The Last Kiss

Their gigs feature fire-breathing, spitting blood, smoking guitars, flying drums, extravagant costumes and wild makeup. You could be forgiven for forgetting that they also play music! In the 1970s, Kiss captured the imaginations of a whole generation of American teenagers. Their image certainly helped, but they mainly owed their commercial success to their explosive blend of energetic hard rock and mawkish ballads. A year-long tour and hits Detroit Rock City and Rock and Roll All Nite were enough for the debuting band to rise to superstardom, with hundreds of thousands of lovers of noisy entertainment joining the ranks of the Kiss Army fan club. The lineup changed several time since the group reached peak popularity, even foregoing the trademark makeup for a few years; the only original members of Kiss are now Paul Stanley and Gene Simmons. In 1997, the reformed band was due to perform in Poland, but the concert was called off for various reasons. The fans’ long wait is finally over: on 18 June, Kiss appear at Tauron Arena Kraków as part of their farewell tour End of the Road. (Bartosz Suchecki, “Karnet”)