Report and pics by Matthew Cawley
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Part one:
BRUCE KULICK AND ERIC SINGER INSTORE SIGNING AT BRASHS SUPERSTORE MELBOURNE.
When I first saw the poster that Bruce Kulick and Eric singer were coming
to Brashs I couldn't believe it, I thought here's my chance to meet two members of my
favourite band Kiss. I couldn't
wait till the day came, counting
down the days, counting down the hours. At about 6:00am on that morning I was outside with
two friends. I was really angry at them because we got there so late, but I was surprised
to see no one there at all at that time. As we waited the line got bigger, it circled the
block and then finally the doors opened and every single person ran into the store like a
shot gun, running up stairs, pushing people over until we got to the 3rd floor. The
waiting around, was terrible all this anxiety was building up in me, until the announcer
came on, sure he cracked a couple of stupid jokes like they always do and then he
announced them one by one.
Eric came
out first, he said the Bruce was taking a piss, but soon after Bruce came out the crowd
went wild, it was amazing. There was a quick Q and A (Questions and Answers) which people
who knew nothing of the band were asking the most stupid questions like. Are you still in
Kiss? and What concerts did Mark St John play?. The cool thing was that for the first time
I was up the front, taking all these pictures, while my friend Darren was filming it. They
were pushed for time and they seemed tired, one good question that came out was "
Tell us what we can expect from you at your clinic"? I really wanted to know because
I had bought tickets and didn't know how they were going to put this show on.
Part two:
BRUCE AND ERIC UNHOLY DOWNUNDER TOUR 1996 AT THE PALACE.
The concert was magnificent, to that point I hadn't seen anything better,
the venue was small but it
could fit
a couple of thousand.Bruce and Eric both came out to a enormous applause where both of
them sat down, they didn't talk but they broke into Unholy first of all. Eric was singing
and they hired a local bass player to play with them, Eric's voice was really good and
clear, it almost sounded harmonic, it was good for the song. Next up was Domino where
Bruce sang, it was really a different version of it, it was more funkier, if you can
believe that. Bruce's voice was good as well. They stopped for awhile and had a little
chat to us about there so glad to be here in Australia and Melbourne that they love the
Women down here, and at this point Bruce went back stage, which left Eric by himself.
Eric's Clinic: Eric was excellent he played a lot of solos including Eric
Carr's solo on Revenge, he sang four kiss songs with the bassist 
and a rhythm guitarist, but there was
no leads they sounded really weird but they still sounded good. the songs were, Nothing to
Lose, Firehouse, Hotter than Hell and 100,000 years. He then sang to completely new songs
which I've never heard before, they were really heavy and sounded fantastic, although I
can't recall the name of the songs.He then stopped and answered some questions people
threw at him.
Eric then finished off with Creatures of the night, his clinic lasted
about one hour.
Bruce Kulick: There was a 10 minute pause and al
l we did was chant Bruce's name,
until finally he came out, he sat down and did a couple of songs instrumental like
Stairway to Heaven by Led Zeppelin and All along the Watchtower by Jimmy Hendrix. He also
played two kiss songs with the same bassist and rhythm guitarist, but no drummer, they
sounded quite good they were Every time I look at you and Heaven's on Fire. Bruce then
brought out the acoustic and a Local drummer and played an acoustic version of 2000 man
and a new song. Finally he ended with God of thunder and played the bass for this one, he
imitated Gene a lot in that one. Bruce also stopped to answer a few questions from the
crowd. I will always remember one of the questions that someone shouted out, "Do you
have any hatred towards Gene and Paul?". He replied like I knew he would in true Kiss
spirit. "Gene and Paul are like a family, we were a close unit and still are. I still
continue to CO write songs with Paul and they really tipped their hat off to myself and
Eric, we both knew what Gene and Paul wanted and we didn't want to get in their way or be
on the sidelines, so we decided to branch out and become hopefully successful as
well."
There was
another interval of about 10 minutes, and again to a enormous applause as both Eric and
Bruce came out. They both said that they had a really good time and that they will be back
(hopefully soon). They then played God gave Rock and Roll to You and Rock 'n' Roll all
Night, for their finale, they played two encores which consisted of a Kiss mix where they
played about five different Kiss songs in one song, they were I was made for loving you,
Shandi, Spit (from Revenge),Reason to Live and Forever, and then Save me by Queen. That
was the end of the show, both Eric and Bruce thanked us all again and went backstage for
about half an hour, they both appeared again and mingled with the crowd which was really
cool, they also were kind enough to do a autograph session as well
The whole concert took about 2 and half to three hours, and it was well worth the $25.00
(roughly 10 pounds) for the tickets. I really enjoyed myself as did my friends Frank and
Darren. I hope that both them will get together again and do another tour and hopefully it
hits the UK.
I want to thank Paul Finn for the opportunity of sharing my story about two great members
to the world of Kiss fans out there.
Drop KISSin' UK an E-mail.