hiatus from the “Flower City” Both bands brought their A game to the near capacity crowd proving their return was long overdue.

Kicking off the night were The Dead Daisies a group whose current roster is made up former Motley Crue vocalist John Corabi, Whitesnake guitarist Doug Aldrich, fellow Whitesnake drummer Brian Tichy, former Ted Nugent/Thin Lizzy bassist Marco Mendoza and Australian guitarist David Lowy. The group seemed to be the perfect opener for the assembled Kiss Army as the band’s sound was the perfect blending of both classic and new rock tones. The hour long set featured original material from the group’s latest album “Make Some Noise” along with a sprinkling of covers which included a beefed up rendition of the Credence Clearwater Revival classic “Fortune Son” along with an in your face version of The Beatles “Helter Skelter” which the fans seemed to really dig. The set was fast paced as singer John Corabi and crew wasted little time addressing the crowd which in my opinion only added to the appeal of the group as they seemed to definitely be all about the music and their performance. After a thirty minute change over Kiss would take the stage where they proceeded to hold court for the next 90 minutes. This tours staging was much more scaled back than that of the previous “Monster” tour however the group performed just the same if not better than in subsequent years. The nights set list included a lot of the group’s staples including “Detroit Rock City” and “Love Gun” but also included lesser played songs like “Flaming Youth” and “Psycho Circus”. Despite a few missed vocal lines by Gene on “Cold Gin” and Paul’s voice starting to show it’s age the New York City natives did a solid job of transporting the crowd back to the groups 1970’s glory days.

From start to finish Kiss’s “Freedom To Rock” tour was a well oiled machine that provided an enjoyable concert experience for people of all ages. For the hardcore Kiss fans there may not have been enough diversion from the bands stock stage/set performance however for the band to still able to pull of this type of show in their 60’s is an impressive feat in its self. If your city is one of the few remaining on this season’s run then do yourself a favor and grab some tickets and get there early as you won’t want to miss either bands performance.

The Dead Daisies Set List:
1.) Whole Lotta Sabbath (Whole Lotta love/War Pigs mashup intro)
2.) Mexico
3.) Make Some Noise
4.) Fortune Son
5.) Lock n’ Load
6.) Long Way to Go
7.) Join Together
8.) The Last Time I Saw the Sun
9.) Devil Out of Time
10.) Helter Skelter

Kiss Set List:
1.) Detroit Rock City
2.) Deuce
3.) Shout it Out Loud
4.) Do You Love Me
5.) I Love It Loud
6.) Flaming Youth
7.) Bass Solo/ God of Thunder
8.) Psycho Circus
9.) Shock Me/Guitar Solo
10.) Cold Gin
11.) Lick It Up
12.) War Machine
13.) Love Gun
14.) Black Diamond
Encore:
15.) Beth
16.) The Star-Spangled Banner
17.) Rock and Roll All Nite