Listened in full this afternoon.  Initial reaction:  solid, good takes of the songs, energetic performance,  As a whole, flows well and represents the 1976 era well.

The Good:

Paul does not say anything cringey or stupid, which is amazing given his penchant for onstage banter that makes you want to hide in a hole until it’s over.  (Remember when they found Saddaam? He wasn’t hiding from the US military, ya know.) Maybe Kramer edited this stuff out.

All the vocals are strong.  No Ace, of course, and only one Peter…the rest is Gene and Paul. Peter sounds great on “Black Diamond.” Paul at his best had the strongest voice in the band, and Gene’s voice has always been effective [though perhaps character-driven], but for the best straight, pure rock-n-roll voice in the band, an argument could certainly be made that Peter fit that bill.

Ace does bits of recognizable noodling in his solo, and as you listen you can hear the framework for the subsequent and longstanding “Shock Me” extended solos.

The song structures and solos remain true to the original versions on record.  Granted, this was 1976 so they hadn’t had much time to muck around with this material, but it’s good to hear no mucking given the sloppy nonsense that sometimes crept in over the early- and mid-80s.  In terms of recent live material from KISS, the “Soundboard” recording from Poughkeepsie 1984 was awful, but this album shows what a KISS concert should actually sound like. (I will be reviewing the Poughkeepsie recording as soon as I can stomach listening to the whole thing again. Stay tuned.)

Highlights:  “Let Me Go, Rock ‘n Roll,” Ace’s lead in “Hotter Than Hell,” “Black Diamond.”

Great cover. Destroyer+.

Historical Note:  The band intro for this show was a pre-“You Wanted The Best” intro (one-time courtesy of Flo & Eddie).

Note: Sorry, I cannot use the word “KISStorical” above. That “KISStory” play on words has been played out. I will be perfectly fine if I never again hear the word “KISSmas,” either.

The Bad:

For all the bitching and moaning that Gene has done over the years about Peter and Ace fucking up songs, I rarely hear that, but I do hear Gene screw up on a pretty regular basis going over the entirety of the KISS career.  He flubs timing (when to come in), bass notes, lyrics, etc., which is all fine, but dude, don’t say everyone else is flubbing stuff if you are the God of Flubber.  On this record, Gene flubs lyrics in “Nothin’ To Lose,” then comes in too early on “Cold Gin.”  Neither is a deal-breaker, though.

I could be wrong, but Ace sorta misses a note in the first section of the “Detroit Rock City” lead, where Paul follows him on the second part.  Very slight, though.

A Peter Criss drum solo…on a 2026 release?  Not a fan of this idea. BUT…in keeping with the historical documentation of this concert, I am giving it a pass. Why?

Station Identification Break: Now, for a Quick Note on Drum Solos and other solos and visuals required for the proper appreciation of a KISS concert recording:

There are drum solos…other solos…or interludes of music when the listener knows something is happening onstage but can’t see it.  KISS fans are familiar with this phenomenon, where sound requires sight. These examples illustrate how things have changed over the decades.

The spitting of blood during “God of Thunder” is an obvious example.  Way back when, the audience would hear Gene doing the bendy and effect-saturated single bass notes and they would see Gene do the blood-sitting act. The sound paired perfectly with the sight. But on record, even with the creepy bass notes, the “bass solo” doesn’t really come across as strongly as it should because we know he is doing the blood-spitting, but we can’t see it. On the flip-side, however, perhaps in some way it does convey, because even though we can’t see Gene spitting blood, we know that he’s spitting blood.  At least the older fans know. I am not sure which side of this fence I am on.

Of historical note, the blood-splitting section on Alive II was removed, so the creepy notes we hear at the beginning of “God of Thunder” are from the tail-end of the “bass solo,” after “Beth,” as it segues into the song. [“Beth” > (removed blood-spitting section) > end notes, into “God of Thunder.”]

And the term “bass solo” on a KISS record? I believe I am correct that in the KISS lexicon, “Bass Solo” is synonymous with, “Gene hits eerie bass notes like he’s working the haunted house at an October grand opening of a new Home Depot, during which he will spew a red liquid approximating blood”?  I mean, that is his “solo,” right? Do newer listener’s generally know this?

But to the key point here, the drum solos…I am torn on these. Necessary evil? Or just evil?

On the one side, you gotta be there at the concert to truly experience and appreciate them, and by “there” I mean “in an arena a long time ago.”  I joyfully listened to numerous Neil Peart drum solos over the years, fantastic all, but except for a few other drummers (Danny Carey from Tool, perhaps), there are not a lot of drummers I want to hear playing a solo.  It is indulgent and largely a waste of time.  I can remember concerts at the Capital Centre in Landover [Largo! – Ed.], MD, when a drum solo started…didn’t matter what band it was…and that was the cue for people to head for the bathrooms and beer stands.  I would go so far as to say, even back then, no one really wanted to hear a 10-minute drum solo, which to the untrained ear (and maybe even to the trained ear) is just some dude banging the shit out of his kit for a little while.  I don’t know that any band’s fan-base’s collective sensibilities really demand such a thing.  Ever.

Counterpoint: Back then we didn’t know yet that we didn’t need/want/like drum solos. “Hey, that drum solo was awesome! I loved it! But I am not sure why!”

But the larger point is, these solos and music breaks and such had a time and a place and those times and places are typically in the past, but in an historical context, maybe the Peter Criss drum solo on this release is worthwhile and necessary. I’m not sure I’d feel the same way about other live recordings released in the general time frame of 2026, but on this one, I’ll allow it.

The Ugly:

Nothing ugly here, thank God (of Thunder).

To close, if I could go back and see KISS in any year I think it would be 1976, when they were still raw and hungry, but before the 1977-78 bloat settled in (though I’d take 1977, too, in a pinch). “KISS Destroys Anaheim ’76” captures the excitement of the live KISS shows back then and definitely reminds us of how great they could be in a live setting.

The Roasted Notes Rating:  4.8 stars.  (Yes, I am adding more decimals…4.5 just didn’t feel right.)