Review: KISS at Download Festival 2015

Kiss is a band that hardly needs an introduction, the legends of glam rock making a huge amount of money and fame through merchandising and turning the face painted foursome into a touring group for their substantial back catalogue.

Starting with a phenomenally decadent opener in Detroit Rock City, Demon, Starchild, Cat and Spaceman, took everyone through a sheer panoply.

A pantomime of light and colour, including zipwires, floating stages, guitar pyrotechnics, many many charming crowd interaction moments, and an closer in I Wanna Rock and Roll all Nite that cannot be in any way exaggerated, featuring a bunch of spinning floating platforms, confetti, streamers, a full on fireworks show and twenty foot pillars of flame.

All as precisely and intricately choreographed as the foursome themselves, who do not put a foot wrong in a way that's downright eerie at times.

Amidst the pantomime, explosions and zipwire tomfoolery there was in fact, a rock concert.

Audio wise there was no problems as Kiss took everyone for a history lesson through Kiss' greatest hits.

Fans of the much-maligned Music from The Elder were destined to be disappointed however the omission of Crazy Crazy Nights was somewhat more of a shock.

Not that this matters too much, as it is the aesthetic and sheer aura of Kiss that ultimately draws people in.

Kiss was considered at one point a somewhat controversial pick as a Download headliner, given their focus on the sheer spectacle over musicality.

While their closing performance will not exactly convert any doubters, few could argue against the sheer audacity, intricacy and ultimate enjoyment of a show as grandiose as this.

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