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October 29, 2002
KISS TO PLAY EUROPE IN APRIL 2003?
It seems that Kiss might play Europe in April 2003. One
show is planned in Belgium on April 5th according to a Belgium newspaper report from
October 25th, 2002. This is already the third attempt to book a European Tour since Kiss
last played Europe in 1999. Let's hope they all finally sign on the dotted line... more
news on this subject soon... Thanks to Jonard Martial for the info and the scan of
the article.
October 28, 2002
KISS AT LAS VEGAS SATURDAY
(from Bret)
Hi there- here are some pics from the Las Vegas Motor Speedway on
October 26. Gene and Paul signed autographs and took pictures with fans, along with
activites on the track. They did 2 more local autograph signings that night at a casino.
The big rumour is that they will play in March at the Hard Rock Casino- kicking off a
tour...But it was also rumoured that Peter Criss would be at the track and he
wasn't....Gene gave a little speech to race fans.
October 23, 2002
TICKETS FOR KISS
Tickets for the Orchetra concert will cost between 125 and 465 Australian Dollars
and can be ordered here.
October 22, 2002
KISS GO SYMPHONIC DOWNUNDER
(from www.billboard.com)
Well, they've tried everything else.
Kiss will play a one-off concert Feb. 28 at the 48,000-capacity Telstra Dome in Melbourne
with the 60-piece Melbourne Symphony Orchestra. The concert, to celebrate Kiss' 30th
anniversary, will feature the group's classic lineup of guitarist Paul Stanley, bassist
Gene Simmons, drummer Peter Criss, and guitarist Ace Frehley and will cost $4 million to
stage.
The event will be broadcast around the world via pay-per-view and later released as a
double-disc album and DVD. A documentary will also be made, based around the week-long
rehearsals. "Kiss Symphony" will be a three-part event, starting with a rock set
by the band, an unplugged set, and then a collaboration with the orchestra.
"When the Melbourne Symphony teams up with Kiss, I promise the result will be no less
than a symphonic sonic boom," Stanley said. "Beethoven and Mozart will rise up
dancing with fists raised as we unleash a spectacle that will be both classic and
classical. This time it's black tie AND black leather." Added Gene Simmons,
"Fans are going to realize how magnificent and classical our music really is."
Stanley, Criss, and Simmons flew to Australia to announce the concert today (Oct. 21).
Fourteen members of the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra were on hand -- replete with Kiss
face makeup -- to play "I Was Made for Loving You" and "Rock'N'Roll All
Night."
The idea of the collaboration came from the office of promoter Andrew McManus, who
promoted the band through Australia 18 months ago on its supposed "farewell
tour." One of McManus' aides who was a fan of Metallica's collaboration with the San
Francisco orchestra suggested the MSO, which has recorded and toured with Elton John, Ray
Charles, Frank Sinatra, the Three Tenors, and Aussie superstar John Farnham.
This is the first time the MSO has collaborated with a rock band. Arrangements for the
show will be handled by Los Angeles arranger David Campbell.
The band expects half the audience in Melbourne to come from the U.S., Europe, and Japan.
The Australian airline Qantas is offering a package of airfare, three days'
accommodations, and show tickets for $,1600. Asked if there were plans to play the show
elsewhere in the world, Stanley sidestepped the question: "We see this as a unique
thing, and we're not looking at any plans beyond Australia."
Stanley was no more forthcoming about why Kiss was continuing to play when it already
signaled a farewell tour. "When you have everyone asking you not to split up..."
he shrugged.
Simmons is also going to be in Australia through the first week of November. He will make
a keynote speech Nov. 1 at the Australian marketing institute's national conference at the
Grand Hyatt and then embarks on his first speaking tour of the region, under the billing
"Speaking in Tongues." At these events, to be held Nov. 5 in Sydney and Nov. 6
in Melbourne, he'll show home videos, play new recordings, and indulge in Q&A with the
audience.
-- Christie Eliezer, Melbourne
October 22, 2002
KISS WITH STRINGS ATTACHED
(from Herald
Sun)
KISS musicians Paul Stanley, Gene Simmons and drummer Peter Criss
flew into Melbourne on Monday to launch Kiss Symphony, which will feature Kiss hits
performed with the 60-piece Melbourne Symphony.
