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 The
Destroyer show had to be bigger and better than the previous shows. The album had been a
tremendous success, and the band now played large arena's, and the 1975 show had been
designed for much smaller venues. And
everything was bigger than ever before: The new logo hanging over Peter's drum kit, the
stacks of amplifiers on the stage, and the lightshow! As you can see in picture 2, the floor
of the stage also followed the design: a stone floor on Gene's side, and a crater ridden
planet surface on Ace's side! The two sides were stitched together, like Frankenstein's
monster, in the middle. This part of the stage design were probably more a benefit for the
band, since only a small percentage of the audience would be able to see it!! |
Destroyer Tour: 1.
Detroit Rock City Encores: Rock And Roll Over Tour: 1. Detroit Rock City Encores: |
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 Out in front of the stage (in the foreground in picture 3) were
several formations of crystals, like the ones KISS is standing upon, on the front cover of
Destroyer. Also seen quite clearly in picture 3 are the two cats standing on each side of
Peter's drum kit. More about those later!!As said there were a metal thing standing on Gene's side... sorry, but picture 4 is the best picture of it I have been able find so far!! It is supposed to look like a tree that has survived a nuclear holocaust! Actually the tree thing only shows up on a very few picture's, and I haven't even been able to spot it on any of the video's from the period. The tree was made from hardened rubber, so that it could sway like a real tree in the wind. But
enough about the stage design... on to the show: Just as on the album the song ends with the
sound of a car crash. Just as the crash sounded, a couple of smoke bombs would go
off! After Cold Gin Ace would play his solo with the usual smoking guitar-effect. But halfway through the solo, Ace would leave the guitar in a rack on the stage, and leave, while the guitar made outer-worldly noises, thanks to an echo-effect! After a while a single spot would reveal Ace standing on the top of his amplifiers with a new guitar. Upon striking the strings of the second guitar, the guitar standing on the stage would burst into flame, and disappear via a trapdoor in the stage floor. Next solo would be Gene's bass solo just before God of Thunder. Gene would stand on top of the amplifiers on his side, which was the middle of the castle (picture 5)! He would spit blood, and according to some sources kick parts of the castle apart. This I haven't been able to see in any video-footage of the show, nor have I seen any photos of such an effect. |
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| The next new effect, was not really an effect, but as Peter's drum kit would rise during Black Diamond, a curtain with a large drawing of an attacking jaguar would be revealed, hanging under the drum kit! Sorry, but I couldn't find any decent photos of this at this point! As the drums were rising into the sky, more "lightning bolts" would strike! 
The show was changed a little during the tour, and a little more for the Rock And Roll Over Tour, which started in November. The most significant change made during the Destroyer tour was the cats on Peter's drum riser. Apparently the two cats were stolen during the tour, and were replaced. You can see the different cats in picture 6: cat a was the one used during the early part of the tour, a tall aristocratic figure, looking like it came from ancient Egypt. The replacement (cat b) was shorter, stockier and had fangs. It looked more like one of those stone gargoyles on the Notre Dame church in Paris. |
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 The Destroyer set was used
for the majority of the Rock And Roll Over tour as well, but a new set was introduced
along the way! As far as I'm able to tell, the new set was build for the Japanese tour in
April 1977. Some significant changes were in the new show: most of the Destroyer stage set - Gene's castle, Ace's planet, power pylons, metal sculpture, and crystals - had all disappeared. This was probably to cut the cost of bringing the show halfway around the world! Instead lights had been installed in the stairs of the staircases (see picture 7). Lights had also been installed in the drum riser. Another interesting change made during the tour, was the switch to
wireless guitars. During the opening of the concert in Lakeland, Florida on December 12
1976, Ace Frehley was almost electrocuted, when he touched a railing that wasn't properly
grounded. But aside from safety aspect, the wireless guitars also gave KISS greater freedom of movement on stage. Everybody could move to wherever they wanted to on stage, without worrying about being entangled with the others wires!! |
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logo Gene spitting fire Gene spitting blood Ace's
smoking & burning guitar Paul smashing
guitar smoke bombs drum
riser confetti storm fireworks tree Firehouse helmet Kiss Army banner apocalyptic
stage design stairs gigantic crystals cat busts 
like an alien planet,
probably Jendell... his home planet ! 
Firehouse had been moved into the encores (during the Japan 1977
Tour Paul had a real KISS Firehelmet for the first time; see picture 5A) and so were
Gene's fire breathing stunt. Nothing new there! And for the final song; Rock And Roll All
Nite; the usual confetti storm would break loose, and Paul would smash his guitar... 
It's
difficult to see, but picture 8 is actually a picture of the event. Several roadies are
running to pick Ace up, who's lying unconscious on the floor. 
To view the exact
tourdates of the Destroyer and Rock and Roll over tours, go to the Tourdates page.
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THE  TOURS |
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| 1983-84 | 1984-85 | 1985-86 | 1987-88 | 1990 | 1992 |
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| 1994-95 | 1995 | 1996-97 | 1998-99 | 2000-01 | main page |
Many thanks to Jan Laursen for letting us use these pages.
Here is the link to his website:
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