Rock The Nation Worldwide Tour - 2004
Start Date: May 8, 2004
End Date:August 17, 2004
Shows: 59
Legs: 2
Countries: Australia, Mexico, Japan, United States
Opening Acts: Breakingform, Drowning Pool, Grinspoon, Machine Gun Fellatio, Poison, Saliva, ZO2
Average Attendance: 8,900 (American tour)
Line Up: Paul Stanley, Tommy Thayer, Gene Simmons, Eric Singer
After the co-headliner tour with Aerosmith was concluded and no additional leg or dates were added, Aerosmith announced their tour with Cheap Trick, Australian tour promoter Andrew McManus announced KISS would be touring with Limp Bizkit for some Australian dates. This caused a backlash from fans who were not keen on the pairing and they were quickly dropped. After the Japanese tour dates were announced and that Eric Singer would be touring with them. Peter, placed the following on his website after fans started to inquire about why he was touring with the band anymore:
"I have been receiving thousands of fan mail as to what is going on with KISS. Today, my contract ran out. No one, again no one, has called me or my attorney, about an extension for future touring. As a founding member I find this to be disrespectful to me, and to the fans that have made us one of the biggest bands in the world. You will always get the truth from me. I have no reason to lie to the people that gave me such a wonderful life. And that's the God's honest truth... P.S. This is the stuff that breaks my heart"
With the success of KISS Symphony, the band toured with 12 members of the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra and would perform a 30 minute encore for some of the Australian shows. They also booked three smaller theater specials called "In Your Face" shows in Australia that would be smaller scaled down shows but they would play obscure songs that they either never played before or have not done so in decades. The theaters would only hold about 2000 to 4000 people. The price of admission was pretty steep going from AU$299 and $199. The last "In Your Face" show was eventually cancelled as they only sold about 500 tickets of the 2000.
After the Australian leg of the tour, the band would tour in America, but less of the obscure songs were present and venues were smaller than usual and this showed in their attendance figures, as it had a average of 8,900 attendees. The tour eventually ended with three shows in Mexico and KISS would not tour in 2005 as Paul Stanley had to undergo surgery for a hip replacement. The summer tour was considered a commercial flop, and not only for KISS but also for many other bands as the War On Terror was in full force and concerts were not a hot item in this period.
Rock The Nation Tour Stage:
World Domination Stage - For the Australian and Japanese leg of the tour the band would still use the World Domination Tour stage, but for the American leg they used a altered stage.
Lighting Rig Platform - the lighting rig platform was no longer present and the lighting rig itself was completely new.
Video Screen - There was now only one big video screen in the center of the stage behind the drum rise.
LED Video Cubes - The biggest change to the stage were various LED video cube screens next to the amplifiers in the second and third row of amplifier stacks and in front of Eric's drum riser. These would show various video effects and colors designed especially for the song they would perform, also the album where the song was from that was being performed would show up on the screens.
KISS Logo - The two KISS logo's were back behind the amplifier stacks just like with the Farewell Tour stage.
No Guitar & Drum Solo - There was still no drum or guitar solo for Eric and Tommy.
Blood Spitting & Flying - Gene would still do his bloody bass spitting solo and fly up into the lighting rig to his platform. The band would play 'Unholy' instead of 'God Of Thunder'.
Fire Breathing - As 'Firehouse' was dropped, Gene would breath fire after 'War Machine'.
Paul Flying - Paul got his flying rig back but it was only used if the venue was big enough.
Pre-Show Video - Before the band would go on stage, they would show the band on the video screen, walking backstage from the dressing room towards the stage. Something that is a blast from the past as this was first done on the January 25th show at Cobo Hall in 1976 and edited back than by manager Bill Aucoin the night before the show.
The Rock The Nation tour stage
For the Rock The Nation Worldwide Tour KISS did something that their fans had done since their first shows, record the show! They hired Clear Channel Entertainment's Instant Live venture and would professionally record the audio of 32 shows that the fans could pre-order before the show and pick them up afterwards 30 minutes after the show in the form of a double-CD digipak. One issue was that only shows were recorded that were played in venues that Clear Channel owned so not all shows of the tour were recorded. Around 500–750 CD's were printed per show and were not very popular as the technology was still new to people and even years later many copies can still be found for sale on the internet.
KISS recorded several shows for a special live DVD, these were the Washington, DC, and Virginia Beach, VA shows on July 24 and 25, 2004. This turned into the dvd KISS Rock The Nation Live! It's a good showcase on how a KISS show was back in 2004 with it's set list that covers basically every era of the band. One thing that is clear as well, is that in 2004 Paul's voice already sadly started to deteriorate.
What made this live concert DVD stand out from others was that it had a feature called "KISS Powervision", basically various camera angles that you could select to watch on certain songs. How this works i still don't know as they are not separate chapters or pieces on the DVD.
Jonathan Beswick, who we know from editing the Last KISS concert, was the director for this concert DVD, and the DVD was certified Gold in the US on January 29, 2007.
Stage Props:
Pre-Show "hum"
Giant KISS Logo Curtain Before Show
Animated KISS Logo
Gene Spitting Blood
Gene Breathing Fire
Gene Flying
Paul Flying
Platform Risers
Dry Ice Smoke
Bombs
Flash Pots
Fireworks
Pyrotechnics
Drum Riser
Video Screen
LED Video Screens Between Amps
Amplifier Stacks
KISS Army Banners
Flamethrowers
Paul Smashing Guitar
Eric back on the KISS drum stool
Typical Setlist:
01.'Deuce'
02. 'Strutter'
03. 'Love Gun'
04. 'Makin' Love'
05. 'Lick It Up'
06. 'Parasite'
08. 'War Machine'
09. 'Christine Sixteen'
10. 'She'
11. 'I Want You'
12. 'I Love It Loud'
13. '100,000 Years'
14. 'Unholy'
15. 'Shout It Out Loud'
16. 'I Was Made For Lovin' You'
17. 'Detroit Rock City'
18. 'God Gave Rock 'N Roll To You II'
19. 'Rock And Roll All Nite'
Tour Book:
The Rock The Nation tour tour book with a embossed front cover. Two versions of the tour book were printed, the second version for Australia
had a different Symphony ad that had a "Coming Soon, KISS World" ad.
