KISS memories

Here's a thread for people to list concerts or just general experiences
with the greatest band in the world: KISS!

Woo hoo, another KISS thread! Nice!

Anyway, I've seen KISS three times:
HOT IN THE SHADE tour in Nov. 1990 (last show of the tour at Madison Square Garden in NYC; Eric Carr died about a year later so it was also his last show, PERIOD)... Slaughter and Winger opened; Slaughter were god-awful, of course, but then I expected them to be. Winger were surprisingly good but KISS blew the roof off the joint.

REVENGE tour, Sept. or Oct. 1992 at the Meadowlands Arena in New Jersey... fantastic show, supporting what I felt was their strongest album in many years. Unfortunately the arena was only about 3/4 full for the gig, which depressed me somewhat considering we were in KISS' home turf!

Reunion Tour, July 96 at Madison Square Garden (again): third night of a four night stand... AMAZING show, one of the best I've ever witnessed. I never got to see the original foursome in their heyday so I felt like I was eight years old again. Oddly enough, I had seen so many KISS tribute bands/shows in the years prior to this gig that when I went to the reunion tour I dont' think it sank in that I was really seeing THEM until I heard Paul's voice ring out "HOW YOU DOIN' PEOPLE?" after the first song....

I've also been lucky enough to meet almost every member of KISS (past and present) over the years at KISS conventions, autograph signings, etc. (Yea, I used to go to KISS Conventions. I'm THAT much of a dork, haha.) with the exceptions of Eric Carr and Mark St. John. Ace was a jerk (I've told that story elsewhere on this board I think?), Eric Singer is a very cool guy (I have a picture of myself with Eric S. somewhere, if I find it I will scan & post it) and Peter Criss was also a very nice guy. Didnt' get to chat with Paul, Gene or Bruce at the signing I went to (it was a release party for the ALIVE III album at the Ritz in NYC, and there were so many people there that they just herded the line along like cattle, they signed whatever you put in front of'em and you were moved along without a chance to say anything), but I can confirm that yes, Gene really IS that tall in person, even without the monster boots.

Another one on KISS

I went out for Halloween in 1979 as Ace Frehley!!! My Mom had gotten my sister the Kiss make-up kit as one of her Birthday presents about a month before but she was afraid of them (she was 4 I was 51/2) so I inherited it and thought Ace was cool. I also remember getting up very early one morning to watch the guys on Donahue's talkshow. That was cool. Peace.


:gt:

My dad was drafted into the Kiss Army a couple of times against his will, when he was an old man.
The first time was in the late 70's. I had a long spell in the hospital, and my dad still had a drivers licence, but no car anymore. So the only way he and my mom could visit me was to drive my 1967 GTO (jacked up, huge tires, side-pipes, etc) about 20 miles to the hospital. My parents were both in their 60's at the time, with gray hair. The car had one Kiss and one Judas Priest bumpersticker on the back bumper. I think it was a little embarrasing for them to drive that thing, but a funny picture otherwise.
My dad got back into the Kiss Army when he was almost 90 years old. I had given my wife a monogrammed jacket with a big KISS ARMY patch on the back. Of course she never wore it, but my dad started wearing it (just because it was comfortable, he was oblivious to the Kiss patch). So now we have this little 90 year old man doing his shopping etc. wearing a KISS ARMY jacket. Another funny sight.

I'm only 27 -- so I got into Kiss during the Revenge era, and just figured I'd never get to see them in makeup.

But my parents are really, really cool, and when I was sixteen, they got tickets to the opening night of the reunion tour at Tiger Stadium in Detroit. My dad, brother and I went, and it was freakin' awesome!

Kiss has always been synonymous with "summer" for me, and I have so many summer memories tied together with Kiss, including concerts in 2003, 2004, and the "Hit & Run" show in Sault St. Marie last month, where they played "All American Man" for the very first time.

Also, when I was in high school, I had a little Kiss tribute band that I played in, and I had to do a school project on Michigan history, and our teacher let us come in wearing full makeup and play Detroit Rock City as our final project. We got an A!

