Kiss News

written by Rustyn Rose / http://idscene.com

Last night, July 7, KISS kicked off their Freedom to Rock Tour in Boise, Idaho at Taco Bell Arena, after a July 4^th pre-tour tune-up in Tucson, Arizona. It is the band�s first appearance in Idaho in some 15 years or so, if memory serves. It will likely be the last time they play Idaho at this point in their legendary career so seeing a packed house leaves hope for one more return.

For those who have never had the experience of seeing KISS perform live, in person, Thursday night�s show provided a grand view into the spectacle and awe the band has cultivated in over four decades of performing. Thousands of bands owe much to KISS in terms of what it means to be live performers. Even at this point in their iconic careers; Gene Simmons, Paul Stanley, Eric Singer, and Tommy Thayer remain an explosive force, and Boise got the full bombast performance to prove it.

As the curtain dropped, KISS opened with no small amount of pyrotechnics, smoke, and explosions to �Detroit Rock City�. The crowd were quickly out of their seats and thousands of cellphones attempted to record the first song. They quickly moved into another classic from their 1974 self-titled debut, performing longtime show opener, �Deuce�. Fortunately the cellphone recordings died down substantially during the second song.

Guitarist/vocalist Paul Stanley took a moment as the band�s primary frontman to get the crowd engaged by splitting the arena down the center to see who could yell the loudest. This led into �Shout it Out Loud�. The stage set this tour used a large amount of video panels including strips above the stage in the lighting rig. It gave the set a larger than life feel. The words shout it out loud scrolled across the air above them.

Next KISS moved to their 1982 album, Creatures of the Night to perform the cover track and �War Machine�. The latter concluded with bassist/vocalist Gene Simmons traditional fire-breathing display. Paul then announced a treat for Boise: The band would play a song KISS had rarely performed live, from the 1976 Destroyer album. True to his word, they broke into �Flaming Youth�. For a diehard, life-long fan, this became the highlight of the show�a true rarity. Outside of Europe and Australia in the 80s, KISS has seldom performed the song live since the initial tour for that record. Selfishly, Boise fans hope it is the only night it gets played on this tour. Okay, at least this fan.

The rest of the 20 song set rolled out in typical KISS form. After tearing up the sinister anthem, �Psycho Circus�, the band rolled out hits like �Strutter�, �Cold Gin�, �Calling Dr. Love�, and �Shock Me�. The latter featured lead guitarist Tommy Thayer on vocals and concluded with a guitar solo replete with rockets shooting from the headstock of his Les Paul. Sadly the KISS tradition of the smoking guitar did not occur. I can only assume that original KISS guitarist Ace Frehley has that little gimmick personally trademarked.

Simmons presaged �I Love it Loud� with his ominous bass solo and blood-spitting routine, followed by his flying up into the lighting rig to sing the song in a cloud of swirling smoke. KISS went back to their debut album to play �100,000 Years�. It did not include (nor did the show) the usual drum solo that generally accompanies the song.

From the post make-up era, KISS kicked out �Lick it Up� with a mid-song instrumental refrain from The Who�s �Baba O�Reilly�. Lasers lit the arena during this track while a center stage section rose about 10 feet or so into the air with Tommy and Paul on it, and the drum-kit also rose 20-some feet into the air. Stanley, as he has done for years now, then rode a cable and stir-up across the crowd out to a circular mini-stage behind the soundboard to perform �Lovegun�. Paul strutted and pranced as the stage rotated in circles allowing him to see the fans in the upper seats and the back of the arena. He then began the intro to �Black Diamond� and rode back to the stage while the band cranked up the full song. Drummer Eric Singer took vocals on this one after Paul�s intro. In a melee of pyro, lasers, flashing lights and explosions, and Singer�s drums once again in the air, the band brought the set to a close.

Of course the show did not end there. It never does with KISS. The band returned to the stage after a brief interlude for their encores. They came forward to take their bow, before playing a guitar-driven performance of the ballad �Beth� with Eric on vocals. Paul then talked to the crowd about the Freedom to Rock tour and honoring the men and women of the military as well as their families. He brought local military color guards on stage and asked the crowd to recite the Pledge of Allegiance with them. The band then did an instrumental version of �The Star-Spangled Banner�.