Special Shows / Happenings:
- WACA Ground, Perth, Australia, May 8, 2004 -
The first show of the tour as usual, had various technical issues, a bad sound mix, miscued pyro, video screens freezing and Paul's voice had issues, during his flying over the crowd he nearly got pulled into the crowd. Gene's harness for his flying routine was not connected in time by the roadie, he ended up chasing the roadie off the stage who was trying to fix it.
- Adelaide Entertainment Center, Adelaide, Australia, May 11, 2004 -
More technical issues were reported at the second show, Gene's harness once again gave him issues but now the roadie managed to fix it in time.
- Rod Laver Arena, Melbourne, Australia, May 13, 2004 -
This was the first show where the 12 members of the Melbourne Symphony Ensemble joined the band for 5 songs in the encores.
- The Palais, Melbourne, Australia, May 15, 2004 -
The first "In Your Face" club/theater show, Gene forgot the words to 'Parasite'and the band teased a few seconds of 'I' and 'The Oath'.
- Superdome, Sydney, Australia, May 17, 2004 -
Another show with the MSE, while introducing 'I Love It Loud', the band started playing 'War Machine'as it was already played.
Gene forgot a whole verse for 'Rock And Roll All Nite'.
- The Enmore Theatre, Enmore, Sydney, Australia, May 17, 2004 -
This show was recorded for possible use onthe Rock The Nation Live DVD.
- Brisbane Entertainment Center, Brisbane, Australia, May 20, 2004 -
This was the last showwhere the MSE played 5 songs in the encores with the band.
- Brisbane Convention Center, Brisbane, Australia -
Cancelled "In Your Face" show because of poor ticket sales.
- Nippon Budokan, Tokyo, Japan, May 29, 2004 -
Gene's costume got caught on fire during the show but no injuries were reported.
- Smirnoff Music Center/Nextstage, Dallas, TX, June 11, 2004 -
During 'Parasite'Tommy performs a small guitar solo.
- Verizon Wireless Amp, Bonner Springs, KS, June 27, 2004 -
Both Gene and Paul did not flying this show, only 6,500 seats were sold of the 18,000.
- Blossom Music Center, Cleveland, OH, July 6, 2004 -
Once again Gene and Paul did not fly, this time because of limited space in the venue. Paul's microphone gave out during 'God Gave Rock and Roll to You II'
leaving Gene to sing the rest of the song on his own. Ticket sales were once again so poor that this time they gave lawn tickets away for free with
other band tickets like Boston.
- Tommy Hilfiger at Jones Beach, Wantagh, NY, July 21, 2004 -
Paul did not fly this show to his platform in the crowd.
- Nissan Pavilion, Bristow, VA, July 24, 2004 -
The first show that ended up on the Rock The Nation Live! DVD.
- Verizon Wireless Amp, Virginia Beach, VA, July 25, 2004 -
The second show that ended up on the Rock The Nation Live! DVD.
- ALLTEL Pavilion, Raleigh, NC, July 27, 2004 -
A local review:
"It's a band of attitude, big hair, fake blood, fire and 6-inch boots. For 30 years critics have hated them and many laugh away their larger-than-life make-up and circus-like concerts. But there is a secret here. The rock band KISS is still among the best performance bands around today. A ticket to a KISS show still virtually guarantees entertainment whether it's over-the-top theatrics or just pure shock... KISS wants to play more now than in the past decade. That was obvious in that the band started early and played to the last second before curfew. The band also brought out songs the members have not performed in two decades -- 'War Machine,' 'Got to Choose,' '100,000 Years' and even the disco-light 'I Was Made for Loving You,' which singer Paul Stanley sang on a platform out over the audience. KISS shows have never been more explosive. There were fireworks, explosions, sparks, confetti, stage-length flames and lots of flying around. The entire show was dedicated to the military as Stanley asked the crowd to vote and be proud to be American, before playing 'God Gave Rock and Roll to You.' The members of KISS may be old, but they still prance and strut like 17-year-olds looking for attention. KISS concerts are not good for your hearing"
Fayetteville Observer, July 30, 2004.
- Tampa Bay Amphitheatre, Tampa, FL, July 31. 2004 -
This and the August 1, Pensacola show were cancelled after Paul suffered from dehydration and heat exhaustion from the show in West Palm Beach on July 30.
- Oak Mountain Ampitheatre, Birmingham, AL, August 3, 2004 -
Gene and Paul both did not fly during this show, this show also marks it being the last show recorded by Instant Live!
- Hi-Fi Buys Ampitheatre, Atlanta, GA, August 4, 2004 -
After Gene flew into the rafters and was standing on his platform, the spotlight operator failed to point the spotlight in time on Gene, pissing Gene off with a growling "Up HERE asshole!!", after looking into the distance for a few seconds at the spotlight operator, he once again growled "I'm gonna find out where you live bitch!" Gene is known to go into full Demon mode when he is on the stage so it's all in good fun!
- Arena Monterrey, Monterrey, Mexico, August 15, 2004 -
Tommy nearly fell of the stage during 'Rock And Roll All Nite'.
- Palacio De Los Deportes, Mexico City, Mexico, August 17, 2004 -
The last show for the 'Rock The Nation' tour. This show was said to be recorded for the DVD.
Tickets, guitar pick, backstage pass and poster
