Every mother's (and father's) nightmare...

(You see, these shows took place right around Mother's Day that year... and it seemed rather out-of-the-box to not only give my Mom a gift that she would likely never forget, but it also seemed like an opportunity for her to peek into my world for a couple of hours, in which she could perhaps see... if not quite understand... what's had such a hold over her daughter for so long.)

So we went. Mom and me! She was actually quite happy to go, and she even wore a KISS t-shirt to the show. Hilariously, as we headed to Rosemont, what seemed to excite her about the show wasn't that she would get to experience KISS's live spectacle with her daughter... but that she might smell marijuana in the air at the concert. Because, you know, she had heard that kind of thing went on at these shows sometimes, and she'd never smelled it before..!

We went to the arena and picked up our tickets and passes. Mom was very excited to get to go backstage & see what was going on there, though she saw that the backstage area is much more functional than it is glamorous. We ran into Tommy & talked to him for a few minutes (this was before he was IN the band!) and he seemed a little amused I'd brought my mom to the show..! (But hey, why not?)

We headed to our seats... KISS hit the stage... and the show was loud and fun and riotous, as it had been the previous night. Since Ace and Peter were still in the band at this point, Peter was singing "Beth" during the encore.

And, inevitably, there are always a few fans who will interpret hearing the strains of "Beth" pumping through the PA as an excuse to light up.

So Peter launches into "Beth"... lighters are raised into the air (that's how you know this was almost a decade ago -- today, it's cell phones!) and about a minute later, I said... "Mom... you smell that?"

"Oh... that's it?"

"Yes."

I don't know exactly what my mom's full impression of the show was that night. She sang along to many of the songs that she knew, we had a great, memorable night together... but if you ask her about going to that KISS concert, even now, nine years later, she brings up the fact that she smelled pot in the air.

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A couple of days later, my dad called me from work. Some guys he worked with had been at the Rosemont KISS shows too, and they had been excitedly sharing details of the concert in the office. I love my Dad dearly, as daughters do, and I'll never forget the sweet way that he told me how much fun the concert sounded, and if he had known I had extra tickets or needed someone to go with... he would have liked to go too.

Well! How could I not take my dad to the next show? I was thrilled, actually -- now I'd get to share a concert with each of my parents. And on September 5th of the same year, KISS rocked back into the area with a concert at the Rockford MetroCentre. Dad and I went together (like my mom, he was happy to wear a KISS t-shirt to the show too!)

When I went to will call to pick up our tickets and passes, I was thrilled to see that I had a pair of tickets in the front row, right in the center. Are there any better seats than those? We were going to have a memorable night!

My dad is an electronics engineer and very knowledgeable in all things technical, and I loved watching him check out all of the many effects, crew, and behind-the-scenes efforts that go into KISS's enormous stage show each night. KISS took the stage and blew everyone away, as they always do.

And on this night, when Peter came out to sing "Beth," he was sitting immediately in front of us. He sang, the audience swayed and sang too -- and he handed me one of his roses at the end of the song. It was a fantastic night (though, again, I can't say I've ever had a -bad- night at a KISS show.) My Dad enjoyed it all, and I think he may have understood just a bit what I feel and see and love about seeing this band live.

After the show, I did get good-naturedly chastised a bit though by someone in the KISS camp... who pointed out that when pretty girls receive front-row tickets, it's kind of assumed they'll bring other pretty girls with them to stand in front.

Instead, it was me and my Dad. And I wouldn't have had it any other way.