Everything came to a raucous close as KISS performed their monster classic, �Rock and Roll All Nite�. This became the kitchen sink performance of the night visually: Confetti cannons and smoke funnels, lasers and rolling lights, firework pinwheels and explosions, fire balls and paper streamers. Tommy and Gene were lifted from the stage on risers that crossed out over the crowd. Eric and his kit once again rose into the rafters. Paul, still on stage, went through his trademark guitar smashing scene. One could barely see the stage through all the confetti and streamers. Bombast and excess: No one has ever done it better than KISS, try as they might. If you were there, you know. If you�ve ever seen KISS live, you know. They remain the masters of the arena, and Boise got the first KISS of the new tour Thursday night.

By ADAM LINEHAN / Taskandpurpose.com

Task & Purpose spoke with the KISS frontman about his upcoming Freedom to Rock tour and his efforts to honor service members, veterans, and their families.

Back in the 1970s, KISS was one of the biggest rock bands on planet Earth. Even today, the group´s influence cannot be overstated. Combining a heavy metal sound, balls-to-the-wall theatrics, and sinister, comic book-style costumes, KISS redefined the rock & roll experience for a generation of young Americans who´d grown disillusioned with the disco music and folksy art ballads that pervaded the era. Now, many decades later, the KISS Army marches on.

And while they´ve yet to shed their rebellious stage presence, or the makeup, the members of KISS have become fiercely patriotic in their old age. The Freedom to Rock tour, which kicked off on July 4, will see the group performing in more than 30 cities across the country, many of which they´ve never played before. But it´s not just about the music: In an effort to shed light on military and veterans issues, the group has invited service members to join them on tour as honorary roadies.

"Anybody who comes from the military to be a KISS roadie can sit all day and watch, or can lug gear, or do whatever they want," KISS frontman Paul Stanley (aka The Starchild) told Task & Purpose. "Their bill has already been paid in full."

With the Freedom of Rock tour now in full swing, Task & Purpose spoke with Stanley about the disconnect between civilians and the military, why more can be done to support veterans, and preserving the KISS legacy.

Active duty service members and veterans, including Guard and Reserve, can apply for free Freedom to Rock concert tickets at VetTix.org. Want to be a KISS roadie? Apply to Hiring Our Heroes here.   

Why did you decide to get involved in military and veterans issues? Do you have a personal connection to the military?

Well, my mom was born in Berlin and had to flee the country to avoid being gassed. She left Berlin and went to Amsterdam and had to flee there to stay one step ahead of the Holocaust. My dad is also first-generation Polish. Europeans have such a debt to the American armed forces for what they´ve done in the past. I think as I got older I certainly began to realize that the people in America who think that freedom is free are the ones who didn´t have to sacrifice for it. We´re born into a country where we take a lot for granted, and, unfortunately, the people who volunteer to go into harm´s way, who volunteer to risk life and limb, are the ones who somehow come back shortchanged. That´s grossly unfair.

Can you elaborate?

I think, besides the impact that serving has on vets, we sometimes forget that there are entire families involved – there are wives, there are children, there are husbands. And these people who do so much for us somehow get the short end of the stick upon their return. So any way that I can spotlight their plight. They are what has made America great, and their circumstances have really made me see the flaws in the system. I want to see us give back as much as possible, and to recognize the military, and to be proudly patriotic, and to support our troops in any way possible. It´s not a political issue, and it´s not a matter of how you feel about any battle, or the president or Congress. This is purely about supporting the people who go and do our battles for us.

Do you think things have gotten better for veterans since the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan began?

Certainly at this point we seem to recognize post-traumatic stress much more than we did. There are some wonderful programs, but they´re so much in the minority. There are people who need to be cared for and looked after – some much more obviously than others. But anybody who has an issue upon their return really needs to be given our full attention, and that still is not the case.