Guitarist Ace Frehley, who had touring commitments in America, is expected to complete the
original line-up at the concert, which takes place at Telstra Dome on February 28.
Tickets for the concert go on sale Friday, November 1, from Ticketmaster7.
Members of the MSO, in full Kiss make-up, performed orchestral versions of Rock and Roll All Nite yesterday.
"We will unleash a symphonic sonic boom the likes of which the world has never heard before," Stanley boasted.
"We're expecting Mozart and Beethoven to rise from the dead and dance with us."
Kiss Symphony will mark the band's 30th anniversary.
October 22, 2002October 21, 2002
KISS KONFIRMED FOR ORCHESTRA KONCERT
(from www.undercover.com
)
Kiss will perform a one off concert in
Melbourne with the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra on February 28 at Telstra Dome.
At a media conference to announce the event Paul Stanley, Gene Simmons and Peter Criss confirmed the event as a one-off for the world after members of the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra performed orchestrated versions of 'Rock and Roll All Nite' and 'I Was Made For Loving You' for the gathered throng.
The show is expected to include the original Kiss line-up and while Peter Criss made the trip to talk up the show, Ace Frehley was nowhere to be seen. "Ace isn't here" said Paul Stanley. "We are hoping he will be here at this spectacular concert. As you know we are here to announce that on February 28 we will unleash a Symphonic Sonic Boom, the likes of which the world has never heard before. We will be playing with the Melbourne Symphony or they will be playing with is. And as rumour would have it we are expecting Mozart and Beethoven to rise from the dead and dance with us".
Gene Simmons had a fairly convincing argument for the return of the band after their 2000 Farewell Tour. "Once upon a time I was a 12 year old boy and promised I would pull out" he said to a round of applause from the audience. "This is going to be one special event. We are here because we have heard so much about the Melbourne Symphony. The best of the best deserves the best. Melbourne has always been wonderful to us these last 30 years. We probably have a few children running around. The least we can do is come back and embrace you all".
Paul says the show will be done in
parts. "What we are going to do is a concert in three parts. You will see a lot of
violins and to a lot of violence" he said. "The plan as we see it now is we will
start off with a Kiss show as you expect it with a lot of great tunes. Then we will go for
an unplugged segment, playing some tunes taking it down a bit bringing out a quartet or a
quintet. After that we will take a little break and then everyone can put their seatbelts
on and the onslaught will begin. Their will be lobotomies for all". [read the rest]
October 21, 2002
KISS PRESS-CONFERENCE
Gene Simmons, Paul Stanley and Peter Criss announced today at a press-conference in
Melbourne, that they will be performing a one-off concert with the Melbourne Symphonic
Orchestra on February 28, 2003 at Telstra Dome. The event will be taped for a pay per view
TV Special. The orchestra will be wearing Kiss make-up.
The Orchestra performed two songs (I was made for lovin' you and Rock and Roll all
nite) at the press-conference.
October 21, 2002
A MUSICAL KISS-AND-TELL
(from The Age)
A Kiss rock concert and a symphony orchestra recital may sit at opposite ends of the
musical spectrum, but according to the men in make-up, it's all show business.
Kiss on having a good time
October 19, 2002
KISS IN AUSTRALIA
(from Martin Tadzik)
Please find attached an
article from today's Sydney newspaper The Sunday Telegraph.
Gene will be appearing on "Rove Live" this Tuesday night. The promo on TV for
the show says "Rock Legends Kiss". Maybe Paul & Peter will be on?
Also, Gene is here in Australia now. He appeared briefly on tonight's television appeal
for the victim's of the bombing in Bali which happened a week ago.
October 19, 2002
GENE IN AUSTRALIA
(from Olaf Schmitt)
Gene Simmons visited today the 16th round of the motorbike world
championship on Phillip Island (Australia). It was shown on Eurosport and you could
see Gene for a couple of seconds. It said "Gene Simmons - Rock Star".
