Kiss: Rock the Nation - Live

KISS fans have been largely divided into two camps. On one side you've got the purists who are fans of the original line up (Paul, Gene, Ace, and Peter), and may or may not tolerate any of the other line-ups (and if they do tolerate any of the other line-ups, they always preface any conversation with, "Of course, the original line-up is the only REAL KISS"). On the other side you've got the fans who want the best available players to play alongside Paul and Gene. They weren't really happy when the Reunion happened back in '96 as the Revenge line-up was incredibly strong and vibrant musically.

When Peter and Ace returned to the old habits that led them to leave (be asked to leave) KISS the first time around, we saw the return of Eric Singer to the band, and the introduction of Tommy Thayer as the new lead guitar player. That would have been enough to upset some of the "purists" who would rather see the originals regardless of musical abilities, but when you add insult to injury - having Eric and Tommy wear the "Catman" and "Spaceman" make-up & outfits, well, that was tantamount to KISS blasphemy to them.

Which brings us to the 2004 Rock the Nation tour. It featured one of the most high-tech, and visually impressive KISS shows ever, and with Eric and Tommy in the band KISS was able to play songs that they hadn't played in years. "Unholy," "War Machine," "Love Her All I Can," "Tears Are Falling," and "Makin' Love," all reappeared in the set list. All were played very well, and many became crowd favorites.

The purists still weren't happy, however, because of the "controversy" surrounding Eric & Tommy and the make-up. The tour did good, but not great business anyway, and KISS put on some fantastic shows.

This tour was filmed for this home video release, and it is clear to see that the band is having a great time for the first time since 1996. The concert footage is very well shot, and a little better edited than the last concert release, KISS Symphony. The sound on the DVD is fantastic, and is worthy of a live CD release.

One thing that is evident is that Paul Stanley wasn't quite himself. Shortly after the tour was completed Paul had hip replacement surgery, and it is clear that he wasn't able to move on stage quite as much as he had in the past. Casual fans wouldn't notice it, but Paul is a little more reserved physically than on most other KISS tours. He's not running and jumping around in the fashion that KISS fans have become accustomed to. He's not just standing around, but his energy level on stage is not where it was in 1996, or 1992, or 1985. He has since had a second hip replacement, and it remains to be seen if he will ever fully recover. Even if he doesn't, he is still one of the best frontmen in Rock and Roll, and this DVD is just further proof.

At the end of the day, what really makes this a great home video release are the great musical performances of Eric and Tommy, the fantastic visuals, the great song selection, and the cool KISS PowerVision feature on seven songs that lets the viewer decide which band member to watch.

KISS: Rock the Nation Live may not be a perfect release, but it is pretty darned close.

Let me start off my review of this DVD by stating the honest truth:I have been one of the biggest KISS fans on this planet ever since I was eleven years old. And,as disappointing as it may be to see that Ace Frehley and Peter Criss have both departed from the group for the second time,both Gene Simmons and Paul Stanley have done a great job at carrying KISS on,despite the absence of Frehley and Criss. Despite all of the line-up changes that have occurred within KISS over the years,KISS has always been able to put on a great concert--and their most recent concert DVD,"Rock The Nation-Live",is proof of that sentence.

This is a two disc set DVD,and while it may be controversial to some hardcore fans of KISS,it is still very well put together and very entertaining. Here,you get to see the new line-up of KISS (Gene Simmons,Paul Stanley,Tommy Thayer,and Eric Singer) perform live in both the District of Columbia and Virginia Beach,VA,on their "Rock The Nation" tour that they shared with Poison. The concerts that were filmed for this DVD show KISS performing a selection of their best material from the early 70's right up to the early 90's,and not only is the song selection excellent for what it is and by itself (considering the fact that KISS have had several hit and fan favorite songs ever since the 70's,that it is hard for the band to perform all of their hit songs and fan favorites in just one night),the performances here are excellent,and have new,original life to them. The performances of "God Gave Rock and Roll To You II" and "Rock and Roll All Nite" are very patriotic and nostalgic,while they do a good job at documenting the spirit of KISS that several people tend to not recognize about the group sometimes. If you always wanted to see a KISS concert with stage effects from the 1970's and new stage effects to the concert,you will find what you are looking for here. And despite both Ace Frehley and Peter Criss being absent from this DVD,Tommy Thayer does a really good job at stepping in for Frehley on this DVD while Eric Singer does a really good job at stepping in for Criss,and with Gene Simmons and Paul Stanley bringing the energy that they brought into 70's era KISS shows into the shows that were filmed for this DVD,alongside the bonus features here,make this DVD an excellent supplement to KISSSTORY,and proves that KISS can still be a good band,even if Ace and Peter aren't with the group anymore.

Overall,a very well put together DVD,and a nice treat for both hardcore KISS fans and KISS fans who missed KISS on their "Rock The Nation" tour that was supporting this DVD.

I received this for Christmas 2005. At first glance, I was elated because KISS is my all time favorite rock band. However, as soon as I inserted disk one, I was in for my first Christmas let-down.

The camera work and editing were superb; better than the headache inducing editing of the KISS Symphony DVD. The sound was great. BUT it turned out to be a great production of tired and old Gene and Paul trying to recapture what was once the greatest rock band in the world. They were slow on stage and the songs were toned way down. It had the markings of a very loud PBS special. Even the camera shots of the women in the audience were not very appetizing. I felt like I was watching my grandmother strut her stuff one last time before she headed out to the nursing home.

Gene completely screws up all the verses to "I Love It Loud", completely wrong order. Actually far worse than any other tune I've ever seen him screw up before; even "Domino"!

Gene and Paul really struggle to sing many of the songs as well.

They took advantage of new DVD technology and offered what they called "Power Vision". This allows the viewer to pick which member they would prefer to follow through certain songs.

Technology-wise, I'll give it a nine.

Is this DVD a classic? Not on your life. Queen On Fire: Live at the Bowl, that's a classic. The Zeppelin DVD, that's also a classic. If you are and/or have been KISS fan over the years, well, you probably already have this. It is far and away the best job they've done of filming anything, although I have what I believe are some much better performances on boot.

Wait until you can buy it from the bargain bin at your favorite record store.

Being a long time Kiss fan I was really looking forward to get this DVD into the player. Driving back through Christmas traffic from the shops seemed to take an eternity and while sitting at the lights I was wishing I had installed an in-car DVD player. The good news for all you Kiss fans is that when I finally got it home and cranked-up the amp I wasn't disappointed! This double DVD rocks hard with some awesome footage from the Rock the Nation tour. I guess nearly every DVD sale will be to people that went to at least one of the Rock The Nation Tour concerts and while it was nowhere near the same experience it is a good second best. The extra high definition picture and great audio mixing mean that the real fans will be buying the original DVD and not just downloading a pirate low-res rip so I expect sale of this one to go through the roof. This is the best Kiss DVD to date and fellow fans will be annoying their neighbours all over the world. Go grab a copy and turn the TV up to 10, this totally ROCKS!!!