Another party day for Kiss

Watching kids and grown-ups alike lose their minds as Kiss performed the have-a-good-time-all-the-time anthems "Shout It Out Loud" and "Rock and Roll All Nite" during the encore of their two-hours-plus show Friday at the Susquehanna Bank Center, it was obvious why those songs have endured 35 years. They're both a perfectly choreographed storm of bombast, bubblegum, and escapism.

Just like a Kiss concert - a rock-and-awe experience that has remained pretty much intact since those songs were new.

Original Kiss members Paul Stanley and Gene Simmons have always, and quite unashamedly, positioned themselves as entertainers rather than musicians, and Kiss as a brand as much as a band. So to them, sticking to the makeup, spandex, and platform boots they put back on in the mid-1990s and the pyrotechnics they've been peddling since the '70s isn't a lack of progress - it's giving the people what they want. It's good business sense.

And considering the pitiful summer concert business of 2010, maybe it really is good business sense - even though a $10 lawn ticket special only produced a house that was slightly more than half-filled. Stanley made note of this early in the show when he exclaimed, "You may not be the biggest crowd, but that doesn't mean you can't be the loudest." (He's probably been saying that a lot lately.)

And the crowd was plenty loud, for old gems such as "Black Diamond," "Deuce," and "Love Gun," and for old tricks such as the sparks shooting from the Les Paul of guitarist Tommy Thayer (playing the role of original guitarist Ace Frehley) during "Shock Me." Not so much for the three new songs Kiss played from last year's forgettable Sonic Boom album (which Stanley announced was available exclusively at Wal-Mart), or "Crazy Nights," a bit of '80s Nerf metal showing that the line between hair metal and Miley Cyrus is blurrier than one might think.

Neither the crowd nor Kiss, though, was as loud as the frequent blasts of pyro. Those jolting booms often drowned out the band, which was victimized by a thin, mid-rangey mix in which Simmons' bass was barely audible at times. His grunting vocals were present on "Calling Dr. Love," but the bass felt muted.

Yes, Simmons, that self-absorbed huckster in real life and on reality TV, was muted. Maybe Kiss is making progress after all.