I have been doing a Kiss Bootleg Series for years. You get a review every time I add a new one to the collection. Well, after buying 38 Bootleg CDs from John Humphrey’s personal collection, I figured let’s jump right back in and do a whole lot of reviews on the Bootlegs. Oh, if you don’t know who John Humphrey is, you need to know he is a massive Kiss collector. And he is the drummer of the band Seether. John decided to sell off his entire collection…sort of…he kept all the vinyl (like 4,000 of them). He did it through an auction at Backstage Auctions and I had to have a piece of it…and I did wind up with some things.
The bootleg we have for you this time around is called ‘Detroit 1984’ and it was recorded at Cabo Hall in Detroit, Michigan on December 12, 1984. If you are die hard Kiss fan you know why this date is important. This show was recorded on video and released as the first concert video Kiss had ever released and it was called ‘Animalize Live Uncensored’. I had this on VHS and I remember it vividly although I did watch it again to make sure I didn’t miss anything. It came out on April 19, 1985 and I was so excited when this came out mainly because I saw this tour. My second Kiss show ever and now I was getting a video from that tour, how cool was that.
The show had a varied setlist with some old and some new. They kick off and end with some classic Kiss songs, but everything else in the middle was all 80’s from ‘Creatures of the Night’ (4 songs) to ‘Lick It Up’ (2 Songs) to ‘Animalize’ (3 Songs). For me, this is where I wanted them to spend their time as I was discovering Kiss on my own with these albums so I wanted these songs and I got my money worth with it.
This particular bootleg though came out in 1992 on Deep Records and it isn’t the full show, sadly. It has the normal “You Wanted the Best…” intro but instead of starting with “Detroit Rock City” like the show actually does start with, it actually opens with “Cold Gin” minus Paul’s banter on alcohol. The transition is smooth and “Cold Gin” actually feels like the opening song. Bruce Kulick lays down that nasty riff. Bruce was a full time member of the band at this point (which they actually announced it right before this very show) since Mark St. John was let go around the beginning of the tour due to his health issues.
After the new opener, they blaze through “Creatures of the Night” and before they go in to “Fits Like a Glove”, Paul has to tell a story. Now, we are in the 80’s and Paul’s banter between songs is incredible (incredibly good or bad is up for interpretation). I really love the story about the woman coming up to him and looking for Gene and she says that she has Gene’s baby. Paul, the good friend he is, told her not only is that not his baby, but Gene has never seen you before in his life. He then tells the audience that the baby had the longest “f#@ing tongue he had ever seen in his life. He started cursing a lot during the 80’s too. “Fits Like a Glove” is hard and heavy and Bruce’s riffs are killer. Gene does stellar on this one.
If you love the 80’s, then getting “Heaven’s on Fire” and “Thrills in the Night” back to back will excite you. We do get a Paul guitar solo if you want to call it that. They do cut out the part where Paul is busy dividing the crowd up in to halves to see who can scream the loudest. Thank God they cut it. Then it is more 80’s with the speed racer riffs from Bruce for “Under the Gun”. Man it is a fast one. We then go in to “War Machine” driven by some heavy-ass beats by Eric and this is where Gene would breathe fire but that is on the video, you can’t see that on the CD…duh!!. On the video, next would be Eric’s drum solo and his rendition of “Young & Wasted” which is fantastic, but it has been cut to make sure the show fits on one CD.
Then we get Gene’s bass solo with him and his axe bass which would then go in to his second highlight song “I Love It Loud” by screaming out “Oh Yeah, Oh Yeah, Well Alright” which he still does today. This is the song that re-energized me in to being a Kiss fan. After that, they stick to the Creatures’ album as Paul does the incredible ballad “I Still Love You”. After that they end the show with an extremely fast “Love Gun” as it was like they had to be somewhere and were in a hurry to finish. And then the final track is “Lick It Up” which is the song that re-energized their career…well that and taking the make-up off. The final two tracks are the encore and they are classics. You get Eric singing “Black Diamond” and the crowd goes nuts for “Rock And Roll All Nite”. Their typical show stopper.
