We are now to a set of shows that were all done within a month of each other. These three disc were included in the John Humphrey Collection I bought last year at an auction where I got my hands on 38 Bootleg CDs from his personal collection. Oh, if you don’t know who John Humphrey is, you need to know he is a massive Kiss collector. And he is the drummer of the band Seether. John decided to sell off his entire collection…sort of…he kept all the vinyl (like 4,000 of them). He did it through an auction at Backstage Auctions and I had to have a piece of it…which I did.
We are going in chronological order for these three shows, so last time we did ‘Unnecessary Evil: Anaheim Stadium August 20, 1976’. Then it was ‘The Spirit of ’76: Richfield Coliseum, September 3, 1976’. We are now to the final of the 3 shows from the Destroyer Tour. This one is called ‘Flaming Years’ and it was recorded on September 6, 1976 in Toronto Canada at Varsity Stadium. This bootleg was released in 1994 by Backstage and it was released in Italy. The CD was purchased on March 27, 1995 as the receipt was still in the CD and John paid $29.25 for it which I imagine that was a lot back in the day.
Like the Cleveland show, this is another soundboard recording, but the sound is little more clear as it seems to breathe a little better. Paul is still as loud, but the crowd is very faint. There are some interesting moments here as “Rock and Roll All Nite” does cutout midway through and goes right into “Deuce” which is already in-progress. And during the intro to “Black Diamond,” Ace Frehley is apparently calling someone an “asshole.” I wonder what that was about.
The show stsarts with the annoucer screamning “Alright Toronto, You Wanted the Best and You Got the Best…KISS”. This was louder then when the band actually starts playing “Detroit Rock City”. Paul’s vocals are quite loud in the mix so you hear all his flaws (which aren’t many at this time in their career. Everything else isn’t quite as loud as Paul, but it is clear. Peter is keeping great time, Ace’s is playing is outstanding and the bass is laying the groove. A great performance. It is definitely a soundboard recording. It ends with a car crash as it should be and then it is “King of the Night Time World”. Gene roars in the backing vocals on the Chorus and Paul is still really loud and Ace is still killing it, so is Peter.
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2 Loud 2 Old Music 