Sonic Boom Over Europe Tour - 2010

Start Date: May 1, 2010

End Date:June 27, 2010

Shows: 36

Legs: 1

Countries: Austria, Belgium, Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Netherlands, Norway, Slovakia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, United Kingdom

Opening Acts: Europe, Five and the Red One, H-BlockX, Imperial State Electric, Love Turns Hate, Steel Panther, Taking Dawn, The Academy Is, The 69 Eyes, Mike Tramp & The Rock 'n' Roll Circuz, My Favorite Scar, Mustasch, Juice, Wig Wam, Wolfmother

Average Attendance: 19,977

Line Up: Paul Stanley, Tommy Thayer, Gene Simmons, Eric Singer

On October 6, 2009, KISS released a new studio album, "Sonic Boom", for the first time in 11 years and while they were on the Alive 35 tour they continued touring and debuted their new stage at the Cobo Hall September 25th, 2009 show.

The PR machine of KISS was still in full force and TV interviews and TV performances were a regular thing by now. Enough to fill a DVD full by the end of 2009, as i did myself with the Sonic Boom Media Collection 2009 DVD (see Downloads.)

Before the band would go on tour they arrived in Germany to do a two song performance and interview on the German TV show "Wetten Dass..?" They performed a medley of 'Say Yeah'and 'I Was Made For Lovin' You'. To promote the tour the band would perform a club show at the O2 Academy in London, England for a crowd of just 500+. The band continued on using their new stage and costumes they debuted in the end of 2009.

For the first time since 1988 KISS performed a show in Ireland, and for the first time ever performed in Slovakia. One thing was certain, this was the best this lineup has ever been as they really felt like a band now and not just two band members and two hired guns and this showed as the band had more fun on the stage. As their Cobo Hall 2009 show tour book stated: "This is KISS 2.0"...

Eric Singer about the tour in their "End Of The Road" tour book:

"Tommy and myself are in a unique position because we grew up as KISS fans and ended up playing with KISS so that's a kind of different perspective that Gene and Paul will never have. I don't think there's anyone else who playing in KISS besides Tommy and myself that really were truly KISS fans when they were younger."

Sonic Boom Over Europe Stage:

Video Screen - A huge HD video screen was now placed behind the band.

KISS Logo - A new KISS logo was placed below Eric's drum riser

KISS Army Banners - The KISS Army banners were back and bigger than they ever were, if there was space, left and right of the stage.

Video Cubes - Gone now were the amps on the stage, now LED video cubes were placed in their place, showing various effects just like in the "Rock The Nation" tour, they even put a picture of an amplifier on the screens so technically amps were still present!

Risers - The risers went higher than ever and looked more heavy duty.

Flying Guitar - Tommy would use an old effect from Ace and that is during his guitar solo, his guitar would fly into the rafters.

Drum & Guitar Solo - Tommy and Eric's solo's were now intertwined into a single solo session: After Tommy's guitar flew into the rafters and he would retrieve his guitar to shoot his rockets, Eric would go into a drum solo. When Tommy came back after the drum solo he would shoot two rockets into the rafters, Tommy would stand on his riser and it would rise up together with Eric's drum riser and shoot his final rocket. Now Eric had a little surprise as well, he would pull a bazooka that resembled a M72 LAW rocket launcher! He would aim to the left of the stage and with a even bigger explosion than Tommy's rockets he would blast off a piece of the lighting rig!

3 Person Riser - The biggest change to the stage was a new 3 person riser, it would lift Gene, Tommy and Paul up from behind the drum riser at the opening song, slowly lift them over Eric's drum riser and stop on the stage in front of the drum riser.

Pre-show Video - Before the show, on the video screens of the venue itself, a shot of the Earth from Google Earth was shown, zooming onto the venue of the show, than it would show the band as giants stomping around Detroit and than we see the band walk backstage towards the stage, the only thing that changed at every show was the Google Earth segment. An element they would return that was started way back with the earliest Cobo shows in 1975!

The Sonic Boom Over Europe stage

Paul would still fly to his platform in the crowd, but now the (round) platform, would slowly turn so he would never be with his back towards anyone in the crowd! Gene had altered his blood spitting solo a tiny bit, he would, just like during the Creatures tour, hit notes on his guitar, a church bell would ring and a white spot light would shine on him and he would put his arm up to protect himself from the bright light. Another prop made it's return and that was the mirror ball, a purple light would shine on it when he performed his guitar solo before 'Black Diamond'making the entire venue lite up with tiny purple lights. Set list wise it was the same as during the end of 2009, with the biggest difference being two more songs from 'Sonic Boom' being added, being 'Say Yeah'and 'I'm an Animal'. Songs that were returning on the set list were 'Firehouse'and for the first time since 1990, 'Crazy Crazy Nights'.

