Speaking of Kiss, the band now looks ready to unleash the Alive 35 Tour into North America, half-assed supporting the Sonic Boom album. In case you’ve been living under a rock for the past decade, you should catch up to speed by knowing that Kiss today only consists of Gene Simmons and Paul Stanley. There are two other dudes, but they’re just hired guns dressed up to look like Ace Frehley and Peter Criss, so it’s not important to really know their names.It’s bullshit and it’s carved a river of discontent in the Kiss Army, and I think it’s why the band has treaded lightly in America while this ruse is in play.
But now they’re back, touring and releasing records in a completely different environment than during their heyday. It seemed that Gene was right when he stated that he hoped the band would stop recording because kids don’t buy music-they illegally download it.
I’ll give it to whoever managing this band is getting as much life out of this irrelevant unit as they can, to secure a deal with Wal-Mart was pretty cool.
But I didn’t see the Kiss section around as long as The Eagles or AC/DC.
The record may have flopped, but Gene and Paul know they’ve got to get the beast on the road again because they haven’t learned to budget accordingly for the day when it’s time to cut the power to that giant Kiss light behind the drum riser.
So Alive 35 gotten the two co-founders looking at a retirement fund, but with record sales in the toilet and a fan-base that’s had it up to here with the band’s total disrespect to the Kiss legacy, how to you fill the seats in the arena?
You let every kid 14 and under in for free.
Does Gene know about this?
According to his Twitter feed, yes.
Hey, if you're 14 years old or under, you can attend any KISS concert in the
upcoming N. American Tour (check out KISSONLINE.COM) for FREE. 5:15 PM Jun 3rd via
web
Simmons had a public debate with Bob Lefsez last year, in which he seemed like a stuck in the mud to anything different to his view of the music paradigm. In that respect, and also because Gene is a notoriously greedy individual, you have to wonder how excited he is about letting a big part of the gate in for free.
That's spelled F-R-E-E. Yep. It's on us. 5:15 PM Jun 3rd via
web
When you think about it, it’s genius. Not as many people buy their shit anymore, a bunch of their songs are left unheard, and without a visual spectical, the very notion of Kiss becomes a passing thing without a eyewitness account.
By letting in the youth, their young minds will be sufficiently blown to where they’ll become die-hard Kiss Army freaks.
They won’t even care that Peter and Ace aren’t on stage.
How long Gene will agree to this is a matter yet to be seen, but I’d entertain the idea with my own son. He’s aware of them-thanks to the make-up-but he has no idea of anything they sing. I think it’d be a trip to bring him to a show and get his reaction to all the nonsense.
And I don’t see the Wiggles letting kids in for free.
3 comments:
What, Gene is passing up making a buck? Guess it shows how desperate they are. Aren't you glad you didn't pay to see them? I know I am. I think E's a smart kid, he'd see through the crap and he's been exposed to enough good music that the fire and pyro probably wouldn't fool him. Do kids even know who KISS is? They probably think "Oh these guys wear makeup just like the Insane Clown Posse."
I can't stand Simmons & the Kiss machine but I'm gonna try to, not necessarily defend them but, attempt to show the logic of this move...
No doubt there is mainly the ulterior motive of having all of those 14 & unders get excited during the show & wanting Dad or Mom to buy them some KISS merch afterwards. Might be a really smart money making move seeing as how their merch booth has about billion items & there's something for every budget. It's really the venue that loses out because more kids means less beer that's gonna be sold but they may make it up in soda & nacho sales...
I think that kids are aware of who KISS is because of stuff like the Simmons Family Values show, Gene's Dr. Pepper commercials & Simmons & Stanley all over VH1 & VH1 Classic periodically. Hell, even if kids don't know who they are, there are tons of parents who have been to a show that would take their kids for the experience in an attempt to recapture their youth for a night or to try & live vicariously through them.
I've seen their show & wouldn't go again but even though it's just fire & pyro, it's more fire & pyro in 2 hours than most people see in a dozen 4th of July's & it's easy for kids to get caught up in no matter how good of musical taste they have.
Plus, they've been playing the exact same setlist for about 5years running. That's kind of laughable as well.
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