- Tommy

(AP Photo/State Department, Anne Lyons)

FOX News.com/Associated Press

STOCKHOLM — Condoleezza Rice may be a top diplomat who once aspired to being a concert pianist but she let her hair down a bit in Stockholm to meet the flamboyant rock group KISS.

"I was thrilled," a beaming U.S. Secretary of State told reporters Friday after meeting lead singer Gene Simmons and his three band members at the waterfront Sheraton Hotel in the Swedish capital on Thursday night.

"For someone who likes the whole range of music, it was really fun to meet KISS and Gene Simmons," Rice said on the plane taking her from a conference on Iraq in Stockholm to talks with Iceland's leaders in Reykjavik.

The gathering was held in an executive lounge at the hotel after the band, which is on a European concert tour, contacted the US delegation who were in Stockholm for the Iraq Compact Review Conference, US officials said.

Her aides showed reporters digital photographs of Rice smiling and chatting to the long-haired band members who were dressed casually rather than in their flamboyant stage costumes of black leather and painted faces.

They wore slacks, open-necked shirts and jackets. Rice, who had just returned from a dinner with Swedish Foreign Minister Carl Bildt, appeared in her usual business attire.

Simmons and the other band members — Paul Stanley, Eric Singer and Tommy Thayer — autographed for her a glossy concert photograph of them on stage and gave band T-shirts to Rice's aides.

Rice said she had never seen KISS perform but she had been to four rock concerts in her life.

The first was when she was 10 years old and she saw Paul Revere and The Raiders in her native Alabama and the second was when she was 16 years old and went on her first date with an Air Force cadet to see Smokey Robinson.

She later saw Earth Wind and Fire and U2 in concert.

Over 1000 members of the Swedish KISS Army came out for Tommy & Eric's Stockholm In-store appearance yesterday. The guys signed autographs and posed for photos for over 2 hours at the 4 Sound Music Store.

CLICK HERE to view a TV clip on the Stockholm in-store appearance.

Poster & Pick Pack

Personally Autographed TOMMY THAYER
42 X 60 cm Signature Series Color Poster

TOMMY THAYER Custom Guitar Pick Assortment
Black, White & Gradient from KISS ALIVE 35 Tour

The photo & pick packs will only be available for a limited time.
Please allow 3 to 4 weeks delivery.

BLISTERING 2 HOUR + SHOW!

WOW! What a way to open their Alive 35 European Tour! KISS just destroyed Oberhausen Arena with a blistering 2 hour and 17 minute set that featured the complete ALIVE album and a six song encore! From the opening of "Deuce" to the ending of "Detroit Rock City", KISS grabbed the audience by the throat and never let go.

The band's performance was a true team effort and everyone was on top of their game! Paul danced, pranced and belted out vocals like it was 1975. Gene was, to put it simply, the DEMON - menacing on both bass and vocals. Eric pounded the drums, sang lead on "Nothin' To Lose" & "Black Diamond" and also sang along with Gene on several other songs. Tommy blazed his way through lead after lead, as well as an awesome solo complete with rocket shooting special effects.

KISS is always powerful and energetic, but tonight they some how turned it up a notch! And to think, this was just the first show..can't wait for Munich!

SET LIST IN ORDER:

Deuce
Strutter
Got To Choose
Hotter Than Hell
Firehouse
Nothin' To Lose (Eric lead vocals)
C'Mon And Love Me
Parasite
She
Watchin' You
Rock Bottom
100,000 Years
Cold Gin
Let Me Go Rock 'N' Roll
Black Diamond (Eric lead vocals)
Rock And Roll All Nite

Encore:

Shout It Out Loud
Lick It Up
I Love It Loud (Gene split blood and flew to rafters)
I Was Made For Lovin' You
Love Gun (Paul flew to back of arena)
Detroit Rock City

Hughes & Kettner proudly announces the launch of the 'Tommy Thayer Signature Edition' DuoTone Head.

Hughes & Kettner has collaborated closely with Tommy Thayer (guitarist with the rock giants KISS), to bring out a signature version of its classic tube amp the DuoTone Head.

The release of the Tommy Thayer Signature Edition DuoTone coincides with the launch of the highly anticipated KISS Alive 35 World Tour that kicks off in Melbourne, Australia on March 16th, and extends to sold-out concerts in Europe and the UK throughout May and June this year.

This signature version - the 'Tommy Thayer Signature Edition DuoTone' - replaces the current amp and includes very specifically a customized illuminated front plate bearing both Tommy's signature and also his own mask emblem.

Also included with the amp is a certificate of authenticity personally signed and numbered by Tommy, and a Tommy Thayer Signature Duotone poster.

In addition, the amp covering is a very special Hughes & Kettner 'signature edition tolex' giving it a very unique look, and with an optional 412 cabinet to match!

Last but not least, the amp is set up and biased exactly how Tommy likes it – and you will never find out what that is until you play one! Needless to say, the gut-wrenching tone you would expect is all there, and much, much more!

There is one more thing.

Tommy has very kindly decided to donate all his royalties earned from sales of the amp to The Childrens Hospital Los Angeles. This is a wonderful gesture from Tommy, which we are very proud and happy to carry out on his behalf.

(Children's Hospital Los Angeles was founded in 1901 and has been treating the most seriously ill and injured children in the Greater Los Angeles area for more than a century. It is acknowledged throughout the United States and around the world for its leadership in pediatric and adolescent health care).

The Tommy Thayer Signature Edition Duotone is launched on the Hughes & Kettner booth in Halle 4.2 during the Frankfurt Messe, and will then be available from selected stores around the world from May 2008 onwards.

For further details of this and all our products, please visit our booth during the Frankfurt Messe, or go on line to www.hughes-and-kettner.com for further information.

Here's a close-up look at the Tommy Thayer Signature Edition DuoTone amplifier by Hughes & Kettner.

(AP Photos/Rob Griffith)

About 50,000 people saw the rockers' first outdoor show in Melbourne since playing Waverley Park in 1980.

Many race-goers missed Lewis Hamilton's win to get the best seats for the concert, which started at 7pm.

Local singer Vanessa Amorosi warmed up the crowd.

Kiss frontman Paul Stanley said the band chose Melbourne to kick off their 35th anniversary tour because the city had greeted the band with "open arms and open legs".

After a quiet performance on Channel 9's Footy Show, the volume was well and truly turned up at Albert Park.

The show hasn't changed much since 1980 - a few new members and extra kilos but the same feel-good hit-fest.

While the schtick remains the same, there's a legion of new young fans who've never seen Gene Simmons spitting blood for God of Thunder or Stanley flying across the adoring crowd for Love Gun.

Total fire bans don't apply to rock bands, with an arsenal of pyrotechnics adding to the spectacle.

Stanley threw in an acoustic version of Australian-only hit Shandi before a finale that included rock anthem I Was Made for Loving You.

Anyone with a race ticket could watch the concert, but blow-ins paid $200 for a front-section seat.