Anyone here saw Kiss live in their prime?

I saw them in '76 on the Destroyer tour. Dr. Hook and the Medicine Show opened. They kicked arse. Saw them the next year with ACDC.

Yep. '77 and '79 one of the best shows to see live.

Saw them in 1974 touring their first album. They were the opener for Blue Oyster Cult and NY Dolls. Totally blown away by them.

saw them in Birmingham on dec-29th 77 and in 1979

Saw them in the mid 80s without the make up. They were still good. Saw them again in 2001 with the make up. Without the make up they were a very good band with decent showmanship, but with the makeup they were less inhibited on stage and it was....a show.

1977 at the Centroplex. Piper w/Billy Squire opened.

Then worked one of their shows a few years later in Laffy. They were more "commercialized" and Ace and Peter were no longer with them. I came across a bunch of boxed guitars while unloading one of the semi's and found out that Paul Stanley would crack one up on stage every show. Set list was always taped on the drum kit so I knew the timing, and put myself in the gap between the stage and the firewall for that tune. I motioned to Stanley a couple of times to give me the axe after he busted it up. He leaned over and put it in my hands once he was done with it.

And then bedlam...

The firewall didn't necessarily provide it's intended function and all of the friggin kids were trying take it from me. Security came to my rescue and got me out of there. Great times... lol.

It was a Kramer and only the neck was busted up. Intent was to put a new neck on it but I never did.

August '79 at the former Centroplex. Never saw Kiss post-makeup or during the reunion runs. Not that I didn't love every era of Kiss, I just didn't want to spoil the experience as what saw through my then-11-year-old eyes. I had been a fan for a few years but that was the first show I was old enough to attend in my parents' eyes. That show was when I first figured out I HAD to have a loud electric guitar of my own. Really shaped my life direction looking back at it. I'm eternally grateful

My personal '76 LP Standard and my old Ace poster in the Shack ...

I hate the “KISS sucks” narrative.

KISS made being a rockstar cool and helped inspire so many musicians from the 90s.

The only knock on them would be the cheesiness once they went all in on licensing as well as Gene and Paul being control freaks. But music is fine and their ideas and stage presence changed everything.

ETA: there’s a two part doc on Disney+/Hulu called “Kisstory” that’s pretty good, love seeing the footage from their earliest shows

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in Birmingham on dec-29th 77

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Sounds like the show.

Their theatrics would now be considered antiquated but I remember being overwhelmed well after the show. In their Prime? Good vibes indeed and they delivered the sound.... not just spectacle. Performance art on a big stage.

I saw that show as well. I returned a ticket to Midsouth Coliseum and saw that a gate was open. I snuck in and hid in a bathroom until the sound check started. Crept out into the hall and saw them without makeup (big deal back then). Watched the sound check until they threw me out. Good times.