October 18, 2002
THE LATEST RUMOURS
Actually Ace Frehley was supposed to play another Solo concert tomorrow at the
Rocktoberfest in Florida, but has now cancelled his appearance due to "Kiss-realted
reasons".
Rumours say Kiss have waved some Dollars bills to Ace's direction and he is already
on the way with Kiss to Australia to rehearse with the Melbourne Symphonic-Orchestra. They
are supposed to play one song together at the press-conference on October 21, 2002.
At the press-conference Kiss are going to officially announce the concert with the
Melbourne Symphonic-Orchestra, which will take place sometime around March 2003.
The concert is rumoured to be live on TV (US Pay TV probably...) and should be
available on DVD and CD afterwards as well. It is unknown, which record company will do
the distribution.
It is rather unlikely, that it will be Universal, in fact they have just proofed
once again that they are not able to do proper distribution. The record company just
recently could have made tens of thousends of Dollars by releasing "Greatest
Kiss" and the new Best of CD on vinyl. They failed to do that, it would have meant
about 20 hours of work, making it about $ 1.000,-/hour profit.... not enough for
Universal.
October 18, 2002
KISS THIS LIVE AT AMSTERDAM HARD
ROCK CAFE
(from Joop van Pelt)
As a pre-Expo gig, tribute band KISS This will perform live at the Hard Rock Cafe in
Amsterdam on Friday, November 8. The gig will kick off at aprox 10 pm, and the entrance is
free. The KISS Expo itself, with special guests Eric Singer & Sean Delaney, will take
place on November 11 at De Kade in Zaandam (www.kade.nl). Advance ticket sale (through
Post Offices, local record stores, Tourist Service Zaandam, etc.) has started, tickets are
20 euro each. Members of the KISS Kollector Fanclub get a big discount of 5 euro when they
order their ticket through the fanclub (members only pay 15 euro - but if you need
additional tickets, those are 20 Euro each). For more info: kiss@animalize.com .
October 17, 2002
GENE ON THE COVER OF HAMMER
MAGAZINE
(from www.hammer-mag.de
)
Tomorrow the new issue of the German Hammer magazine (November 2002) will hit the
newsstands with Gene Simmons on the cover.
October 16, 2002
BRUCE KULICK SOLO TOUR IN
SWITZERLAND
(from Bruce Kulick)
Hello everyone...
Bruce will perform live at these clubs, with a full band doing solo Audio Dog material and
celebrating his KISS years, similar to his dates early in the year in Australia. Some
events may include a KISS expo.
Merchandise will be on hand from Bruce, and possible autograph signing.
Nov. 21: Payern (Silver Club)
Nov. 22: Luzern (ABCMixx)
Nov. 23: Adelboden (Alte Taverne)
Nov. 24: Zürich/Kloten (AlpenRock)
For more info on these dates contact by email Nicolas Kostadimas at val-job@swissonline.ch
P.S.: For more infos click here
October 15, 2002
KISS REUNION IN MELBOURNE
At least according to Australias Herald Sun the Kiss Reunion will take place in Australia
in March next year. Read
the full article. Thanks to Martin Tadzik for the article.
October 15, 2002
KISS TO BE CONDUCTED
(from www.undercover.com.au
)
Kiss will perform with
a symphony orchestra in Australia next year. Paul Stanley, Gene Simmons and Peter Criss
will fly to Melbourne next week to announce the show with the Melbourne Symphony
Orchestra.
Just last week, Paul Stanley spoke to Undercover News saying a performance by Kiss with an orchestra "would be an event to remember and it would be stunning, What could be accomplished by a band with our sonic prowess and an orchestra would leave most people lobotomised sonically".
Kiss underwent their farewell tour in Australia in 2000 but even then Gene Simmons told Undercover it was not the end of Kiss. "That's not true! We have a number of options" he said. Paul Stanley told us last week. "So many people with the best of intentions call it a day and then for whatever reason find they aren't really finished. Certainly that has been on the front burner and something we have been talking about quite a bit".
The show is expected to be a
one-off and will happen at Telstra Dome in Melbourne, possibly in March. At this stage it
is uncertain if Ace Frehley will be included in the line-up.
