Creatures/10th Anniversary Tour - 1982 -'83
Start Date: December 29, 1982
End Date:June 25, 1983
Shows: 56
Legs: 2
Countries: Brazil, Canada, United States
Opening Acts: Dareforce, Defectors, Headpins, Herva Doce, Hotz, Molly Hatchet, Mötley Crüe, Night Ranger, Plasmatics, The Shoes, Why On Earth, Zebra.
Average Attendance: 5,350 (excluding Brazilian shows)
Line Up: Paul Stanley, Vinnie Vincent, Gene Simmons, Eric Carr
After the poor album sales of The Elder and the prospects for a tour were so bad, in 1982 the band saw they needed to change things, they finally really returned to their hard rock roots and even beyond! They hired Vincent Cusano (soon to be Vinnie Vincent) and Bryan Adams to help them write new songs for their upcoming album. The result was a album closer to heavy metal at the time and was the album that fans hoped 'The Music From The Elder' became a year earlier.
Fortune was still not on the side of KISS in early 1982, Ace decided to finally leave the band. He did not work on the Creatures album but did go along with the Creatures album promotion tour the band held in November 1982. But the strangest of all things was, they still advertised Ace for the first shows and had not send any press notice that Ace was out of the band and people were confused who this other guy was on the stage looking like a Egyptian warrior!
With the departure of Ace they were in need of a new lead guitarist. The band held auditions but the job eventually went to Vinnie Vincent by default as he already worked with the band on Creatures, as Vinnie co-wrote on 'I Love It Loud', 'I Still Love You' and 'Killer' (even though Vincent sued the band many times stating he was responsible for more songs on Creatures and other albums he wrote for).
Creatures/10th Anniversary Tour Stage
Tank Stage - For the tour the band brought in a brand new stage, heavily inspired by the sketches Mark Ravitz designed for the Elder stage. Ironically from a sketch Eric Carr send him, but the stage was eventually to look like a tank! The Creatures Tour drum turret is still one of the coolest KISS drum riser they ever used! The tank would fire during various stages of the show what was a great effect. It's exhaust pipes on the back of the turret would puff smoke representing the engine's exhausts of the tank. During the end of 'Black Diamond', the tank would turn left and right, shoot (pyro and smoke) and "hit" amps hanging at the end of the stage and they would fall apart with confetti falling out of them like a giant piñata! This effect was sadly never used again. The turret was used in the 'Lick It Up' tour but only puffed some smoke from it's exhausts...
Towers - On the left and right side of the tank "tracks", were towers that Gene used for his solo and Vinnie for his solo, they were rarely seen in any pictures of the tour.
KISS Logo - A KISS logo was used that looks identical to the one used during the Love Gun/Alive II Tour.
Gene's solo - Gene did no longer fly but adjustments were made to his blood spitting act, he would hit a few notes on his bass guitar and a church bell would ring and a big bright spotlight would shine down on him and he would cower a bit like a vampire getting hit by sunlight!
Costumes - Their costumes and overall look were a mixture of Destroyer, Love Gun and The Elder era costumes. Their hair was longer and gone was the medieval goofiness. The band's overall look was way more heavy metal.
The ad the KISS company put out looking for a new lead guitarist and Vinnie Vincent, the Ankh Warrior.
Stage Props:
Fire Engine Lights
Fire Engine Siren
Fire Helmet
Tank Turret Drum Riser
Fireworks
Flash Pots
Confetti Storm
Blood Spitting
Smoke Pots
Bombs
Dry Ice Smoke
Fire Breathing
KISS Logo
Firing Tank Turret
Paul Smashing Guitars
The KISS tank turret with the band
Typical Setlist:
01.'Creatures Of The Night'
02. 'Detroit Rock City'
03. 'Cold Gin'
04. 'Calling Dr. Love'
05. 'I Want You'
06. 'I Love It Loud'
07. 'Firehouse'
08. 'War Machine'
09. 'Love Gun'
10. 'God Of Thunder'
11. 'I Still Love You'
12. 'Shout It Out Loud'
13. 'Black Diamond'
Encore:
14. 'Strutter'
15. 'Rock And Roll All Nite'
Tour Book:
The Creatures/10th Anniversary tour-book, strangely enough it holds a page for Ace and even stranger a page for Peter Criss. Both already left the band when the tour started.
It was also not available until half way through the North American tour making it a rare tour book to have!
Special Shows / Happenings:
- Bismarck Civic Center, Bismarck, North Dakota, December 29, 1982 -
The first show of the tour started out as a absolute disaster when the costumes of the band was stuck in Denver as flights were grounded and their wardrobe was deemed too valuable/fragile to transport them trucks, trucks that did transport their equipment. Former wardrobe manager Pixie Desmonde, their wardrobe manager from 1979-'80, was rushed to a warehouse to grab old costumes and bring them to Bismarck. No pictures are available from this show, but the band allegedly played in Love Gun era costumes.
- Sioux City Municipal Auditorium, December 30, 1982 -
Several citizens protested against the booking of the show, claiming KISS was aligned with the devil. It even came to the point that venue manager John Graham had to appear before the venue Board Of Directors who wanted him to address if KISS was actually aligned with the devil.
- Lakeland Civic Center. Lakeland, FL, February 4, 1983 -
The rear stage curtain caught on fire during the show.
News footage reporting on the Amy Hardin Relief Fund and KISS
Kiel Auditorium, St. Louis, MI, February 27, 1983 -
All proceeds from this concert were donated to the Amy Hardin Relief Fund. Which was established to help facilitate a liver transplant for young St. Louis girl Amy Hardin.
- Maracana Stadium, Rio De Janeiro, Brazil, June 18, 1983 -
KISS played in front of their biggest audience yet, 137.000 or more people were attending this show!
- Estadio do Morumbi,Sao Paulo, Brazil, June 25, 1983 -
The last KISS show in makeup until 1996!
Smashed guitar from Paul Stanley from the Jan, 25th, 1983, but now Paul was using pre-cut guitars so they would break better.
A excellent shot showing the KISS tank stage!