Review - Kiss/ Def Leppard/ Kobra And The Lotus- Xfinity Center, Mansfield, MA 8/1/14

   I had heard good things about Kobra and the Lotus and decided unlike most people to get there for the 7pm kick-off. They are a straight up no frills heavy metal band fronted by the excellent vocals of Kobra Paige. It did cross my mind that they were an odd pick as opener until I discovered that Gene Simmons had been helping them earlier in their career. Their performance deserved a larger crowd and the addition of Heart's Barracuda to the set went down well. They impressed me.

   It was odd seeing Def Leppard being the next to last band on the bill, I had seen them six or seven times since the Adrenalize tour and they had always been the last band on stage. With Leppard now and to a greater extent Kiss it's all about the vocals. The expert playing, hit songs and overall stage show are a given for bands too old in the tooth to really screw things up. Well I'm glad to report that Joe Elliot was in fine voice on this his 55th birthday. Opening with Let It Go was a nice surprise for me as in all my years I had never seen them perform this live. Then it was hit after multi-platinum hit. You name me a band that can afford to put a song as huge as Animal after the opener and still have the crowd knowing every note of the remainder of the set. Finishing with a one two punch of Rock of Ages and Photograph left Kiss with a hard act to follow. Def Leppard on this night were superb.

   Nearing ten p.m and the predictable "You wanted the best...." led into the surprising Psycho Circus as opener. I figured something from Monster would open the show as numerous ads were on all screens promoting an album "containing all killer, no ballads and no filler". Add no songs from it in the set. There's no point talking about the stage show because it's Kiss and it was fantastic. It's Paul Stanley I want to talk about. Can the guy change his between song banter at all. People on the left let me hear you, people on the right let me hear you. It's funny the first couple of times you hear him do it but now it's just old. Same with Gene and his oh yeahs before God Of Thunder. It's really the only thing the band can somewhat control because the stage set up coupled with the choice of songs limits where and when they have to be at a particular point in time. Yet it's the same old same old with only the city name a changing. Seems odd too that Paul also brings up that Kiss are now in the Rock and Roll Hall Of Fame when he has done everything recently in the press to belittle the organization for not recognizing the band for many years.

   Paul's vocals were sketchy at best especially on Hide Your Heart and it seemed he had a problem with every non-make up song because of the high register. The guy might be a tremendous front man but he just can't sing like he used to. Tommy Thayer and especially Eric Singer really do prop up Paul's vocal shortcomings especially when you hear how good a singer Eric is on Black Diamond. So no Strutter, Shock Me etc. but they kept the mighty War Machine in the set. Finishing with Detroit Rock City and Rock and Roll All Nite ended a really enjoyable night on a high. Def Leppard shading it on the night.

Richie.