October 14, 2002
NEW ISSUE OF "KISS
KOLLECTOR" OUT THIS WEEK
(from Joop van Pelt)
Issue 42 of KISS Kollector magazine will be mailed out this week to all members - a month
earlier than scheduled, because of the KISS Expo that KISS Kollector Fanclub organizes on
November 11. The new issue includes an interview with Eric Singer, reviews of several KISS
related albums, interview with former Piper and Skatt Bros. drummer Richie Fontana (who
drummed on Paul's solo album and almost ended up as the new KISS drummer in 1980), review
of KISS Alive Forever, interview with former Starz guitarist Richie Ranno (who played on
Gene's solo album), memorial tribute to Eric Carr (including an interview with his sister
Loretta), interview with KISS Alive Forever authors Curt Gooch & Jeff Suhs, many never
before seen photos, and much more. For more info on KISS Kollector magazine please e-mail:
kiss@animalize.com .
October 10, 2002
KISS PARTIES IN AUSTRALIA
(from Nicola Ciccarone)
KISS ARMY INTERNATIONAL / STRIKE magazine proudly presents the Aussie
KISS PARTIES
SYDNEY SATURDAY 19TH OCTOBER
ENMORE THEATRE - 130 Enmore Rd , NEWTOWN, NSW
www.enmoretheatre.com.au
BOOK NOW! (02) 9550 3666 . Ticketek (02) 9266 4800 . www.ticketek.com
TICKETS WILL BE ALSO AVAILABLE AT THE DOOR AT $20.00 PER HEAD, ALL AGES
5:00 PM till 11.00 PM
SURFERS PARADISE SATURDAY 26TH OCTOBER
HARD ROCK CAFE - Cnr Cavill Ave. & Gold Coast Highway , SURFERS PARADISE, QLD
www.hardrock.com/locations/cafes/Cafes.asp?Lc=SURF
BOOK NOW! (07) 5539 9377
TICKETS WILL BE ALSO AVAILABLE AT THE DOOR AT $12.00 PER HEAD
6:00 PM till LATE
MELBOURNE SATURDAY 2ND NOVEMBER
THE CORNER HOTEL - 57 Swan St , RICHMOND, VIC
www.cornerhotel.com
ENQUIRIES (03) 9427 7300
TICKETS WILL BE AVAILABLE AT THE DOOR AT $12.00 PER HEAD
6:00 PM till LATE
THE MAIN HAPPENINGS OF THE DAY ARE:
* KISS VIDEOS SHOWN ON BIG SCREEN WITH UNRELEASED TV AND LIVE FOOTAGE
* PRIZES TO BE GIVEN AWAY WITH SOME KISS KOMPETITIONS:
THE KISS QUIZ SHOW !
test your KISS knowledge with multimedia Trivia and test your vocal chords with the KISS
KARAOKE
BEST MAKE-UP COMPETITION
BEST KISS TATTOOS COMPETITION
LONGEST TONGUE COMPETITION
PRIZES INCLUDE VARIOUS KISS MERCHANDISE from the KISS ARMY INTERNATIONAL shop
* THE KISS PARTY AUCTION
If you have an interesting item that you want to auction, please get in touch with Nicola
Ciccarone and ask him for details (03-9383-2555 - nico@nicostrike.com)
* KISSTERIA
KISS TRIBUTE BAND LIVE IN CONCERT. PERFORMING FOR THE FIRST TIME WITH THE UNMASKED
COSTUMES!!
* KISS MERCHANDISE WILL BE AVAILABLE... THERE WILL BE LOTS OF STANDS OVERLOADED WITH KISS
MEMORABILIA
For more information, please write to:
NICOLA CICCARONE - 2 / 49 ROSE STREET - COBURG, VIC 3058
tel & fax 9383-2555 - nico@nicostrike.com
October 10, 2002
KISS EXPO HOLLAND
(from Kiss Kollector Fanclub/Joop van Pelt)
KISS Kollector Fanclub a.k.a. the European KISS Army organizes the biggest KISS Expo
taking place in Holland in years. On Monday, November 11 Holland welcomes special guests
Eric Singer and Sean Delaney at De Kade in Zaandam. KISS drummer Eric Singer appeared at
Expos in Europe before, but it's the very first time Sean Delaney appears at a European
Expo - and it's also his one and only European appearance! Sean of course was the secret
mastermind behind much of the now legendary KISS concept and will talk about what really
went on behind the scenes for all those years. For more info, please check out the flyer
(or e-mail KISS Kollector Fanclub at: kiss@animalize.com
). Click here for more infos.
