KISS Keeps Up the Antics as Tour Fades

KISS them goodbye.

Rock’s most cartoonish band ever is calling it quits--as a touring entity anyway--and not a minute too soon, given a couple of Spinal Tap-worthy moments in the quartet’s stop Saturday at the Arrowhead Pond.

First, lead singer Paul Stanley was let down--literally and figuratively--by a crane that was supposed to let him soar above the crowd. And following the house-shaking final encore rendition of their zeitgeist hit “Rock and Roll All Nite,� a sign behind the stage flashed “KISS Thanks You Los Angeles!� to those exiting the Anaheim arena.

The glitches lightly dampened what could have been an energetic and bedazzling farewell to the group that raised rock-as-pyrotechnic spectacle to its 6-inch platform-heeled pinnacle in the ‘70s.

Could have, that is, had the 2 1/4-hour show run 30 to 40 minutes shorter and substituted a few of the more musically bountiful numbers from KISS’ extensive repertoire for all the grinding chest-thumpers that cast a monotonous tint over the second half.

Although KISS has been rendered nostalgically cute by the far more shocking likes of Marilyn Manson, Stanley, bassist Gene Simmons and drummer Peter Criss appeared to relish every minute of reinhabiting the colorful sci-fi rock-star personas they created almost three decades ago and resuscitated in 1996. Only guitarist Ace Frehley betrayed any hint of awareness of the ultimate silliness of four men at or nearing 50 dressing up for trick-or-treating on a nightly basis.

Here’s hoping somebody fixes the crane and makes the send-off tote board read “Devore� when the tour returns to the Southland one last time in June at the Blockbuster Pavilion.

Motor City Madman Ted Nugent, who preceded KISS, remains one of the marvels of rock music for a 30-year career built on songs--with the exception of his catchy hit “Cat Scratch Fever�--utterly lacking in rhythmic pulse, chordal progression, harmonic development or melodic direction.

New Skid Row front man John Solinger came off as a likable graduate cum loud of the Diamond Dave School of Hard Rock Singers as he led the reconstituted ‘90s metal band through a mercifully brief opening set.

* KISS, Ted Nugent and Skid Row play June 3 at Blockbuster Pavilion, 2575 Glen Helen Parkway, Devore. 6 p.m. $26.50-$83.50. (909) 886-8742.