My 1st and only time seeing KISS live was the 1996 Reunion Tour in Philadelphia. Very cool. I was transported back to 1977.

You're a lucky ass dude!

I've seen KISS quite a few times :

LICK IT UP Tour : At the old Stanley Theater in Pittsburgh (one of the last concerts there,if I remember correctly) with Accept opening (Balls to the Wall tour).Awesome show ,especially for a 14 year old long time KISS fan.Bought the tour book for this one and still have it.

ANIMALIZE Tour : Great show at the Civic (now Mellon) Arena in Pittsburgh with W.A.S.P. opening. The show was exactly like the video Animalize Live Uncensored. W.A.S.P. was spectacular.

ASYLUM Tour : This show was originally cancelled due to a Mellon Arena power failure (which Paul mentions on one of the 90s videos).They were supposed to have King Kobra in support. They came back at the end of the tour and had Kix open ! I was already a big fan of their's and this surprise was great !

CRAZY NIGHTS Tour : A Mellon Arena tour in the dead of winter with Ted Nugent opening. Another great show !

HOT IN THE SHADE Tour : One of the first shows at the new Starlake Amphitheatre with Little Caesar (anyone remember them ?) and Slaughter opening . Little Caesar was ten times better than Slaughter I thought. It poured down rain that night but I was under the roof (although my tourbook still got wet).

REVENGE Tour : Another great show at the Mellon Arena with Trixter and Faster Pussycat opening.Our show was close to a sell out.This show was pretty much like ALIVE III.

REUNION Tour : Talk about pumped ! I never got to see the original line-up live and they put on an awesome show.It was just phenomenal.The opening act was Econoline Crush . I don't remember anything about them except that the lead singer wore a Steelers jesrey on stage.

PSYCHO CIRCUS Tour : Another great show at Mellon Arena (notice a trend ? I'm a little biased). It was cool seeing them do newer tunes (Lick It Up,etc.) in the makeup. I can't even remember who the openig act was right now.

FAREWELL Tour : This show was at the Post Gazette Pavilion (formerly Starlake) on a beautiful warm evening. Skid Row and Ted Nugent opened. Skid Row was alright but wasn't quite the same without Sebastian Bach. Ted Nugent was awesome again. On a side note, I got headbutted by some drunk dude in Gene Simmons makeup who was quickly removed from the venue .

KISS/Aerosmith : Man was I bummed out with this one. My work kept me over a bit. Construction and a Steeler preseason game made traffic a nightmare and I arrived late,missing some of KISS' set (about 4 songs).To top it off,my freind was inside the Post Gazette Pavilion with our tickets. No problem, just call him on his cell phone and he'll hand them out to us.Well,my cell phone of course died. We could at least hear the music since it was an outdoor show. Fortunately,he new something was up,so he walked over to see if he could find us (which of course he did).We got in,watched the rest of the concert and had a great time. I'm not that big of an Aerosmith fan,but it was cool seeing them live and they kicked butt !



I was also able to go the the KISS Convention when it came here and got ALIVE III on blue vinyl and then autographed by Paul,Gene,Eric,and Bruce.That was cool !

I've also since seen Paul Stanley at the Palace Theater in Greensburg last year . The man still kicks butt. It was a great show in a small venue (sold out)

SAHB Healer wrote:

My dad was drafted into the Kiss Army a couple of times against his will, when he was an old man.
The first time was in the late 70's. I had a long spell in the hospital, and my dad still had a drivers licence, but no car anymore. So the only way he and my mom could visit me was to drive my 1967 GTO (jacked up, huge tires, side-pipes, etc) about 20 miles to the hospital. My parents were both in their 60's at the time, with gray hair. The car had one Kiss and one Judas Priest bumpersticker on the back bumper. I think it was a little embarrasing for them to drive that thing, but a funny picture otherwise.
My dad got back into the Kiss Army when he was almost 90 years old. I had given my wife a monogrammed jacket with a big KISS ARMY patch on the back. Of course she never wore it, but my dad started wearing it (just because it was comfortable, he was oblivious to the Kiss patch). So now we have this little 90 year old man doing his shopping etc. wearing a KISS ARMY jacket. Another funny sight.

