I received an email this afternoon advising me that the Kiss End Of The Road Tour has now been delayed from next month to August (it was originally due to occur last November).
The reason for this latest postponement is Premier McGowan’s announcement that he is keeping the WA borders closed indefinitely.
Thank you Premier McGowan, for ruining this for the rest of us. As JRR Tolkien once wrote, you cannot fence the world out.
I am not exactly high brow in my musical tastes, and I have a very sentimental place in my heart for Kiss. I was in grade six when they toured Australia for the first time, to promote their totally misleadingly named Kiss Unmasked album, and Kissmania swept the nation in anticipation of their tour.
Much as there was such great hype, the band actually was imploding at the time. Peter Criss appeared in the film clip for Shandi, but did not play on the album due to his infatuation with the bottle, and he was sacked and replaced by Eric Carr before the tour started. Ace Frehley did not last too much longer in the band – just another two or so years.
But there we were in 1980, and as primary school age kids we were all oblivious to those intrigues. There were Kiss cards to collect – three different sets of 66 each (if I recall, number 65 was almost impossible to find, which made getting the set very challenging), the last set of which featured the exciting new face of the replacement drummer and therefore caused renewed enthusiasm for collecting!
The school music room (and probably a lot of the classrooms) was covered in Kiss posters, and kids wore their Kiss t-shirts to school.
Then the concert came, and about six weeks later, school ended for the year and then Kissmania was over. Forever.
Many years later, in the middle 1990s, I went to the Kiss Reunion tour, when the four original members played again. Then, just before the Kiss Farewell tour (rather misleading as it turns out), Peter Criss tried to hold out for more money so they got Eric Singer to put on the Catman makeup. He probably did a much better job than Peter Criss anyway on the drums.
There is just something about Kiss, this manic kaleidoscopic clown circus of rock music, which fascinates so many of us. Aside from the nostalgia for 1980 Kissmania, I have never quite gotten what it is for me.
Perhaps it is Gene Simmons’ unquestionable Will To Power and New York Chutzpah that drives the band onward like a perpetual motion machine.
Maybe it is the great live stage show. Gene’s fire breathing act never gets passe. Nor did Ace’s guitar shooting rockets after he riffs Beethoven’s 5th on it (yes, I do know some classical music, I am not a total philestine!).
And possibly the music is good. I know that I enjoy it.
But whatever it is, I am looking forward to the concert, whenever it happens.
Lost For Words! 