October 7, 2002
NEW PAUL STANLEY INTERVIEW
www.undercover.com.au has done an interview with
Paul Stanley, where he also talks about the rumours about Kiss playing with an anorchestra
in Melbourne.
[...]On another subject, there's talk of Kiss performing with an orchestra next
year.
Paul Stanley: Without being cryptic or trying to sidestep it, what the future holds will be revealed in due time. It is gratifying to know that going out on a worldwide farewell tour what we were met with by most people was "don't go, don't leave". When we finished the farewell tour it was really interesting having people coming up to me all the time saying "I loved the farewell tour. When are you doing the 30th anniversary tour". It gives you a chance to reassess and rethink things. So many people with the best of intentions call it a day and then for whatever reason find they aren't really finished. Certainly that has been on the front burner and something we have been talking about quite a bit.
Paul also talks about Alive IV, the
Kiss condoms and a lot more. Paul Stanley also mentions, that he is "far from being
done with making music". You can read the complete interview at http://www.undercover.com.au/kiss_paulstanley.html
October 5, 2002
VIP EXPO-TICKETS SOLD OUT
VIP-Tickets for the Kiss Expo
on December 1st in Bochum are now sold out. Normal Tickets are still available of course.
October 4, 2002
GENE ON THE COVER OF
"HAMMER" MAGAZINE
Gene Simmons will be on the
cover of the next issue of Germans "Hammer" magazine. It should include a 6-page
cover story about Kiss as well.
October 3, 2002
KISS EXPO WITH ERIC SINGER IN
BOCHUM
|
It's official! Before he might go on tour again with Kiss in March, Drummer Eric Singer will be Special Guest at the KISS Expo at the Zeche in Bochum (close the Dutch border) on December 1st, 2002! This is the first KISS Expo in Germany in 4 years and the first one with an actual current member of the band!! Click here for more infos. |
October 3, 2002
KISS COVER BAND FROM BELGIUM
(from Luc Verdickt)
Kisstory, the Belgian Kiss cover band had a try out show in Oostende.
They took it as a big production, great stage, big Kiss
logo, pyro, in fact, everything that is in a Kiss show was there, just amazing ...
The songs were played very close to the real sound, solos were nailed to the point, the
vocals worked out fine as well, which is mostly very difficult to obtain as Kiss has 4
different vocals.
The setlist had some surprises like "Take me", "Ladies room" and
"Rip it out".
The other songs were the famous Kiss classics like "Deuce", "Shout it out
loud", "Detroit rock city", ...
These guys are ready to play some more shows, and will not be misplaced at Kiss
conventions.
You can check more on Kisstory on there webpage www.kisstory.d2g.com/
October 2, 2002
KISS IN THE CHARTS
Chart entries of the new KISS
CD "The very best of Kiss":
5.9.2002: US-Charts: #52
4.9.2002: German Charts: #80
In Germany the CD sold about 8.000 copies so far, in the US more than 26.000 were sold in
the first week alone.
October 2, 2002
KISS IN "METAL EDGE"
In the newest issue of US Hard
Rock-Magazine "Metal Edge" you will find a poster of Kiss (with Eric Singer and
Tommy Thayer) with the cast of "That '70's Show".
October 2, 2002
GENE TOURDATES CHANGED
Madison, the promoter for the
Gene Simmons Speaking Tour has cancelled the dates for Adelaide, Perth and Brisbane. For
the dates in Sydney and Melbourne additional tickets will be available. Click here for details. Meanwhile, Gene is heavily
promoting his Downunder appearance, he even does live-interviews for Australian TV at 4 am
in the morning.