The new costumes were a mix of various era's of KISS, Tommy Thayer would wear a mix of Ace's early 1974 costume and the Destroyer outfit. Paul Stanley used platform boots that looked similar to his 1974 star boots and again wear the Love Gun era vest and jacket. Gene would still have his Destroyer armor but they looked darker in color and shinier but he would hear his Love Gun era boots. Eric Singer would wear the Alive! era costume but with a new vest.

Some of the official effects used on the LED cubes on the stage.

KISS continued recording their shows and this time hired the German company SymfyLive to handle the recordings, you could get it after the show on a KISS themed USB flash drive in a small box. You could download the encores the next day with the use of a code on the inside of the box. The USB flash drive this time would hold a Flash audio player to play the show and a picture slideshow. 2 CD sets could be ordered through their website of shows and also available to order online was a Collector's Gold Edition 16 gigabyte USB stick with multiple shows or best of's.

Stage Props:

Pre-Show "hum"
Fire Engine Lights
Fire Engine Siren
KISS Logo
Giant KISS Logo Curtain Before Show
Video Screen
Video Screen Cubes
Mirror Ball
Gene Spitting Blood
Gene Breathing Fire
Flash Pots
Gene Flying
Paul Flying
Tommy's Guitar Solo
Tommy's Shooting Rocket Guitar
Tommy's Flying Guitar
Eric's Rocket Launcher
Eric's Drum Solo
Platform Risers
Dry Ice Smoke
Bombs
Fireworks
Pyrotechnics
Drum Riser
Flamethrowers
KISS Army Banners
Confetti
Paul Smashing Guitar

The Demon on his perch

Typical Setlist:

01.'Modern Day Delilah'
02. 'Cold Gin'
03. 'Let Me Go, Rock 'N Roll'
04. 'Firehouse'
05. 'Say Yeah'

06. 'Deuce'

07. 'Crazy Crazy Nights'
08. 'Calling Dr. Love'

09. 'Shock Me'

10. 'I'm An Animal'

11. '100,000 Years'

12. 'I Love It Loud'

13. 'Love Gun'

14. 'Black Diamond'

15. 'Detroit Rock City'

Encore:

16. 'Beth'

17. 'Lick It Up'

18. 'Shout it Out Loud'

19. 'I Was Made For Lovin' You'

20. 'God Gave Rock 'N Roll To You II'

21. 'Rock And Roll All Nite'

Tour Book:

Two versions of the Sonic Boom Over Europe tour book were printed,

the second version was the German version with a different KISS logo on the front.

Special Shows / Happenings:

- Nürnberger Messe-Halle 4, Erfurt, Germany, February 27, 2010 -

TV appearance on the German TV show "Wetten, Dass..?"

- O2 Academy, Islington, London, England, March 2, 2010 -

Club performance to promote the upcoming tour

- Wembley Arena, London, England, May 12, 2010 -

The band sings happy birthday for Eric Singer.

- Mediolanum Forum, Milan, Italy, May 18, 2010 -

No pyrotechnics were used at all as Fire Marshall's prohibited them in using them. Paul remembered Ronnie James Dio

who passed away on May 16, 2010.

- Colorline Arena, Hamburg, Germany, May 31, 2010 -

KISS performed a acoustic version of 'Beth' with Eric on vocals. This was the first time they would play

the song acoustic since their MTV Unplugged performance in 1995.

- Rock am Ring, Nurburgring, Eifel, Germany, June 3, 2010 -

KISS performs in front of a festival crowd of 85,000 people, the whole show was recorded by MTV Europe in HD, not

everyone in the crowd were KISS fans but they loved the show none the less as even a mosh pit started happening at times. Just before 'Firehouse'Paul

once again remembered Ronnie James Dio. Before 'Shock Me' Paul stated the next song was 'I'm An Animal', Tommy corrected him and they played 'Shock Me'.

- Rock im Park, Zeppelinfeld, Nurnberg, Germany, June 5, 2010-

While singing 'Beth' Eric's microphone cuts out in the first verse, the risers malfunctions at the start of the show

extending the intro of 'Modern Day Delilah' and eventually Paul and Tommy enter the stage from the right and Gene

showed up after the song was already started. (Probably chewed out someone from the crew)

- Lerkendal Open Site, Trondheim, Norway, 2010 -

Instead of in the Lerkendal Stadium, they performed outside in the parking lot, and completely in day light. There was not

even space for the KISS Army banners next to the stage. The sound cut out while the band played 'Love Gun'.

- Gelredome, Arnhem, Holland, June 18, 2010 -

Some parts of the show were professionally filmed like Tommy shooting rockets and Paul flying over the crowd. Very likely for the Gene Simmons Family Jewel reality show as

they dedicated a episode (Face Your Demons part 1, Season 5, episode 21) when Gene stayed in Amsterdam with now wife Shannon. Myself attended this show and the venue had special token coins printed with the KISS logo you could buy and use to buy food and drinks.