Introduction

There are great videos that every fan has in their collection such as San Francisco 1975 and Houston 1977. This is a very good show that certainly deserves to be in most, if not all collections.

Background

This show is the third show of the twelve date Japan/Australia “ electric tour ’’ in early 1995. The first five of these shows were played in Japan while the other seven dates were played in Australia.

Video Specifics

This amateur shot show appears to have been shot from the balcony near Gene’s side of the stage and is about 105 minutes in length. This show is probably one of the best amateur shot shows currently available. A scaled down version of the Animalize stage is used for this show.

The Show

Gene is wearing black leather pants, plain black T-shirt with black vest and black and white Adidas running shoes (!).

Paul is wearing black leather pants, an Ibanez T-shirt and a multi-coloured vest, which he discards after the second song of the show.

Bruce is wearing black leather pants (see a trend developing ?) and a black long sleeve shirt with an unidentified logo on the front and sleeves.

King of the Night Time World- a return to the setlist for this long, lost oldie. The camera work is a little shaky but this high-energy opener really works here.

Deuce- a rollicking version of this long-time favourite. The vocals are clear and the playing is right on the money.

Shout It Out Loud- Paul and Gene vocals are a little low but the crowd is very energetic which helps the vibe. Towards the end of the song, Gene motions “ up ’’ with his hand to someone off stage, either referring to his bass or vocal volume. Low vocals seem to plague many songs during this show.

Parasite- Gene must be really psyched for this show. At the beginning of the song, Gene gives his third high leg kick (high leg kick is a relative term when talking about Gene) of the night, which is more active than I’ve seen him in a good while. The Revenge era always did a good version of this song and this particular version is no different. The camera work is a little shaky for the first part of the song.

Unholy- this song never works in a live setting and I have no clue as to why the band continued to play it after the Revenge tour in 1992. Gene vocals are low but sound rather decent especially compared to some dreadful versions.

Creatures of the Night- Paul switches to his “ cracked mirror ’’ guitar for this one song from the black Ibanez. A solid version but this song feels a little out of place after Unholy.

Calling Dr. Love- the song that never dies. This song has seemingly been in the setlist since the Rock and Roll Over tour in 1976 and I have no idea why. Gene’s vocals are good which helps propel this version from the usual “ lame ’’ category to “surprisingly good ’’.

Makin’ Love- Paul nails all the proper lyrics, unlike the Santiago ’94 show where he forgets some of them. The vocals are a little low but some good lighting helps the visual effect of the song.

Domino- Gene’s vocals are very low, in fact they are almost inaudible at times. Gene has a good spoken word ending to the song which I had to rewind several times in order to hear even then it was difficult to understand.

I Was Made For Lovin’ You- Paul starts off with a spoken word intro. “ doo, doo, doo…’’ then the audience quickly picks up on it and continues along. Paul’s vocals are strong and clear and the song seems to be a real fan favourite. One of the better songs of the show.

Watchin’ You- Gene’s vocals are surprisingly controlled during this song. He doesn’t attempt the high-pitched “ tryin’ not to stare ’’ part at the end, instead he merely sings it in a range he is more comfortable with.

Firehouse- prior to the song, Paul puts on a red fire hat. I think we all know what song is next. The camerawork is a little shaky but this song has been played a million times before so we don’t really miss much. At the end, Gene is a little indecisive about which side to blow the fireball on since he switches from side to side a few times. After all his fussing, he only blows one fireball.

I Want You- the mirrorball effect during the spoken word beginning is a nice touch. The song starts with the usual Revenge era audience participation. Towards the end of the song, the band stops playing “ I Want You ’’ and Paul hums something then the audience break into singing and clapping. I found out that this was some sort of Japanese folk song. After this brief interlude, the band goes back to playing “ I Want You ’’ and the song ends with Paul doing his usual vocal flexing.

Love Gun- a standard version with low vocals.

She- a real treat to hear this played after a nineteen-year absence from the live show complete with the Let Me Know tag guitar riff at the end. The bass and vocals are a little low but the band gets points for resurrecting it nonetheless.

Lick It Up- Gene is shuffling his feet at the beginning of the song (it looks a lot better than I can explain it here) and is in a generally upbeat mood. Other than that, this version is rather standard fare.

Forever- Paul introduces this song as “ one of they kind of songs ’’ then motions like he is making love to someone. It is similar to those dream sequences in movies or TV where someone is kissing a pillow then they wake up. This song should have never been included in the setlist since it brings an otherwise high paced show to a halt.

I Love It Loud- this is the first time in the show that any type of pyro is used. Some smoke comes up from behind Eric Singer and the KISS logo is lit up for all to see. The “ K ’’ in the logo looks a little weird. The camera seems to spend a great deal of time focussing in on the smoke and logo while the band is not properly framed in the picture. This version is not great by any means but is solid enough, helped but the usual solid work of Bruce and Eric.

Black Diamond- before this song, the video blacks out just leaving the audio until the song starts. This would continue in between songs for the rest of the show. Eric does a good job on vocals and the band gives a solid rendition of this classic.

Detroit Rock City- Paul always seems to kiss ass with this song by saying “ there are many rock and roll cities around the world and Nagoya is one of them ! ’’. Similar introductions are used with this song with the name of the city they are playing substituted. Eric’s drumming gives a little something extra to this version. There is a short cut between “ then I smoke…” and “ move real fast doin’ 95 ’’. Gene, again, is in an obviously playful mood egging on the audience. After the song the band leaves the stage.

Heaven’s on Fire- once back on stage, Paul plugs Kisstory. He attempts to give out a 1-800 number with no luck since he can’t remember the rest of the numbers. Gene also comes back on stage and plays the last three songs with a “ red flame design ’’ Punisher bass instead of the silver metallic coloured one he used for most of the show. Once again, the crowd gets excited which helps the vibe of this setlist standard.

God Gave Rock and Roll To You II- like Unholy, this song sounds better in studio than in a live setting. The vocals are low and the vocal tradeoffs between Gene and Paul don’t work at all. The very end of this song cuts into the next song.

Rock and Roll All Nite- this song starts at “ dancing until the room gets hot ’’. The crowd is singing along which might make this version seem a little better than it probably is. The song ends with some pyro and then Paul lights his guitar on fire and smashes it, a la Jimi Hendrix.

Overall

As far as amateur videos go, this is one of the best. An energetic audience, a great setlist, and very solid playing by the band make this a winner. Overall I would give this show an 8.5 out of 10.