Description
Double album on white vinyls with gatefold cover with OBI-strip, tour book and a huge tour poster
Two of the biggest names in hard-rock history — Kiss and Iron Maiden — embarked on a European tour together between Aug. 29 and Oct. 13, 1980. At the time, Iron Maiden was just a fledgling outfit. Just months removed from releasing their eponymous album, they were still hustling to distinguish themselves from other New Wave of British Heavy Metal hopefuls. As for headliners, the self-appointed “hottest band in the land” was then facing a severe downturn in their career fortunes, as they toured behind their poorly received (and misleadingly titled) Unmasked album. In other words, everything was in place for a very eventful tour. Kiss did an intimate warm-up show at New York’s Palladium on July 25, Unmasked was looking very much like a new commercial low, and Eric Carr had officially taken over drum duties from the fired Criss. Then it was off to Europe, where Kiss had rarely ventured before (their elaborate stage production being quite expensive to transport) and where Carr, Gene Simmons, Paul Stanley and Ace Frehley would meet their opening act for the first time on their joint tour’s opening night, on Aug. 29, in Rome. What they saw in vocalist Paul Di’Anno, guitarists Dave Murray and Dennis Stratton, bassist Steve Harris and drummer Clive Burr was a hungry and apparently fearless group of East London toughs. Brimming with confidence after a well-received appearance at England’s Reading Festival, Iron Maiden was ready to challenge Kiss on stage night after night. To their credit, Kiss had never hesitated to pick the hottest young bands as their special guests (AC/DC, Judas Priest, Cheap Trick) and, by all accounts, they were very welcoming and professional. The tour got the two bands through Germany, Belgium, France, Switzerland, back to Germany, then over to the Netherlands, Sweden, Denmark and Norway. This album is a fairly poor sounding recording from Eriksdalshallen in Stockholm on the 9th of October 1980. Dennis Stratton had been spending more and more time, and even traveling between shows, with Kiss road crew instead of his own bandmates. Stratton would later play this down as his gregarious nature. His fellow bandmates, however, were already sensing increasing musical differences in the four-to-five-year age gap separating them from Dennis. They began to wonder if perhaps he wasn’t the right man for the job. When the band hit Stockholm it was Stratton’s birthday and Gene and Paul invited the Maiden guitarist out to dinner to celebrate his birthday. The audience later that night at Eriksdalshallen is reported to have been 3300 visitors. What they saw that night was a bit of history with two behemoths in metal music history on Swedish soil at the same time. Kiss were at a low but would take off their make up and enjoying a platinum career comeback, while Maiden grew from strength to strength, becoming arguably that decade’s definitive heavy metal band. Kiss and Iron Maiden finally went their separate ways after Oct. 13. Kiss headed to Australia for what would prove to be Frehley’s final shows until their ’90s reunion, while Iron Maiden returned to the U.K. where they promptly dismissed Stratton and replaced him with Adrian Smith.
Track list:
1. Detroit Rock City
2. Cold Gin
3. Strutter
4. Calling Dr. Love
5. Firehouse
6. Talk to Me
7. Is That You?
8. 2000 Man
9. Guitar Solo – Ace Frehley
10. I Was Made For Lovin You
11. New York Groove
12. Love Gun
13. Bass Solo – Gene Simmons
14. God Of Thunder
15. Drum Solo – Eric Carr
16. Rock And Roll All Nite
17. Shout It Out Loud
18. King Of The Night Time World
19. Guitar Solo – Paul Stanley
20. Black Diamond