​Unmasked Tour - 1980
Start Date: July 25, 1980
End Date:December 3, 1980
Shows: 42
Legs: 1
Countries: Australia, Belgium, England, France, Italy, The Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Sweden, Switzerland, United States, West Germany
Opening Acts: Eyes, Girl, Iron Maiden, The Rockets, Techtones
Average Attendance: 16,442
Line Up: Paul Stanley, Ace Frehley, Gene Simmons, Eric Carr
Not long before 'Unmasked' was to released, the bomb dropped, that bomb was in the form of Peter Criss leaving the band to pursue a solo career. KISS's management quickly organized auditions for new drummers on June 23, one of those drummers auditioning was Paul Caravello, soon to be Eric Carr, The Fox. What the band and the management liked the most about Eric was not only his way of playing, but his personality. Even when he left when the audition was over he was nice enough to ask the band members for their autographs.
Eric made his official concert debut with KISS on July 25, 1980 at the Palladium in Manhattan, NYC. His parents were in the crowd, proud to see their son up there in one of the world's biggest bands. The 'Unmasked' tour saw KISS returning to Europe for the first time since 1976, as their success in America was dwindling. And for the first time they performed in Australia and New Zealand! KISS discovered that their popularity in Australia did not had diminished like in the USA and their fame was as bigger than it ever was, they were being compared as being as big as the Beatles over there.
Dynasty Stage - During this tour they used the Dynasty stage again except smaller for the smaller venues in Europe. For Australia the the full stage was used.
Alternate KISS Logo - For their shows in Germany KISS had to alter their logo, as a new law in Germany in 1980 outlawed any use of Nazi symbols, as the two thunderbolt S in their logo looked similar, they decided to not take any chances and use a alternate logo. Up to this day, any KISS merchandise in Germany still has to have the alternate logo.
Costumes - The costumes stayed the same except for of course Eric Carr who had become The Fox.
Show Effects - The show's effects were the same except now Gene could fly from left to right as well during his bass solo! Ace for some reason sang during 'Cold Gin' instead of Gene this tour.
Exit Peter Criss, enter Eric Carr!
Eric Carr - The Hawk?
Before he became the fox, the first character idea for him was to be The Hawk. You can tell why the character was scrapped! On the far right, the mannequin that was painted by Paul Stanley. The same mannequin was sold on auction by Paul in 2002.
Stage Props:
Fire Engine Lights
Fire Engine Siren
Fire Helmet
Round Hydraulic Drum Riser
Huge Drum Riser Curtain
Hydraulic Lifts
Fireworks
Flash Pots
Confetti Storm
Blood Spitting
Ramps
Smoke Pots
Gene Flying (Left And Right)
Sam The Serpent
Bombs
Mirror Ball
Dry Ice Smoke
Ground Flamethrowers
Fire Breathing
KISS Logo
Smoking & "Burning" Flying Guitar
Flashing Guitar
Rocket Shooting Guitar
Paul Smashing Guitars
News articles of Peter leaving the band. right click to see full size
Typical Setlist:
01.'Detroit Rock City'
02. 'Cold Gin'
03. 'Strutter'
04. 'Calling Dr. Love'
05. 'Is That You?'
06. 'Firehouse'
07. 'Talk To Me'
08. 'You're All That I Want'
09. '2,000 Man'
10. 'I Was Made For Lovin' You'
11. 'New York Groove'
12. 'Love Gun'
13. 'God Of Thunder'
14. 'Rock And Roll All Nite'
Encore:
15. 'Shout It Out Loud'
16. 'King Of The Night Time World'
17. 'Black Diamond'
Tour Book:
The Unmasked tour book saw four versions but all had the same front cover. Notice how the cover states 1981, this indicates they had planned
a second leg that very likely was cancelled because of bad album sales from 'Unmasked' and their dwindling fan base in America.
Special Shows / Happenings:
- Palladium, New York, NY, July 25, 1980
Eric Carr's first KISS show, his family was invited and sat front row. To show how fast things were going for Eric, he still had his furniture delivery job with his father, he rehearsed at the Palladium for the show, than would go help his father move furniture. It was rumored for years that the show was professionally recorded with videocameras, but this rumor was proven false by Bill Aucoin.
Eric's first KISS show with his first Fox makeup design
8MM footage of the show
Motovelodrome Vigorelli, Milano, Italy, September 2, 1980
The show was stopped for 30 minutes after a left wing political group took control of the stage. What the group wanted is not known, the group even tossed a Molotov cocktail on the stage but it did not break due to the soft gripping surface of the stage that was applied so the band could perform safer with their high heels, thanks to crew member Bill McManus, who was in charge of the dry-ice machine, he flooded the stage with dry ice fog extinguishing the flames quickly. The band itself was rushed to the dressings rooms and were terrified on what was gonna happen next. Its not sure when during the show this all took place, but audience video recording exists of the show as seen on the left but it does not show anything of the political group taking over.
-Drammenshallen, Drammen, Norway, October 13, 1980 -
This was the last show with Iron Maiden, KISS bombarded them with cake during their set. It also was the last show for Iron Maiden guitarist Dennis Stratton, who was soon replaced by Adrian Smith.
- Sydney Showground, Sydney, Australia, November 22, 1980 -
This show was archived professionally on video, A heavily edited and overdubbed version of the show was broadcast on February 14, 1981 in the TV program 'The Inner Sanctum', on Channel 10. It was officially released in 2007 on the Kissology II DVD box set.
- Western Springs Stadium, Auckland, New Zealand, December 3, 1980 -
This was Ace Frehley's last performance with KISS, a superb bootleg audio recording from the soundboard of this concert is available in the bootleg scene.
A full look at the (smaller) European Unmasked stage