That is awesome!!!

the sentinel wrote:

SAHB Healer wrote:

My dad was drafted into the Kiss Army a couple of times against his will, when he was an old man.
The first time was in the late 70's. I had a long spell in the hospital, and my dad still had a drivers licence, but no car anymore. So the only way he and my mom could visit me was to drive my 1967 GTO (jacked up, huge tires, side-pipes, etc) about 20 miles to the hospital. My parents were both in their 60's at the time, with gray hair. The car had one Kiss and one Judas Priest bumpersticker on the back bumper. I think it was a little embarrasing for them to drive that thing, but a funny picture otherwise.
My dad got back into the Kiss Army when he was almost 90 years old. I had given my wife a monogrammed jacket with a big KISS ARMY patch on the back. Of course she never wore it, but my dad started wearing it (just because it was comfortable, he was oblivious to the Kiss patch). So now we have this little 90 year old man doing his shopping etc. wearing a KISS ARMY jacket. Another funny sight.

That is awesome!!!

Hey 007 you are a lucky guy...

007 just give me one of your tour experiences...transfer them to my brain and we'll be good.. lucky dude. :-)

Gimme all this dude! I mean! You're a lucky ass! How was Eric on the drum on the Hot In The Tour?

AceFrehley655 wrote:

Gimme all this dude! I mean! You're a lucky ass! How was Eric on the drum on the Hot In The Tour?

I'm not 007 but I can answer this cuz I also saw the HOT IN THE SHADE tour... Eric Carr was a f**king AMAZING drummer... this was the only show I've ever been to where the drum solo was NOT my cue to hit the men's room or snack bar.... he was beyond awesome!!

He was with is big drum no?

This past Saturday, I was supposed to go a friend's costume party. My friends and I were gonna go to another friend's party first, and then cab to the costume party. I dressed as a hardcore KISS fan (not much of a costume, I suppose). I painted my face as Gene, wore one of my KISS shirts, and wore my new personally-made concert denim vest. It's real old school, patches galore, awesome faded colour, frays everywhere, and I'm getting a custom made giant Painkiller patch to the put on the back. Anyway, none of my other friends had a costume in time, so when we went to the first party, I was the only person dressed up. Because of cap problems, we ended up staying at the first party. So, I spent the entire night at a party in Gene Simmons makeup. It was hilarious. What was really funny was that people got used to it, and I was having normal conversations with everyone. Imagine seeing that. One girl told me it looked sexy. I guess there's a certain power to the makeup. Ironic.

i cant wait to go see Kiss in exactly 30 days time as from today

I went to see King's X on the "gretchen tour" at a club in Santa Anna, Calif. I saw some friends from Vengeance / Die Happy- Roger Dale, Dave from Neon Cross, and Robbie from Holy Soldier / HERO. But back in the corner was a very laid back and down to earth...Eric Carr. He was sitting with Marc Ferrari of Keel. Marc recalled me from a prior meeting when he was with Darrell "A" back in Arlington, Tx. a while back when Pantera was "still" looking for a vocalist to replace the dismissed Terry Glaze. I was filling in temp. for a band called Sweet Savage.
A lil more than a year later, I was playing in a KISS tribute band and got to meet KISS at a Konvention and Eirc gave me some advice with my technique. He recalled our meeting at the king's x show and it showed me something about the man. Not that he remembered me, but that he actually gave a crap and cared about fans.

My favorite KISS concert memory was the Reunion tour - Hampton Coliseum (Hamtpton, VA near VA Beach & Norfolk, VA for those that don't live on the east coast)

Don't remember who opened, but the show was awesome - KISS at their prime. They sounded better than ever! They had been touring for a while already and were tight. One of my dreams came true - to see the orignial member of KISS in make up - 1977 all over!!!

Best personal memory was the KISS/Aerosmith tour - I didn't think I would be able to go, but it was on my birthday, I opened up my present and it tickets to see KISS!!!!! That rocked (My wife rocks, she also suprised me with tickets to King's X at JAXX one year)