Did you guys receive a lot of fan mail from people serving in Iraq and Afghanistan over the years?

Totally. Absolutely. There´s always been a connection between us and the military. I think there have always been active military and vets who have been fans of ours, and we´ve certainly been fans of theirs. So any time we can feature them or highlight them, the more the better. To have the military and first responders in the KISS Army, that´s an honor.

During this tour, you guys are inviting service members to work with the band as roadies. What´s the reasoning behind that?

More than anything else, it´s really a chance to spotlight the military and what they´ve done for us, and bring them into the consciousness of the people who perhaps take them for granted. It doesn´t change anybody´s life to spend the day with us. But it may impact the way how other people treat or what they contribute to help the military. These people deserve everything we can give them and more, because they make everything we have possible. So it´s a huge obligation that we have in the sense of responsibility. That being said, everybody at the arena gets an incredible show. It´s not only an honor. It´s something that we live to do. The legend of KISS is a great one and it means we have to go out there and live up to it and go beyond it.

Do you think veterans should play a bigger role in shaping the future of our country?

Well, they do. But what they´ve done for our country, they deserve to have access to better medical care, to any kind of monetary and psychological assistance they need, and benefits for the families. They´ve done everything and more to shape this country, and too often we believe that it´s the politicians who make this country what it is, and that couldn´t be further from the truth. The people who make this country what it is is the military.

By Emerson Malone / Daily Emerald

Sometime during sound check, a towering black curtain with the massive KISS insignia dropped before the stage in epic fashion. The audience roared. It was immediately apparent this would be no humble night.

�The suspense,� whispered one audience member, who wore Paul Stanley�s Starchild makeup with a black star covering her eye, �it�s killing me.�

Then a disembodied voice shouted to the arena: �You wanted the best, you got the best! The hottest band in the world: KISS!�

When the curtain finally dropped, three men � Stanley, Gene Simmons and Portland native Tommy Thayer � stood atop a platform elevated above the stage and played �Detroit Rock City.� Behind them, Eric Singer was installed in the middle of an elaborate drum set.

Seeing Kiss live feels larger than life, and it�s not just the platform boots. The fireworks that detonated and punctuated each song�s end, the explosions that soared on either side of Singer�s drum riser and sent a blast wave of heat through the arena, Simmons sporadically ejecting his hooked tongue toward the crowd (not to mention his fire breathing, his performing cunnilingus on his guitar, his tongue whipping in close vicinity of Thayer�s neck, or his gargling up fake blood while gazing into the crowd during a droning bass solo) � everything was fittingly extreme.

Stanley honed Peter Pan as he zip-lined to a rotating saucer stage on the opposite end of MKA and Simmons levitated to perform �I Love It Loud� up in the rafters. Kiss� live act is like Cirque du Soleil, just with more blood, fireballs and rock �n� roll. It�s precisely what you want.

Musically, the band still sounds incredible and the set came with numerous things to love: Thayer�s inky, sludgy guitar in �Calling Dr. Love� and �Strutter,� Singer�s drum fills in �Cold Gin,� and Singer taking the reins on vocals during the lighter-sparking ballad �Beth.�

Paul Stanley capped the Freedom to Rock set encore by inviting members of the Oregon National Guard out to stage; the band, he said, raised $150,000 for the �Hiring Our Heroes� campaign, an initiative to help veterans find work.

Stanley praised the military, decried the unfair treatment of veterans returning home, and then � in true, patriotic Kiss fashion � asked the entire arena to recite the Pledge of Allegiance with him before the band played an explosive version of the Star-Spangled Banner.

Stanley himself is endlessly entertaining to watch. He strutted around the stage, casually addressed the audience, exploding a word or two per sentence. His showmanship was best exhibited as he often struck a power stance to play guitar between his legs or tossed dozens of picks (conveniently duct-taped to the bottom of each guitar) into the audience.

�We�ve been to Portland and we�ve been to Medford,� Stanley told the Matt Knight crowd. But, he offered, they�re in Eugene tonight because �it�s not about the size, it�s about the quality� and declared that Saturday, July 9 would be a night that we would all remember forever. He�s not wrong.

