KISS: Live In Las Vegas (2002)
Picture:
D Sound: D Extras: D Film: D
Let me
start this review by saying that I’ve been a KISS fan for several years.
I’m not into like I once was, but I still enjoy hearing them belt out some old
tunes when they do it right... this disc does absolutely everything
wrong. When I first heard that this was a Las Vegas show, I wasn’t very
thrilled. The word “Vegas” brings to mind visions of celebrity has-beens
hashing out the same bad routine night after night. A title like KISS: Live In Las Vegas indicates
either a rare exception to that rule or another gaudy disaster. Well, next up on the list of things to make
me cringe - getting my hands on it and seeing the very poor packaging
design. Normally not an issue with me, but in this case, there was
clearly no effort at all.
Putting
this into my player definitely wasn’t what you’d call a top priority for
me. However, the other night I cleared my schedule and decided to
watch. Things start off with an explanation of how a server overload
halted the planned live Internet performance. After this over dramatized
narration is over, things shift over to David Spade and Cindy Margolis - the
hosts for the evening’s festivities. So far, everything embodies the
standard trappings of a poorly done cable TV awards show.
Finally,
it’s time for KISS to go on. Things kick off with an unenthusiastic
performance of “Shout It Out Loud”.
It gets a little better when they pull out “Love
Gun” - one of my favorites, which would have been better received by me had
it not been for the poor video editing style. “God Of Thunder” comes up next (big points off for the bad voice
distortion), followed by “Rock And Roll
All Night”. It seems that things might be looking up - and, at this point,
I’m not totally disappointed. But without even an encore, KISS leaves the
building. That’s right - this 20-dollar DVD contains four songs. On
top of that, the box leads you to believe that the program is 100 minutes long
and contains 5 angles to watch the performance from... this isn’t exactly what
you may be expecting. You can either watch the version that includes all
four angles edited together, or watch an annoying 4-way split screen version. Well, after this much of a let down, at least
you can rely on the bonus features to ease the ache in your wallets...
Unbelievable
as it may seem, the bonus features are even worse than what’s been shown so
far. All that’s there is some poorly shot home video footage of the band
going through the various sales pitches they employ - autograph signings,
public appearances, etc., etc. Kicking things down yet another sizable
notch, we have some tape of a KISS tribute band performing in a small club to a
very meager audience. The cameraman for this segment can’t seem to remain
focused on the band, so the camera lens very often drifts to stage lighting,
t-shirt designs, drunken audience members, and whatever women happen to get
close enough to the front of the stage.
There
isn’t a lot that can be said in defense of the sound and video quality - most
is a chore just to sit through. Consistently shaky cameras and extremely
weak sound that distorts often are the norm here. The concert itself is
in remixed in Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround; but the quality was too poor to start
with, resulting in muddy sound. Nothing else on this disc has 5.1
surround sound, barely any Dolby 2.0 Pro Logic-type surround on the barely
stereo segments (which run a total of 100 minutes), as things vary a lot from
segment to segment, but everything is well below par.
Doing a
quick bit of research, I found that pretty much all of the bonus material has
been released on fan-produced bootlegs, so it isn’t anything unique. This
disc is nothing more than a quick cash-in aimed at unknowing KISS fanatics -
willing to buy anything that the logo is stamped on. If you’ve read
everything I’ve just had to say on this disc, but are still interested, I ask
for you to get it used. I’m sure there will be a glut of these piling up
at your local music exchange. For a much
better DVD release of the band, try the first volume of the KISSOLOGY at the
following link:
http://www.fulvuedrive-in.com/review/4816/KISSology,+Volume+One+(KISS+1974+–+1977)
- David Milchick
