Well, this is supposed to be KISS‘ last (End of the Road) tour, but I think we have heard that before. Regardless, I couldn’t run the risk of not seeing the greatest live band of all time one last time. I also took advantage of an opportunity to meet the band back stage, and since this was “the last time they would ever tour”, I thought that I had better go big and participate in this as well.

As typical, the show was running late, where we were to meet for the Meet and Greet at 5:30, we really didn’t;t get in to meet them until closer to 8:00, which actually wasn’t so bad as the crowd was pumped and there were a Buch of die-hard fans to keep us all entertained. The guys were pretty cool back stage, messing around and teasing people as they came in for pictures. When it came to my turn for a photo, Eric Singer and Paul Stanley pulled the collar up on my jacket, called me Elvis and Paul gave the “Fonzie” thumbs up. A little silly, but the pictured turned out OK.

After the meet and greet, I went to find Toni and Nicki at our seats, which were awesome…just five rows from the floor with perfect view of stage left. The band came on (without opener) at between 8:30-9:00 and just tore it up. They started out with Detroit Rock City followed by Shout it out Loud and Deuce. They played throughout their nearly 50 year catalog including Heaven’s on Fire, Lick it Up, Psycho Circus, I Was Made for Lovin’ You and the encore was Beth, Do You Love Me and Rock and Roll All Night…what an incredible set of classics.

If this was the last time I will ever see KISS live, then I will be happy as it was one of the best, but if for some reason they keep touring or start up again in a few years…well that’s OK too.

It was a dream come true in Hong Kong tonight.

So, I am out of town on business, ending a long week and just for grins, I thought I would check one more time to see if there was even a chance of getting a ticket for the Metallica show at the AsiaWorld Expo. I knew they were on their Asia tour and that they were going to be in Hong Kong (apparently, their first time ever playing Hong Kong), but when I tried for tickets over the past several weeks, it had appeared to be sold out, and why wouldn’t be…right? Well, I took a chance and called the venue directly to see if by chance they may had released some obstructed view, or nose-bleed seats but to my amazement, they had some real good seats available and I scored one in the lower bowl, second section from the stage and four rows from the front! It was a miracle!

It was a little dicey with logistics, as I first had to come in from China and with Chinese New Year, traffic at the boarder was horrible, fortunately I did give myself plenty of time. Then I had to find one of the local ticket sales outlet to get a printed copy of my ticket.. this took me about an hour of roaming the back streets of Kowloon, but I finally found it and had my ticket in hand. I then had to decide what time I should get a cab to take me to the venue… with the level of traffic I had been in just a couple hours earlier, I decided I would give myself plenty of time and I left at 5:00 and this took about an hour on a trip that is normally just a half an hour. I got to the venue, which was actually right adjacent to the airport and in hindsight I could have stayed at a hotel at the airport and been much better off. Oh well, next time. The AsiaWorld Expo is absolutely HUGE! Besides the Metallica show, I think there were at least three other major events happening at the same time in other areas of the facility. Strange to see a bunch of metal heads along with conventioneers roaming the same halls.

The doors opened about 7:00 and I quickly found my seat. Metallica came on just about 8:30pm and opened up with one of their new songs.. a very hard song called Hardwired (one of my favorites off their new album). They followed up with Atlas, Rise! and then For Whom the Bell Tolls. I am not sure which song I enjoyed the most, but it was probably a toss up between Sad But True, Fade to Black and Seek & Destroy.. They played a total of 15 songs in their regular set and 3 in their encore, which consisted of Battery, Nothing Else Matters and finally Enter Sandman.

Getting out of the venue and back to the hotel was another adventure fighting a ton of people all trying to do the same thing as me….get out. After standing in the wrong taxi queue for about 30 minutes, I was finally able to locate the “correct” taxi queue which happened to be the most popular of course and proceed to wait another 45+ minutes before taking the hour long ride back to my hotel, but all in all, it wasn’t the worst after concert rush I have experienced and I got back to my hotel safely around 12:15.

By far, this will be one of the most memorable concerts I have ever been to, not only because it was an absolutely phenomenal show, but it was by luck that I was able to make it.

Set List

• Hardwired
• Atlas, Rise!
• For Whom the Bell Tolls
• Creeping Death
• The Unforgiven
• Now That We’re Dead
• Moth Into Flame
• Wherever I May Roam
• Confusion
• Halo on Fire
• Sad But True
• One
• Master of Puppets
• Fade to Black
• Seek & Destroy

Encore:

• Battery
• Nothing Else Matters
• Enter Sandman

The Seattle show on August 12th was so good that I had to see Guns N’ Roses again and decided go fly down to LA and see them at Dodger Stadium on Friday August 19th. In Seattle, Alice in Chains opened and last night it was The Cult. I have always liked their music and have never seen them live, so this was an extra bonus to see them along with GNR. They had a very simple stage show, but sounded incredible…as good as I remember from first hearing them in the early 90’s.

Guns N’ Roses came on about 8:20pm and played an incredible 26 song set, finishing up with 4 encores at about 11:30pm. The set was very similar to the Seattle show, however this show had a special guest drummer… Steven Adler (original GNR drummer) who performed on the songs Out Ta Get Me and My Michelle. It was a real treat to see and hear 4 original band members back together.

I stayed through the whole show this time and really glad I did as they played Sorry, Don’t Cry, The Seeker and wrapped up the show with Paradise City which was just an absolutely incredible.

Glad I made the trip down.