Tonight's KISS hometown hero #roadiefortheday is PFC Dakota Musick!

By Jackie Varriano / The Register-Guard

It was 42 years ago this past February that KISS released its first album. The self-titled 10-track record had all the makings of a flop.

The cover featured the four members in their now trademark makeup (although Peter Criss looks a bit suspicious) in some sort of floating head Beatles homage against a black background.

It was released by an unknown entity � the brand-new Casablanca Records � and failed to produce a hit single. The glam rockers were told to turn down the volume, lose the makeup and write better songs (and obviously refused). Their first gig in support of the album wasn�t even in the United States � it was in Edmonton in Alberta, Canada; the second show was in Calgary.

�Nobody knew who we were,� Gene Simmons said during a recent phone call.

�We were at a college and we set up our amplifiers on the lunch tables that were put next to each other and, of course, they broke and we set the ceiling on fire and people ran out the door because our bombs went off because they thought it was, you know, some sort of bomb.�

Simmons says the audience didn�t have a clue what to make of it � �In front of them were these guys wearing leather and heels and makeup. But the ones who sat through it were like, �Wow, this is cool.� I�ve never seen anything like it.�

And it�s been people just like the ones who stayed at that Calgary show who eventually developed into the KISS Army. They were the ones who helped the album become a certified gold record in 1977 and the reason why after 42 years Simmons can comfortably say that KISS is the biggest band in the world.

The fans are the reason why the band now is embarking on a summer tour, hitting cities across America that they haven�t been to in at least a decade, or ever. Simmons and his brothers in leather � Paul Stanley, Tommy Thayer and Eric Singer � will be playing the Matthew Knight Arena on Saturday. 

Simmons begins our conversation by saying he�s �deliriously happy.� The best thing about being Simmons is the �freedom to be anywhere at any time and do anything that I want.�

The thing is, even after 42 years, the thing that he wants is to be on stage.

�We have the Hollywood Walk of Fame, the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and all that stuff. But to us, always the beginning and end of it was live on stage; the electric circus, glory, glory hallelujah, all hail rock �n� roll.

�That feeling that you get on stage is more fun than being the pope. We get to do fireworks without praying for it.�

That feeling he gets is partially due to the reaction of fans, and if there�s one thing Simmons has been steadfast about during the past 42 years, it�s that everything he does is for them.

�When we get up on stage, we can only do 50 percent. The other 50 percent are the fans. The crazier you go, the faster you jump up on your seats and stand, the better we are.

�For us it�s electric church. The give and take, back and forth with the band � we don�t do � �what�s the secret of life,� �why do I have my mother�s hips� � we don�t do any of that stuff, we celebrate life. �And of course we stand guilty as charged by our harshest critics that we make a complete spectacle out of ourselves � you�re goddamn right we do.�

This devotion to fans is apparent as early as his first ever television appearance. It was on �The Mike Douglas Show� in 1974, just weeks after the album had been released. A skinny Simmons clomps onstage, waving his extremely long tongue at the audience and thoroughly not impressing co-host and comedienne Totie Fields. 

When Douglas asks Simmons who he�s supposed to be with all that makeup and bat cape he hisses �What I am is evil incarnate.� However, this demeanor softens faster than ice cream on a hot day when a couple comes out on stage.

Simmons is more than cordial; he�s practically affectionate, grateful that these people are so clearly enamored by his band. It�s this one tiny sliver of the mask cracking that provides a little ammo to the argument that Simmons constant bravado is an act, that there�s more to this man than the guy who told �Fresh Air�s� Terri Gross that if she was to welcome him with open arms on her show, she also should welcome him with open legs.

During our phone call, Simmons talked a bit about those early days and how they originally got signed to Casablanca Records.

