Well, we can always count on Kiss fans to disagree, can't we?
(DISCLOSURE: I was at the recording of Alive II at the Forum in Inglewood CA., when I was 13. Have also seen the Colorado stops of the "Reunion Tour" and the "Farewell Tour".)
Seems to me that some of the other reviewers here were watching some other performance. One disses Peter Criss -- and Ringo Starr, in the same breath -- by calling them "mediocre gimp(s)"? Please. We who have a clue are *extremely* tired of seeing every drummer in the world who is not Neil Peart, John Bonham or Keith Moon being punished for not being one of them.
Never mind that I have never seen or heard an actual drummer administer this abuse... forgive me, but I believe that in order to validly criticize any musical performance, you should have a closer connection to it than does the average NASCAR fan yelling at his TV while his '73 Vega rusts in the yard. Do you really think you know how it can be done better? Go ahead, give it a try -- and try not to cry while soaking your aching wrists in ice water after the gig, assuming you get through it at all. So unless your name is Stuart Copeland, shaddup already.
Another one who obviously has not done his/her research calls Tommy Thayer a "club guitarist". Right -- Tommy's credentials are shown well in another comment. As for Ace, here's a news flash: he's a drunk. Has been, probably still is, and that's at least a large part of why they didn't want him back. (Here in Denver on the "Farewell Tour", Ace was buzzing frets and stumbling around the stage fit to attract a cop -- seen and heard with my own eyes and ears.)
Tommy Thayer, in this performance, resurrected one of my favorite tunes: "Let Me Go Rock and Roll". Kiss hadn't performed that song for twenty years or so. Why did Tommy make that happen? Because Paul and Gene could trust him to do it right. Ace barely made it through "Rock and Roll All Night" his last time through Denver, and it was obvious he wanted to get off the stage and the tour.
Tommy re-taught Ace his own chops for the Reunion Tour in '96. Then a couple of tours later Tommy went out and out-performed Ace at his own game. We should punish Tommy for this? To hell with that, I'm with the sign in the Melbourne audience: "Tommy Rocks!"