Review & photos by Andrew Bansal
December 20th 2014, Bombay Bar & Grill, Ventura CA: Keeping up their annual tradition of Christmas-themed KISS tribute shows, Kissmas played a hefty set of KISS classics in front of a sizable turnout at Ventura’s Bombay Bar And Grill last Saturday. Featuring in its ranks a quartet of excellent Ventura-based musicians, Kissmas includes Night Demon frontman Jarvis Leatherby in the role of Gene Simmons, and the prospects of a Kisstacular evening were indeed exciting for the local Ventura weekend bar crowd.
Heavily decorated with Christmas lights galore, the main stage at Bombay was in readiness, and at 11 PM, the band stepped on it to begin proceedings. The combination of KISS facial makeup and boots and Santa/Christmas based costumes came across as a hilariously unique scene and certainly sets Kissmas apart from all other KISS tribute bands. Aptly starting off the set with ‘Detroit Rock City’, Kissmas went on to present a good chunk of the KISS repertoire over the next 90 minutes. Just like a typical KISS show, the set allowed all four members their moment in the spotlight and gave each of them equal chance to shine through with their musicianship and stage presence.
The set comprised a solid selection of the hits as well as a few deeper cuts, and most pleasantly surprising of them all was the inclusion of I Was Made For Lovin’ You, representing KISS’ disco era which most tribute bands tend to skip because of its controversial standing among fans. I’ve never hidden from the fact I thoroughly enjoy that song, and sang my heart out for every word during Kissmas’ excellent rendition of it. Musically, visually and otherwise, the roles of Paul Stanley, Peter Criss, Ace Frehley and Gene Simmons were performed to perfection by members of Kissmas. Those familiar with Night Demon might well have likened Jarvis Leatherby’s on-stage persona in that band to that of Gene Simmons at least to some extent, and it becomes even more clear upon witnessing the manner in which he revels in the Gene Simmons role.
All in all, it was an evening of boundless entertainment for KISS fans and casual Bombay-goers alike, and one hopes for the Kissmas tradition to continue on for many years to come.
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Set List:
01. Detroit Rock City
02. Strutter
03. Deuce
04. Parasite
05. C’mon & Love Me
06. I Stole Your Love
07. Cold Gin
08. Shock Me
09. Love Gun
10. She
11. God Of Thunder
12. Beth
13. I Was Made For Loving You
14. Shout It Out Loud
15. 100,000 Years
16. Black Diamond
17. Rock ‘N Roll All Night