Birmingham, UK Concert Review

What a gig! And what a life-affirming night of nights.

After just two songs came the most important bit at the packed Barclaycard Arena – a minute’s silence in memory of the 22 souls who perished in Manchester after a suicide bomber attacked a crowd of innocent young girls leaving an Ariana Grande concert on what should have been the night of their lives.

It was the second event of its kind within 36 hours as the Birmingham Pride weekend had also had a minute's silence in Victoria Square at noon on Saturday, which followed a vigil on May 23.

On the back of that atrocity, KISS have had to cancel this week’s planned show at the Manchester Arena, leaving Birmingham in the middle of just two more UK gigs – Glasgow before and London to come.

The band said they were ‘heartbroken’ by the news of last week’s killings, but they certainly stood up to be counted like never before in a venue guarded by armed police with machine guns – just like the neighbouring Symphony Hall hosting an Anastacia concert.

But if you wanted any superstars to come rolling into town ready to lift the gloom on the back of a terror attack as devastating as Manchester it would be larger-than-life KISS.

The US rock giants are like cartoon characters waking up in a panto created by Ozzy Osbourne

They are pure entertainers and it is impossible to watch them without having a daft grin on your face.

How on earth they can stlll stand up on those stack-heeled boots is one source of endless mirth.

But their make-up and outfits are so outlandish, it's like a weird version of the Marvel Universe has landed on stage ready to driving beat you into submission.

The Barclaycard Arena show included a giant screen of the highest clarity, flames galore, fireworks aplenty, two crane lifts, two wire lifts, two podiums and a brilliant barrage of stadium-shaking riffs which underpinned some of rock’s greatest anthems.

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