While on the Love Gun Tour, Kiss had a two night stop at the venue The Summit in Houston Texas. Those shows were on September 1st and 2nd of 1977. Here for this next Bootleg in the series, we are capturing the 2nd night of the show and this is a really cool show as Kiss were in their prime and they simply slayed on the stage that night. It is a high-energy, explosive performance for a band that was untouched at the time for their live performances. The people in Houston definitely got their money’s worth on that night. This bootleg was released in Germany on Deep Records back in 1992.
This show has never been released from the band, but they definitely have this in their archives as the videos for this show have showed up a couple times in the Kiss camp. First, in 1987, Kiss released a video called Kiss Exposed…a man was it cheesy. On that video that had a few live shots of the band from the heyday and three of those videos were taken from the Sept. 2 show in Houston. The songs used were “Beth”, “I Stole Your Love” and “Ladies Room”. But it gets better. On the Kissology Volume One 1974-1977 DVD released back in 2006, the full show of the Sept. 2 night was released so you got the full video performance. Sweet. Okay, starting with “Rock & Roll All Nite”, the video actually switches to the previous night and the last 4 songs are that night. So, almost the full show.
This is another disc that was included in the John Humphrey Collection I bought last year at an auction where I got my hands on 38 Bootleg CDs from his personal collection. 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…which I did.
The show opens with a lot of Music noise from the guitars and the drums. A barrage of nonsense. You get a quick little guitar solo, a few bass thumps then the classic Kiss Introduction of “You Wanted the Best, You Got The Best. The Hottest Band in the World Kiss!!”. They then explode into “I Stole Your Love”. The sound is really good for a bootleg. Sounds like a soundboard recording as the vocals are really clear and so are the instruments. Audience noise in minimal, but detectable thankfully as you need that crowd noise to get the energy right for a live show.
Then they go into “Take Me” and the background vocals can’t be from the band members as they are so high pitched it is crazy. A falsetto like none other. I’ve never heard their backing vocals sound like that. It is a little mind-blowing. “Ladies Room” comes screaming at you with Ace’s guitars. Gene steps up to the mic and he gravelly spits out the lyrics like only Gene can. I love it. At the end before Paul starts talking you hear a lot of cursing from someone that sounds like Peter…don’t know what that is about.
Paul goes into one of his chats with the crowd for “Firehouse”. He is a great frontman, no doubt. The bass is heavy in the mix here, Ace is guitar a little too far back which gives it a slightly different vibe. Still great as Paul sounds so good throughout. The siren it the end is so freaking LOUD!! It almost completely drowns out the band. A too loud, but you got to have the siren. “Love Gun” blasts out the speakers next. It sounds great, cookie-cutter as I’ve heard it a million times, but at least the tempo is right and not a 100mph like they do in the 80’s.
What I like about this era, is Peter gets a couple songs to sing. First up is “Hooligan” off the new album at the time ‘Love Gun’. He is a little aggressive on this one. And he might be a little too into it as he really goes all out vocally. Reign it back in a little Peter…LOL!! Paul is back up and that opening guitar riff is simply killer. They complete destroy “Makin’ Love” and I mean that in a good way. Now it is time for a song that is way inappropriate nowadays. And that is “Christine Sixteen”. Paul ask if any girls out there that have never been “Kissed” and the silence was deafening. The bass on it sounds too loud and a little distorted and Gene’s mic isn’t as loud as Paul’s was, but it gets better after the first verse. And a little feedback in the middle. A fun song, but very dated.
Now we get to one of the best parts of the show as in 1977 our buddy, the late great Ace Frehley finally started singing and they do one of his best with “Shock Me”. Ace sounds great, but the solo at the end is first class greatness from Ace. Sloppy, yet perfect. After the solo, the guitars tone down into a simpler, gently pace for the start of “I Want You” and then Bam!, the song explodes into the great rocker it is. A lot of echo on Paul’s vocals on the “I Want You” part is cool. Then Paul does his great crowd banter before they call out Dr. Love with “Calling Dr. Love”. Gene takes over vocals and growls his way through it. The menacing vocals make the Doctor sound down right evil.
