A KISS concert unlocks the secret to never aging

Picture this.

You're pressed in the middle of a crowd of people, the swarm slowly moving into a stadium that fits more than 20,000 sweaty bodies.

Stuck to your left, there's a guy aged in his mid-70s with a ripped Gene Simmons singlet and a ponytail he's been growing for 10 years.

To your right, a woman with a studded leather jacket, who'd taken two flights and a train to get there, just to catch one last glimpse of the "rock'n'roll gods".

As a 22-year-old, sandwiched between people my grandparent's age on a Friday night, I realised the secret to eternal youth: being a hardcore rock 'n' roll fan.

Music legends KISS dropped into Sydney last weekend for their End of the Road tour, a final string of shows marking almost 50 years since they first took the stage in the 1970s.

Thousands of fans packed themselves into a stadium at Sydney Olympic Park, faces painted monochrome, beers escaping cups raised sky-high, waiting to re-live a dream from their teens. When the curtains lifted and KISS appeared, I realised the only thing that might be better at warding off aging was the glory of being a rockstar yourself.

At the age of 73, Gene Simmons appeared like some kind of demon. Tongue unfurling, he stomped around the stage in seven-inch platform boots and bat wings, sending spit flying into the crowd every time he opened his mouth.

There was fire, explosions, fake blood, manic screaming, and even a whole cake thrown haphazardly into the crowd. At one point, Paul Stanley (impossibly ripped for a 70-year-old) threw his guitar behind his head to play a backwards solo, before soaring above the crowd on a harness like an avenging angel.

With full war paint on, they were untouchable, and the crowd was with them every step of the way.

When I first got my P-plates in high school, I had a Rock Anthems CD in my car, left in the glove box by my Dad. I remember blasting track three - KISS's 'Rock and Roll All Nite' - on the way home from school, feeling the possibility of a night, a summer, an entire life stretch out before me.

Watching four 70-year-olds dressed in the same leather and face paint they donned almost fifty years ago, I think every person in the crowd was right there, in that stretch of possibility, belting out an anthem and sloshing beer all over the floor.

So, if you're looking for a miracle anti-aging cream, here's my advice: bypass the chemist and grab a copy of an old rock 'n' roll CD.

It seems to work wonders...

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