KISS and Culture Club & Boy George

The week dragged by, my shoulder improved and the heat has been relentless. We've started watching some football and only worked out one rule - it's just a confusing game when you don't know what's going on. BUT, the absolute highlight this week was going to my/our first KISS concert. These guys have been around for 40+ years and I had several albums as a kid. They were playing in Richmond, Virginia which is about 2 hours south of here. We took the train down and stayed the night, back the next morning. Where do I start !!

 

I have loved this band forever and there were plenty of older folks in that crowd rocking it away. I sat next to a lady in her 60's and this was her third concert. Her first concert was when she was 50 ! She told me it will be a night I'll never forget and she was right. It was a small stadium which made for great viewing. The band has two original members, Paul Stanley and Gene Simmons and the other two (Eric Singer and Tommy Thayer) joined later replacing Ace Frehley and Peter Criss. They were in full makeup and costume and the performance was spectacular with fireworks, bangs, lighting and smoke. And Paul Stanley sounded as good as ever. His voice is fabulous after all these years. Gene Simmons and the others sounded great also. And of course, Gene did his blood spitting show and flashed that infamous long tongue all through the show. I have to admit that even as a no-nut girl, Paul Stanley is still sexy, sounds sexy, moves great and is a great entertainer. 

When they first came on stage I actually got a little teary. I think it was just unbelievable to finally see these guys in concert. I knew most of the songs and the whole crowd was electrified. Lots of people had their KISS t-shirts on and die-hard fans were dressed in costume. 

I was a little disappointed they didn't play some favourites like Shandi or Sure Know Something but they've had so many other rock n roll hits they can't play them all I guess. I was just amazed at the spread of ages there - there were small kids to old folk and all kinds were dressed up. We got back to the hotel somewhat deaf and googled until we went to sleep. We discovered that Paul Stanley has had two hip operations and a third one is needed in the near future. He says that the many years of walking in those high heel boots has caused him problems. 

One group we met was a brother who had organised his family get-together with his siblings and mother. They had flown from all across the country to stay at a resort half an hour away. They were about our age and also had their mum who was probably in her 70’s. They heard the KISS concert was on so they decided to come for the night – as you do when you’re in Virginia !!    Anyway, it was a great night and I hope I get the chance to see KISS in concert again. 

 

To continue this 'throwback' weekend, the finale was the Culture Club concert. It was at a theater not far from home. Deb was very excited as she is a long time fan, especially of Boy George. It turned out that this was their final concert after a 7 week tour. It was the original band with backup singers and the accompanying musicians. They sounded A-mazing !!  George’s voice is fabulous – always was and sounded as great as ever. He was also a wonderful entertainer and the audience, while much more civilised than the KISS crowd, were fairly energetic and excited. They played ALL the hits and it’s mind blowing just how many they had. The support band invited a ‘friend’ on stage to sing their last two cover songs. It was George of course and the house went wild. What a buzzing entrée to the concert. During the show he of course played ‘Do You Really Want To Hurt Me’. He said he had received sad news that day that the actress (Alexis Arquette) who played the band signer in the movie ‘Wedding Singer’ had died that day. He explained Alexis (a transgender lady) had played the role and how he thought her performance was hysterical (in a good way). He dedicated that song to her that night.

We also went exploring the local trails with a friend. We took the dogs also. There is a series of tracks called the 'billy goat trails' and we did on of those loops which is a bit of an off-road scramble. I managed to turn my ankle quite early so walked back to the car. When Deb returned with our friend, I rode my bike on the trail, C&O Towpath, which is a nice flat scenic trail which goes for miles (180 in fact). I rode with her while she finished the last few miles of her training run. Deb and I will go back for some runs along this trail. It's beside the Potomac River and really is a beautiful and popular spot for hikers, runners and bikers, and walkers.

We have visitors (family) arriving next week so we are quite excited and are getting the house ready.

The weather might be starting to change as we look to be heading into the 20's now and out of the blistering mid-30s. It's getting dark in the mornings so we have headlamps on we we run and I bought some flashing collars for the dogs to wear on their walks. Few pics below from the Richmond train stations - it was very late departing, I would have preferred a sleep in after the late night at KISS.