Retroview- Queensryche/ Kiss @ Cobo Arena in Detroit, MI on December 8, 1984

Retroview- Queensryche/ Kiss @ Cobo Arena in Detroit, MI on December 8, 1984

This is something that I have toyed with doing for a while now. Retro reviews of shows that I went to in the past...and what better place to start than the very beginning? My first concert, age 11. No, I have no idea why my Mom thought that letting me go to a concert with my older brother and his burnout friends was a good idea. Notice how the ticket says Cobo Theatre rather than Arena? That is because they used to do what were called “half set-ups” for bands that couldn't fill out 12,000 seats. By the time the show came around our seats, which were supposed to be the first section in lower bowl, were actually three sections back from the stage. That was because Cobo didn't allow the half set up to sell out, they just kept adding more seats as they sold, from the middle to the front. The place was pretty close to being sold out as a full size arena. Cobo Arena is gone, knocked down within the past few years in order to expand convention center space at Cobo Hall.

Little did I know at the time, but this show was taped for a MTV special and was later released as the Animalize Live Uncensored home video, which I have on VHS somewhere. It is pretty cool that my very first concert was documented so well for posterity. What was amazing to me as an 11 year old was Kiss hamming it up big time for the camera when I watched it years later as an adult.

Back in 1984 the smell of cigarette smoke, pot, and beer was like incense for the concertgoing set, a matter of fact of the experience. Going to concerts in today's politically correct world makes it feels like something is missing...namely the contact buzz that was free with every ticket purchase. This ticket cost a whopping $12.00, or $27.42 in today's dollars. Makes those arena concert ticket prices of today seem a bit inflated, eh?

I did buy a shirt at the show, which I think cost $14 at that time but can't remember for sure. This was a weird one, a sort of elbow length football sleeve cut. I haven't seen another one of these at the concerts that I went to over the years. Most of them were the ones with the same design but short white sleeves. I still own the shirt to this day. 

The opening band was some nobody named Queensryche. They of course went on to become a fairly popular band toward the end of the decade, but this was their first major tour. Then Kiss came on and blew my 11 year old mind. I don't remember much about the show other than that I loved it. The live Rock and Roll experience was my first step into a much larger world. I could not believe how loud it was. I had never heard music that loud in my entire life. I remember the lighting truss coming down to the stage and the band (minus Eric Carr) going up to the top of the building playing Black Diamond.

Setlist:

Detroit Rock City

Cold Gin

Creatures Of The Night

Fits Like A Glove

Heaven's On Fire

Thrills In The Night

Guitar solo

Under The Gun

War Machine

Drum solo

Young And Wasted

Bass solo

I Love It Loud

I Still Love You

Love Gun

Lick It Up

Black Diamond

encore

Rock And Roll All Nite

The beginning...