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​Alive II Tour - 1977 - '78

Start Date: November 15, 1977

End Date:May 19, 1978

Shows: 56

Legs: 2

Countries: Japan, United States

Opening Acts: AC/DC, Bow Wow, Detective, Nantucket, Piper, Rockets

Average Attendance: 13,550

Line Up: Paul Stanley, Ace Frehley, Gene Simmons, Peter Criss

KISS was the top touring band of the world in 1977/1978, even beating Led Zeppelin, Aerosmith, and The Eagles in a Gallup poll of Summer 1977. KISS were nearly as big as The Beatles; their albums were certified Quadruple Platinum in a matter of weeks; and 'Beth' was one of the biggest #1 singles of the decade, KISS was everywhere, TV, radio , magazines and billboards. The band was especially big in the teenager range. While their previous generation listened to The Who, The Rolling Stones and The Beatles, they were now listening to KISS on their KISS record player, in their KISS t-shirts, while applying KISS makeup. KISS and their management noticed people outside KISS shows selling bootleg t-shirts, mostly in poor quality. Noticing there was a demand in merchandise they started a merchandise empire that is still going strong and has never been beat by any band, from KISS condoms to a KISS casket, if a KISS logo can be slapped on it, it has been made or will be made! KISS fans have become notorious collectors of KISS items and are known to have some of the biggest fan collections in the world over any band out there! Gene Simmons probably still holds the biggest collection as he owns EVERY KISS merchandise item ever released!


The Alive II Tour was basically the second leg of the Love Gun Tour, it was the same stage, same costume, but with a different set list. Older songs like 'King Of The Night Time World' and 'Let Me Go Rock 'n Roll' returned. The tour concluded with a short return to Japan, just almost one year after their 1977 tour in Japan, but one big difference was that KISS technically did not tour Japan this time, only 5 shows were performed at the Nippon Budokan Hall. Even though they sold out every show, this turned out to be a bad move as it resulted in a loss of $150.000 for the company. At the end of the tour the band started to shoot their very first movie, 'KISS Meets The Phantom Of The Park'...

     Stage Props:

  • Fire Engine Lights

  • Fire Engine Siren

  • Fire Helmet

  • Hydraulic Drum Riser

  • Two Cat Statues On Drum Riser

  • Huge Cat Drum Riser Curtain

  • Hydraulic Balconies

  • Hydraulic Lifts

  • Flash Pots

  • Fireworks

  • Confetti Storm

  • Blood Spitting

  • Staircases With Lights

  • Smoke Pots

  • Sam The Serpent

  • Bombs

  • Dry Ice Smoke

  • Ground Flamethrowers

  • Fire Breathing

  • KISS Logo

  • Smoking & "Burning" Guitar

  • Paul Smashing Guitars


A nice look at Peter's drum riser and Paul's KISS fire helmet.

Typical Setlist:

01.'I Stole Your Love'
02. 'King Of The Night Time World'
03. 'Ladies Room'
04. 'Firehouse'
05. 'Love Gun'
06. 'Let Me Go Rock 'N Roll'
07. 'Makin' Love'
08. 'Christine Sixteen'
09. 'Shock Me'
10. 'I Want You'

11. 'Calling Dr. Love'

12. 'Shout It Out Loud'

13. 'God Of Thunder'

14. 'Rock And Roll All Nite'


Encore:

15. 'Detroit Rock City'

16. 'Beth'

17. 'Black Diamond'

Tour Book:

The Alive II tour book was the same as the Love Gun version but the Japanese leg once again received its own version

Special Shows / Happenings:

- Dane Country Expo Center Coliseum, Madison, WI, December 3, 1977 -

The show was stopped briefly after Paul got hit in the head with a beer bottle thrown from the audience.


- Capital Centre, Landover (Largo), WA, December 20, 1977 -

The in-house staff professionally videotaped the show, portions of 'Shout It Out Loud', and 'Rock And Roll All Nite' aired on January 16, 1978 on The American Music Awards.

Black eyed Pete the following week

- Civic Arena, Pittsburg, PA, January 13, 1978 -

The show was stopped briefly after Peter this time got hit right under his right eye by a metal cigarette lighter thrown by an audience member. Apparently Peter was a hypochondriac and got his blood pressure taken regularly on tours but was not satisfied with results of his blood pressure after getting hit in the head and had to be reassured multiple times by people backstage that his blood pressure was indeed low.

- Roberts Municipal Stadium, Evansville, IN, January 23, 1978 -

In the middle of the concert. the front stage lighting rig support collapsed and the show was interrupted for about 30 minutes. Spotlight operator Thomas Mills, fell from the rig to the floor but miraculously did not sustain serious injuries. When the band returned on the stage Paul remarked: "Since you people 've been so patient, we got something we haven't done in a long time! You wanna hear it?" The band kicked into 'Deuce', this was the first appearance of the song since 1976, and the last time until April 1988.


- Magic Mountain Amusement Park, Valencia, CA, May 19, 1978 -

This was a free show which was taped to be used for live shots for the KISS Meets The Phantom Of The Park movie. The free tickets were distributed by the radio station KMET. First KISS performed their Alive II Tour show, after the concert concluded KISS was filmed lip syncing to several songs. The shoot went on long into the night, to the annoyance of the band, who were not used to making movies and their long waiting times between takes.

The Alive II stage in all it's glory

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