Description
Double cd in digipak cover. Limited 100 copies
With albums such as Dynasty, Unmasked and The Elder the bands popularity in USA had sunk to a rock bottom. They had basically not been able to tour in USA for three years. With a new songwriter (who later would become their replacement for Ace Frehley) the band released their heaveist album in long time, Creatures Of The Night. Paul had commented that he felt that many acts were borrowing heavily from the show Kiss had put on, so it was time to take the real deal out on the road. It was time to stop the rot, and, as needs must, so too did the band need to hit the road and prove to the masses that they were still alive, still relevant, and more importantly had gotten over their artistic dalliances of the previous three albums. In those basic terms, the band more than delivered with the metallic assault of Creatures Of The Night. Some advertisments for the tour even had a quote by Gene printed in their ads “To hell with bad times and the economy the way it is. Were going out with the biggest show on the road”. The band brought with them a military looking heavy metal stage with a central tank-turret drum riser and tank-tread side stages. Additional dead space on the stage was filled with amplifiers and numerous flash-pots, while the omnipresent lighted Kiss logo filled the background. As would be noted throughout the tour, the lighting was, as was expected from the band, impressive when combined with the other elements of the show. Before the headling tour started Ace was out and Vinnie was in but many show were advertized with older stock photos — some including Ace, and some even with Peter era line-ups. So many fans was shocked and confused to see a strange unknown figure on stage as the band they thought they knew performed. From the beginning the tour had issues, with the first show being cancelled due to weather preventing the band and equipment from converging in the same place at the same time. Religious protests, which the band had previously experienced and were becoming more en vogue, and being targeted at rock groups in general, followed the band through many of the markets they visited. As the saying goes, any press is good press, though the accompanying news articles did little to raise interest in the tour. From available stats, the tour averaged 59.12% attendance. That sort of mediocrity was not what the band were looking for and later Paul said, “the Creatures tour did horrendously in most markets. Before we went onstage, we’d hear ‘You wanted the best, you got the best, the hottest band in the land…’ and we’d walk out to find nobody was there. Sometimes there would be only a thousand people in an arena that could hold eighteen thousand. We had packed the same venues a few years before, but now, if I threw my guitar pick too far, it sailed over people’s heads and landed on the floor”. This double album features and early show from the tour, recorded at the Civic Center in Ottawaw, Canada on the 15th of January 1983 (in front of 4900 people in an arena that could hold 7000 visitors). With an attendance above the average of the tour the band tries to give it all. However their local music reporter wasnt impressed and wrote, “Kiss was once described as the greatest act since death, but it now appears to be gasping its last breathe of air. Judging from the display of tedious drama Saturday night at the Civic Centre the one-time fearsome foursome has chosen not to exit kicking and screaming but merely wait patiently for the arrival of the grim reaper… Despite the arsenal of fireworks, smoke bombs, and towering torches of fire that were set off, Kiss had no life, no real excitement. The band didn’t seem to be having so much fun and so it wasn’t much of a party for the audience either”
Track list:
1. Intro
2. Creatures Of The Night
3. Detroit Rock City
4. Cold Gin
5. Calling Dr. Love
6. Guitar Solo – Paul Stanley
7. I Want You
8. Guitar Solo – Vinnie Vincent
9. I Love It Loud
10. Firehouse
11. Drum Solo – Eric Carr
12. War Machine
13. Love Gun
14. Bass Solo – Gene Simmons
15. God Of Thunder
16. I Still Love You
17. Shout It Out Loud
18. Black Diamond
19. Rock N Roll All Nite