If you ask 100 KISS fans to name the most iconic concerts by their favorite band, you can be more than certain that all of them will include KISS’s performance at Anaheim Stadium in August 1976 among their top five. This is a concert that all collectors have owned since the early ’90s, both in audio and video formats, but this is the first time it’s been officially released by KISS. And it comes in exceptional packaging and multiple editions that leave the perfunctory archival releases from the “Off the Soundboard” series miles behind.
From the very first seconds, it’s clear that legendary sound engineer Eddie Kramer—who recorded the concert 50 years ago—has done an outstanding job mixing and mastering the concert. Everything sounds crystal clear, yet the live feeling is never lost, and any adjustments made are minor, as there are no striking differences from the aforementioned unofficial version that circulated in fan bootleg circles. Clearly, we’re dealing here with a band that, just a few months earlier, had begun its rise in the American market (following the awarding of a platinum record for “Alive” and a gold record for “Destroyer”)—and this was the largest audience (42,000) they had ever played to up to that point.
Obviously, the setlist is flawless, as it’s based on KISS’s first four masterpiece albums, and the overall performance is very good—though, in my personal opinion, it doesn’t quite reach the band’s incredible standards from a year later. Be that as it may, the bottom line is that KISS is giving the market a true treasure that will completely satisfy all of the band’s fans…and that’s rare! Let’s hope that other similar releases will follow. My guess is that the next similar release will be the concert in Tokyo this coming April, which marks 50 years of history…
Highlight: The Japanese CD release and the limited picture disc edition also include a 60-page book by Ken Sharp.
Sakis Nikas