Now I am not going to give you the set list as I think you can read it above on the picture of the back cover. There are 13 songs and 2 solos and you get over an hour of solid Kiss Rock & Roll. It is a great representation of Kiss at the time and a few classic thrown in to keep the natives happy. Despite the fact a couple songs were cut and Eric’s drum solo, it is still totally awesome!! The sound quality is incredible and you won’t get much better on a bootleg that is guaranteed. Overall, I will give it a 4.5 out of 5.0 Stars. I have always wanted to have this show on CD…wish it was the full show, but I’ll take it. The thing that always has baffled me is why wasn’t this released as Kiss Alive III? I have no idea. But a definite missed opportunity!
The Kiss Bootleg Series:
- Kiss – ‘Accept No Imitations’ (Bootleg Series) – Album Review (ASYLUM TOUR)
- Kiss – Look Wot You Dun to Me (Bootleg Series) – Album Review (CRAZY NIGHTS TOUR)
- Kiss – The Summer of Satan: The Devils Ride Out! (Bootleg Series) – Album Review (DESTROYER TOUR)
- Kiss – Return to Capital Center (Bootleg Series) – Album Review (DYNASTY TOUR)
- Kiss – With Fire & Thunder (Bootleg Series) – Album Review (HOTTER THAN HELL TOUR)
- Kiss – Northhampton PA March 19th, 1975 (Bootleg Series) – Album Review (DRESSED TO KILL TOUR)
- Kiss – The Hottest Show On Earth (Bootleg Series) – Album Review (THE HOTTEST SHOW ON EARTH TOUR 2010)
- Kiss – All the Way to the Ball Room (Bootleg Series) – Album Review (Australian Tour 1995)
- Kiss – Kiss of Thunder (Bootleg Series) – Album Review (The Rising Sun Tour 2006)
- Kiss – Agora Ballroom 1974: The Cleveland Broadcast plus Bonus Cuts (Bootleg Series) – Album Review (THE KISS TOUR)
- Kiss – Hotter Than Hell: Radio Broadcast 1976 (Bootleg Series) – Album Review (ROCK & ROLL OVER TOUR)
- Kiss – The Tickler (Bootleg Series) – Album Review (LICK IT UP TOUR 1983)
- Kiss – Barbarize (Bootleg Series) – Album Review (ANIMALIZE WORLD TOUR 1984 – North American Tour)
- Kiss – They Only Come Out At Night (Bootleg Series) – Album Review (ANIMALIZE WORLD TOUR 1984 – EUROPEAN TOUR)
- Wicked Lester and the Progeny Demo Sessions (Bootleg)
- Kiss – Black Diamond: Lafayette Music Room, Memphis, TN April 18th, 1974 – FM Broadcast
- Kiss – End of the Road: In Allentown 2020 (PPL Center, Allentown, PA, 4th February 2020) (End of the Road Tour) – Blu-Ray
- Kiss – ‘Monster Tour: Simpsonville 2013’ (Charter Amphitheatre at Heritage Park, Simpsonville, C – 13th August 2013) – Blu-Ray
- Wicked Lester – The Original Wicked Lester Sessions (Bootleg)
- Kiss – The Ritz on Fire (August 12, 1988, The Ritz, New York City. A radio broadcast – Crazy Nights Tour)
- Kiss – Kiss My Axe 1978: Live from the Los Angeles Forum in California, August 25, 1977 (Love Gun Tour)
- Kiss – Gods of Thunder: The Legendary Concert Broadcast – Sao Paulo, August 27, 1994′
- Kiss – Black Diamond: Lafayette Music Room, Memphis, TN April 18th, 1974 – FM Broadcast (Alternate Cover)
- Kiss -Alive! in Amityville: June 1973 – (2021)
- Kiss – Set the World On Fire: Live (10 CD Box Set – Radio Broadcasts 1974-1994)
- Kiss – Diamonds in the Dust (2022)
- Kiss – Wicked Lester (John Humphrey Collection)
- Kiss – Unplugged (John Humphrey Collection)
- Kiss – Kabuki Beasts: Kyoto 1977 (John Humphrey Collection)
- Kiss – Live in Australia 1980 (John Humphrey Collection)
- Kiss – Electric Magic: Live East Lansing, MI October 21, 1974 (John Humphrey Collection)
- Kiss – Detroit 1984: Cobo Hall, Dec. 12, 1984 (John Humphrey Collection)
