KISS My Ass Tour - 1994 - '95
Start Date: April 2, 1994
End Date:February 13, 1995
Shows: 23
Legs: 2
Countries: Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Chile, Japan, Mexico, United States
Opening Acts: Angra, Black Sabbath, Dr. Sin, Fleetwood Mac, Gatos Sucios, Hermetica, I Mother Earth, Lita Ford, Logos, Mother Station, Open Skyz, Pat Travers Band, The Poor, Raimundos, Screamin' Cheetah Wheelies, Slayer, Snake Dance, Stick, Suicidal, Tendencies, Tumulto, Victimas del Dr. Cerebro, Viper
Average Attendance: 6,040
Line Up: Paul Stanley, Bruce Kulick, Gene Simmons, Eric Singer
After the Revenge Tour KISS's popularity was pretty much only present at it's fan base, "arena rock" was a genre pretty much dead in the mainstream music scene, so instead of spending money to get their popularity back into the mainstream they concentrated on embracing the core of their fan base. Before KISS started touring in countries that had not seen the band in years, they first started promoting the release of 'Alive III'. On the same day as the release of the third Alive! album the band got inducted into the Hollywood Rockwalk and pressed their hands and signatures into wet cement. Peter Criss and Ace Frehley were also inducted and Eric Carr later in 1995. Instead of a hand print a little icon of a fox was added.
KISS wasn't completely out of the mainstream, they still appeared on TV, most known performances are at 'The Arsenio Hall Show' and 'Dick Clark's New Year's Rockin' Eve Show'. KISS always was a band to follow up in trends and cashing in on them, in 1994 they noticed that the 70's culture was getting popular again, Gene had the idea for the 'KISS My Ass, Classic KISS Regrooved' album after he received a tape from Larry Mazer with various popular bands performing KISS songs live. By now in 1994 the young kids in the 70's had grown up and the ones inspired KISS had their own popular bands now, (Nirvana, Metallica, Slayer, Lenny Kravitz, etc...). To promote the 'KISS My Ass' album KISS also performed live with Garth Brooks (who covered 'Hard Luck Woman' on 'KISS My Ass') on 'The Tonight Show' With Jay Leno. A notable performance was Gene and Paul performing 'Goin' Blind'semi-unplugged on 'MTV's Most Wanted'.
The band immortalizing their hand prints on the Hollywood Rockwalk Of Fame!
KISS My Ass Tour Stage:
The stage for when they toured were various stages:
Hot In The Shade Stage - for the shows in South America and Melbourne they used a modifiedHot In The Shade tour stage, sometimes with or without Leon The Spinx.
Animalize US Stage - Next to that stage they also used the US Animalize tour stage for the Japanese leg.
KISS Logo - A giant metallic KISS logo was used when Leon was not used, but it was never seen before and had lights installed, it was last seen during the 1996 reunion press conference on board of the U.S.S. Intrepid.
Club Gigs - 1993 saw club gigs with limited stage props, just basic amps and lighting.
Pyrotechnics - Pyrotechnics and fireworks were limited during the big shows, most of the time this was saved for the big finale just before Paul smashed his guitar.
Paul Smashing Lit Guitar - Paul did something completely different for maybe a handful of times for his guitar smashing 'act', he would grab his guitar that was ready to be smashed, pour lighter fluid over the guitar, lit it with a match and swing it around and smash it like he was Jimi Hendrix. When the band toured Australia, next to their normal big shows, they also performed acoustic shows at conventions, what kick started a official Convention Tour, more on these shows on the next tour page!
Stage Props:
Pre-Show "hum"
Fireworks
Flamethrowers
Pyrotechnics (Limited)
Flash Pots
Fire Engine Lights
Fire Engine Siren
Leon The Sphinx
Mirror ball
Bombs
Strippers
Gene Breathing Fire
Dry Ice Smoke
Improved Laser Show
Giant KISS Logo
Paul Breaking/Setting Guitar On Fire
Bruce rocking out
Typical Setlist:
01.'Creatures Of The Night'
02. 'Deuce'
03. 'Parasite'
04. 'Unholy'
05. 'I Stole Your Love'
06. 'Gold Gin'
08. 'Firehouse'
09. 'Calling Dr. Love'
10. 'Makin' Love'
11. 'I Was Made For Lovin' You'
12. 'I Want You'
13. 'Domino'
14. 'Love Gun'
15. 'Lick It Up'
16. 'God Of Thunder'
17. 'I Love It Loud'
18. 'Detroit Rock City'
19. 'Black Diamond'
Encore:
20. 'Heaven's On Fire'
19. 'Rock And Roll All Nite'
Tour Book:
The KISS My Ass/1995 Tour Book, notice the 1996 added so another leg was planned.
Special Shows / Happenings:
This club gig was part of a special 3 day convention to promote hard rock and heavy metal, the band played some obscure songs.
'Goin' Blind' was performed for the first time since 1973.
- Pleasure Island, Lake Buena Vista (Orlando), FL, December 12, 1993 -
'Dick Clark's New Year's Rockin' Eve Show', KISS performed 'Makin' Love' and 'Rock And Roll All Nite'. 'Detroit Rock City' was also recorded but never aired.
- Odeum, Villa Park, Chicago, IL, April 2, 1994 -
This show marks Eric Singers official live vocal debut singing 'Black Diamond'.
- Studio 3 - NBC Studios, Burbank, CA, July 13, 1994 -
Taping of the performance with Garth Brooks at 'The Tonight Show' with Jay Leno.
- Estadio Pecaembu, São Paulo, Brazil, August 27, 1994 -
First of the three concerts at the 'Monsters Of Rock' festival.
- Estaction Mapocho, Santiago, Chile, September 1, 1994 -
Taping of the live performance for TV show 'Programa Livra'.
- Obras Stadium, Buenos Aries, Argentina, September 16, 1994 -
For the first time ever, the band opened the show with '100,000 Years'.
- Perth Entertainment Center, Perth, Australia, February 4, 1995 -
Each one of the members caught the flu with Gene who it hit the hardest,
but they did not miss a beat and gave a great show.
- Adelaide Entertainment Center, Adelaide, Australia, February 6, 1995 -
KISS returned to Australia for the first time since their legendary visit in 1980, once again the country was in a KISS frenzy and when the band landed in Adelaide, their arrival time was leaked and near a thousand fans were awaiting the band for their arrival and were swarmed, something the band actually loved this time seeing they had not experienced this in years and it made the news. To this day Australia is still a huge KISS loving country. Their Convention Tour would start on February 3rd, so KISS was one night performing a normal KISS show and the next day perfoming a convention show.
KISS live in Australia