It is time for a huge rock anthem and they don’t disappoint with “Shout It Out Loud”. The familiar opening guitar riff and drum fills start it off and the song explodes into the crowd cheering, hands in the air, rocking chorus. Everyone should be singing along by now. This leads into the Gene Bass solo if you can call it that. It is no showing off, just menacing bass notes until he spits out the blood. It is dark and foreboding and if you were a child, you’d be peeing in your pants about now.
After the solo, we get Gene’s signature song at the time, written by Paul, “God of Thunder” where Gene can be fully immersed as the Demon. In the middle of the song it turns into a Peter Criss drum solo and he shows that he really was a fantastic drummer back in the day. No denying his talent. He was the backbone of the Kiss songs. After his barrage of drum hits, we are back to finish out “God of Thunder” for part 2. At times, I hated when the split the song like that, but after such a stellar drum solo, who cares. The song ends with a couple gong hits.
There is a rough edit, and the song picks up half way through with “Rock And Roll All Nite” which is not listed on the back cover. But here is where the trouble starts which is why the Kissology version cuts to the previous night since we didn’t get a full song here, but we got a great solo and I love how Gene and Paul would say “All Nite” at different times. I guess they always did this, but never noticed before. There is some feeback as well, but what we get is great. The show ends and cuts to the encore next.
The encore kicks off with “Detroit Rock City” and that familiar bass fill and guitar riff with Petter pounding away. Paul comes in sings his heart out. The trouble starts quickly with the tape wobble. It isn’t constant but definitely is noticeable at times and a little distracting. There is a fade out and back in with the piano starting for “Beth”, Peter’s 2nd song. The tape wobble is here as well and really bad at times. It sounds like Beth is being slowed down and Peter is stretching out the notes. And the last song is no different with “Black Diamond”. It is a shame as this concert was really killer up to this point. It makes it difficult to finish off the album for sure.
And that is the next Bootleg in the series, Houston: Summit September 2, 1977. A really great show despite the hiccup with the last three songs in the encore. Up to that point, it was one of my favorite shows in all my bootlegs as they sounded simply amazing. I like the fact i can watch this show on the Kissology series as well. I always wanted all those live shows on the Kissology series in a CD format, so now I have one (well I have a few I think actually). So I have another. My Overall Score is 3.5 out of 5.0 Stars mainly due to the last four songs. This could’ve been a 5 easily if those last four songs were better…much better and all full songs. Still, I can see myself pulling this show out regardless of that fact. Thanks for stopping by and don’t worry, I still have a bunch more Bootlegs left in the series.
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)
- Kiss – Snake Attack Budokan: Last Show Japan Tour 1977 (John Humphrey Collection)
- Kiss – Live in Maryland 1977 (John Humphrey Collection)
- Kiss – Feel Like Heaven (John Humphrey Collection)
- Kiss – Madison Square Garden 1977 (John Humphrey Collection)
- Kiss – The Lost Alive II Album (John Humphrey Collection)
- Kiss – Live Vol. 1 : Detroit, Michigan April 7, 1974 (John Humphrey Collection)
- Kiss – Boxx (Vol. 1): Live in USA 1975/’85 (John Humphrey Collection)
- Kiss – Boxx (Vol. 2): Live in Europe 1984 (John Humphrey Collection)
- Kiss – Kiss and Ace Demos (John Humphrey Collection)
- Kiss – The Rock ‘N Roots of Kiss (2025)
- Kiss – Choppers ‘N Chicks (Camp Curtis Guild Armory 11/15/1976 RARO Tour Rehearsal)
- Kiss – Watching Us (John Humphrey Collection)
- Kiss – Return to Thunder: Winter Tour 1976/1977 (John Humphrey Collection)
- Kiss – Houston: The Summit Sept 2, 1977 (John Humphrey Collection)
