KISS News Bits

[twonabomber]

Youngstown's Covelli Center holds 6,300 for an end stage concert.

Toledo's Huntington Center holds just under 7,300 for an end stage concert.

I didn't look up ticket prices. I think I looked up the Erie, PA show and the only tix available were on the secondary market. That arena holds 9,000 for concerts.

[Terry]

Interesting.

I'd have to imagine that since 1996, after 20 years of having performed in makeup, pretty much everybody who ever wanted to see KISS in makeup playing the 1970s catalog has done so by now. At least in terms of causal fans.

Plus, Stanley's voice is getting pretty knackered.

[Mr. Vengeance]

Interesting.

I'd have to imagine that since 1996, after 20 years of having performed in makeup, pretty much everybody who ever wanted to see KISS in makeup playing the 1970s catalog has done so by now. At least in terms of causal fans.

Plus, Stanley's voice is getting pretty knackered.

A lot of us old school fans have stopped going, mainly because we can't take Tommy and Eric in Ace and Peter's makeup. It just rubs me the wrong way. If they had created new characters or dumped the makeup again, it would have been one thing. But to use the makeup and have Tommy copying Ace's solos note for note? That's just a rip off.

[Seshmeister]

Keeping the makeup at this point makes lots of sense. It's like Slipknot, those guys are all in their 40s now but behind masks who cares?

The surprising thing is not having new designs for new members, you would think that Simmons would be all over anything that could affect ticket sales and that one seems a no brainer...

[Etienne]

Desmond Child (John Charles Barrett) is a hit-machine par excellence. Especially during the eighties almost no songwriters could resist his assistance.

[vandeleur]

I think the term is poop machine ... Do you guys have doggy bags where you come from , you know to take With you when you walk the dog

[Etienne]

[FORD]

Keeping the makeup at this point makes lots of sense. It's like Slipknot, those guys are all in their 40s now but behind masks who cares?

The surprising thing is not having new designs for new members, you would think that Simmons would be all over anything that could affect ticket sales and that one seems a no brainer...

Yeah, they designed makeup for Vinnie Vincent and Eric Carr, even though it only lasted a year or two before they took the makeup off in the 80s. And then played musical chairs with the lead guitarist slot for a while. Maybe the current scabs should be wearing their makeup if Chaim is too lazy to come up with new designs?

[twonabomber]

Gene probably figured they'd sell more merch with the classic designs. He'd spend too much money designing new characters and may not get much of a return on his investment.

[Terry]

A lot of us old school fans have stopped going, mainly because we can't take Tommy and Eric in Ace and Peter's makeup. It just rubs me the wrong way. If they had created new characters or dumped the makeup again, it would have been one thing. But to use the makeup and have Tommy copying Ace's solos note for note? That's just a rip off.

That whole scab business bugged me too, initially.

My viewpoint started to change a bit after I got KISSology 3 and watched the various concerts from 1996, 1998 and 2000, and hearing Ace's abilities slowly waning. Plus, Ace left the group in 2001, or 2002 (or whatever it was). That was his choice to do so. As for Peter Criss, it's safe to say he wouldn't be able to have stayed with the group much longer than he did anyway even if Stanley hadn't canned him. The guy can't physically get through a full set, and hasn't been able to for close to a decade now.

Yeah, I'm an old school fan, too. And it also strikes me that having Thayer and Singer up there wearing the classic makeup is somehow wrong, even though I honestly think on a technical level Thayer and Singer are able to play the material much better than Frehley and Criss would have been able to by the time 2004 rolled around. I mean, for sure Tommy is copying Ace's solos note-for-note, but he is copying the technical level of 1970s Ace.

I also think the amount of old school fans who have stopped seeing the band over the last 12 years or so due to the scabs is probably less than the amount of casual fans still willing to pay money to see the band who don't really care as much. And I don't think the interest level these days would be much higher than it is currently even if Ace and Peter HAD stayed: eventually, the amount of people willing to pay money to see them would have tapered off regardless.

[Va Beach VH Fan]

Yeah, I'm done going to see them.... Haven't seen them since I took my youngest boy on the '04 tour, and happened to get on their tour DVD for a couple seconds....

Not really surprising if you subscribe to them on FB and know how active they use it, but one thing I do like that they're doing on this smaller tour is their use of Facebook Live both before and during the shows.... Lots of behind the scenes stuff....

[WARF]

My two favorite KI$$ albums are LICK IT UP and CREATURES IN THE NIGHT.
I love Vinnie Vinnie. The 70s stuff was great but after Lick it up they out out a bunch of clunkers.

[Terry]

My two favorite KI$$ albums are LICK IT UP and CREATURES IN THE NIGHT.
I love Vinnie Vinnie. The 70s stuff was great but after Lick it up they out out a bunch of clunkers.

Creatures was a good album.

[WARF]

Creatures was a good album.

Vinnie Vincent saved KI$$ and in the words of Gene Simmons.... Vinnie could run circles around Ace Frehley. I guess he was just impossible to work with. I love the invasion albums as well. Prefer Mark Slaughter on vocals though...

[FORD]

Vinnie's problem was that he turned into a useless drunk even faster than Ace did. Not only got him booted from "KISS" but then from his own band, which then became a total cheese ballad bubble gum act.

I wonder how many people bought a "Slaughter" album thinking the name sounded "metal" only to find a bunch of songs for 13 year old girls on the record.