Concert Review/Photos: Gene Simmons and His Band

– The Colosseum at Caesars Windsor – Windsor, ON – 8/25/17

On August 25th, 2017, “Gene Simmons and His Band” performed at The Colosseum at Caesars Windsor in Windsor, Ontario. This venue is directly across the Detroit River where Cobo Hall is located. You know, the venue where the legendary KISS  “ALIVE I” album was recorded! It was also a very special day for Gene as he was celebrating his 68th birthday. “If it’s too loud, your too old?”, WRONG!! He LOVES it LOUD! Even at 68yrs of age, it doesn’t seem that anything is slowing him down.  Surprisingly, this is Gene’s first ever solo tour. KISS has a pretty thin tour schedule this year, so why not?

Every die hard KISS fan is probably wondering who Gene has in his band. Gene has assembled a group of hard working musicians, mostly based out of Nashville, TN.  The lineup consists of Ryan Cook (guitar/vocals), Jeremy Asbrock (guitar/vocals), and Phil Shouse (guitar/vocals)…all of which are part of Nashville’s “The Rock N Roll Residency”. Jeremy and Phil are also both part of John Corabi’s solo band. Lastly, is Canadian drummer Brent Fitz (Slash, Vince Neil, Union) on drums who just recently joined the band.

Gene and the guys took the stage around 9:30pm starting out with “Deuce”, the same song that kicked off ALIVE I and has since remained in the setlist for KISS.  Gene was armed with his Red Dragon AXE Bass, while the others were all playing with Vintage® Guitars. You know what?? They sound MASSIVE. Like everyone else, I watch a ton clips on youtube. The youtube clips of this band do not do them justice. They sound amazing and are very tight. It’s a nice sight when you see band on stage that is thoroughly enjoying what they are doing. I can only imagine what it’s like for these guys to play with Gene. I am pretty sure they are just as big of KISS fans as myself and everyone else in the audience is each night.

“Well the night’s begun and you want some fun”…. Yes we do! The band erupted into the 2nd song with the KISS Klassic, “Shout It Out Loud”. Having 3 guitars really opens up a lot of doors to allow a much fuller sound. Especially on this song with the harmonizing parts. “And get the party started”…. Next up was “I Love It Loud” from the 1982 KISS album “Creatures of The Night”. Gene invited 20 fans to come up on stage during the song, and quickly instructed the fans to split up into groups of 10 on each side of stage and allowed a few fans to be around him during the performance.  The crowd was chanting “Hey hey hey yeah, hey hey hey yeah” right along with Gene. Yes! We love it loud too, Gene!

Ryan Cook went to the mic to say a few words regarding Gene’s birthday. The crowd began singing “Happy Birthday” as Gene’s wife Shannon Tweed came out onto the stage rolling out a large birthday cake for him , while their daughter Sophie followed from behind filming the memorable occasion on Facebook/Instagram Live. (See video below).