�He actually decided to sign us because of our arrogance; our blind faith in what it is that we do. Because really, at the beginning you�re going to be running on faith and the will. Before there�s money, before there�s fame or anything, the only fuel you�ve got is your belief.�

That blind faith and will has paid off exponentially. There�s the LA KISS arena football team, a KISS golf course in Las Vegas, KISS cruises and every single form of merchandise a KISS fan could want � right down to a KISS coffin for your final resting place. But has KISS reached the pinnacle?

�Oh no, there are so many other things we�re going to do� even Warner Bros. is looking at a TV series of our life story. There are a lot of things coming out,� he says.

Aside from all the KISS dolls and comic books and paraphernalia � the thing that first hooked people like that kissing couple way back in 1974 was the music and the live show.

Let�s say you�re not a card carrying member of the KISS Army � what should you expect?

�You should know that the legend is true. If all the sudden the Stones and Paul McCartney have fireworks and pyro in their show, I�m here to tell you they didn�t get that from Crosby, Stills and Nash.

�Our biggest contribution is that we upped the stakes. We made it not OK to get up on stage and charge you $100 for the privilege of strumming an acoustic guitar cross-legged on a Persian carpet with incense. That�s not a show.�

Simmons promises bang for your bucks � and he�s proud of it.

�From far away you might say all I want to do is get rich enough and famous enough to sit back and do nothing. I would probably hang myself if I did nothing. The bigger and more successful we get, the harder I want to work.� 

Concert Preview

KISS: Freedom to Rock Tour

With: Special guest Caleb Johnson

When: 8 p.m. Saturday, July 9

Where: Matthew Knight Arena, 1776 E. 13th Ave.

Tickets: $39 to $125; 

www.matthewknightarena.com

By Erica Roberts / US Chamber of Commerce

When KISS hits the road this summer, it won�t just be the usual groupies that accompany the band on its Freedom to Rock tour. At each of the tour�s 32 concert stops, the band will � with a little help from the U.S. Chamber�s Hiring our Heroes program � select a current member of the National Guard or Reserve to be a �Roadie for the Day,� who will join the iconic band on tour and assist in the backstage processes.

�Our military heroes are called upon sometimes at a moment�s notice to deploy into harm�s way, and they drop everything to respond,� Eric Eversole, U.S. Chamber vice president and president of the Hiring Our Heroes program, said in a statement.  �It�s fitting to honor these men and women in their hometowns as part of the �Freedom to Rock� tour.�

This is not the first time that the legendary rock band has shown its support for the men and women in U.S. military. Two years ago, as part of the band�s 2014 Heroes tour, both KISS and Def Leppard sought out veterans to hire as roadies. 

All of the stops on this year's Freedom to Rock tour � which include towns like Fort Wayne, Ind., and Sioux City, Iowa � are home to military bases or communities, making this KISS tour an even bigger ode to those who serve our country.

As the band�s founder, Paul Stanley, explained: �KISS is celebrating our �Freedom To Rock� tour this summer; the same freedom that�s been upheld by our veterans and active duty service members.�

In addition to selecting a veteran as a roadie for each stop, KISS will also be donating a number of tickets to veterans in each community by partnering with the Veteran Tickets Foundation (Vet Tix) as well as offering discounted tickets to veterans in select cities.

Added KISS frontman Gene Simmons: "We are proud to partner with HOH and Vet Tix to highlight the incredible commitment and sacrifices of hometown heroes serving in the National Guard and Reserve forces. Many of these heroes have given a lot � and some have given all � and we will honor them in every town we tour.�

Here's Paul Stanley during "Black Diamond" at Taco Bell Arena on Thursday night.

Here's Gene Simmons during KISS' grand finale at Taco Bell Arena on Thursday night.

Here's Eric Singer singing "Beth" at Taco Bell Arena on Thursday night.

Gene Simmons from KISS checks in with Prescott on the eve of the KISS "Freedom To Rock" tour! They'll land in Eugene for a show Sat. July 9 at Matthew Knight Arena. Gene and Bill talk all sort of stuff including our United States Veterans, Rock N Brews, one of the best KISS albums ever (in Bills mind at least) and even talk about Tommy Thayer!