KEY POINTS:
Check for regular updates from The Edge's Vaughan Smith at Rock2Wellington over Easter weekend.
If my guess is correct there will be teenagers waking up in a less hungover state than their parents today.
One thing that really struck me about last night's Rock2Wellington gig was how
many middle aged people came out to party and had a few sauvignon blancs (from the plastic bottles) too many.
A few that spring to mind are the lady that toppled down the stairs at the stadium and bounced back up straight away and the lady grooving for 20 solid minutes in front of us on the ground... Or the lady who gave us a running commentary on her sex life on the train ride home.
I was truly out-partied by people older than my parents.
But Kiss are celebrating their 35th year as a band, so I guess if you were 15 when Kiss formed, you are 50 now - so party on Wayne, party on Garth.
The clean up before tonight's follow up performance with Whitesnake, Poison and Ozzy Osbourne will not be an easy one. Chip punnets, burger wrappers, empty plastic beer bottles have piled up in every corner of Wellington's Westpac Stadium.
I feel sorry for those on that duty, as I type this enjoying the Wellington sunshine.
It's a day of recharging as we again look forward to a night of timeless (middle aged) rock with men wearing makeup and taking dubious medication.
SATURDAY NIGHT
The article you are about to read will contain the words "flames" "battle axe" "bogans" "infanticide" "gallows" "dragon with laser eyes" "flying fox" and "fireworks" ... how are these things linked?
Simple. Rock2Wellington.
Earlier I said that we were going to hunt down some band t-shirts to wear to the first night of Rock2Wellington. That mission proved unfruitful as every man and his dog had purchased band t-shirts before us that day - and we did actually see a dog in a Kiss shirt.
The selection was limited so we passed on that idea. It was a blessing in disguise, as no doubt in an effort to show off our new t-shirts we would have frozen to death. Wellington was a shining example this evening for the people who don't believe in global warming. It was freezing. The Caketin was more of an ice-cream bowl. But we will get to that soon.
The train ride to the city was the start of something great as there was a delay whilst the conductor tried to get some bogans off the roof of the carriage.
When it finally got moving, the carriage was full of people dressed all in black and a 10-year-old child wearing what looked to be felt tip around his eyes and a Kiss t-shirt, regularly sticking his tongue right out a la Gene Simmons, and scaring me and other passengers in the process.
Arriving at the venue, it was a sea of black, and it became obvious why there were no band t-shirts left in town that day. They were all on the concourse leading to the Westpac Stadium. Kiss, Black Sabbath, Poison, Alice Cooper, Lordi and even Whitesnake who, while only having one song people know, had sold a lot of t-shirts.
Inside the stadium the night was started with various New Zealand guitarists playing guitar solos from within the crowd, at breakneck speed. The sort of speed that I couldn't even imagine achieving on the Guitar Hero game on "easy". Also, with it being -25 degrees, I doubt I could get my fingers working at anyway.
To the joy of some hardcore followers, theatrical metallers Lordi took to the stage after the New Zealanders had done their thing.
If I said to you "Lordi had an awesome onstage presence and the lead singer had a battle axe microphone" you might think to yourself: "That sounds fantastic, could it get any better?" Yes - because fireworks came out of it.
A weapon perfect for singing, battle and burning down houses with thatched roofs - or lighting a fire to keep warm in the Wellington stadium. They finished their set with the song that won them the 2005 Eurovision Song Contest Hard Rock Hallelujah and some flames from the axe.
Before Alice Cooper took to the stage, Weta Workshops' smoking dragon with laser eyes was unveiled to the crowd from the back of the stadium.
Puppeteers put in a solid stanza pushing and pulling dragon bits whilst punters got stale burgers and more beers.
Alice Cooper then took to the stage wielding his cane and started dealing punishment to his guitarists straight away, telling them to play to the crowd. Then, in true Cooper style, he pretended to cut the throat of a woman who joined him on stage.
After which she returned with a baby carriage and he cut her throat for a second time before picking up the baby, shaking the baby, then hammering a stake into the aforementioned baby's chest, before being put into a straight jacket.
It didn't stop there, of course, he then escaped and sliced yet another woman's throat. Not surprisingly, Coopper was then sent to the gallows for the excessive amount of throat-slitting and infanticide during his set.
Finally, he came back to life before launching into Singstar favourite Poison, thanking himself for playing then signing off. It was a very pleasing performance, although admittedly slightly disturbing.
Again Weta's dragon reared its head whilst the crowd warmed up - or at least tried to - before Kiss took the stage.
We knew it was time when the New Zealand band playing on a smaller side stage had their sound and lights cut without warning and a huge Kiss banner was lit on stage.
When the banner dropped it revealed a massive Kiss sign made of hundreds of individual bulbs. The crowd welcomed the first night headliners with an ear-splitting chorus of screams and horns.
The two remaining members of the original Kiss line up, Gene Simmons and Paul Stanley, were the true performers and stars, playing up to the crowd with the promise that we were a better audience than the Australian ones they had just seen. 30,000-odd people had no trouble believing that.
The highlights of the Kiss performance were Gene Simmons transforming into a demon - blood spitting and levitation included - and Paul Stanley's flying fox mission to the sound desk, where he played a song before returning to the main stage, again on the flying fox, while wearing huge platform shoes.
Kiss finished off with the anthemic Rock and Roll All Night as huge fireworks went off in time with the bass drum kicks and guitar strums.
The first night was over; I had been witness to men dressed as demons with a flaming battle axe, a man in makeup killing women and children - and men older than my father dressed in leotards and platform shoes. This was living... bring on tonight with Ozzy, Poison and one-hit-wonders Whitesnake.
READER REVIEWS
Wellington laid on a blend of cloud and a chilly southerly for the first night of the Rock2Wgtn concerts.
The special NZ guitar acts were a great opener with numerous crowd members also having their five minutes of fame on the big screen. "Hi Mom - look I'm smashed".
Lordi from Finland were the first-up international act and they performed well although only 17 people knew their music and could understand what they were singing.
Their costumes more than made up for any lack of familiarity however. NZ band Sonic Altar filled the gap between acts and did a great job with some good tracks, even if their sound mix was below par.
Alice Cooper filled the big screens next and he was impressive to say the least.
After having seen him out and about in town earlier in the day, it was hard to picture this man on stage as the same "old rocker" we saw.
Great songs, better performing and excellent props made this a really memorable performance. He could have stayed for another hour as far as I'm concerned.
Symphony of Screams again flew the NZ rock flag between acts and certainly started with promise. They tended to fade into nothingness after a few songs and the crowd was keen for the headliners.
Kiss came onstage around 11pm to a mix of alcohol-fuelled anticipation and cheers. These guys were great in their day, and the gimmicks of make-up and costume were performance leading in their time.
I think their time has been and gone though. The almost bland mix of songs had an almost dreary monotony to them. Good on them for keeping going and keeping the fans interested.
They are great showmen and performers, but not great songwriters. I reckon Alice stole the show... roll on Sunday night...
Terry
