The Unmasked Tour was a

concert tour A concert tour (or simply tour) is a series of concerts by an artist or group of artists in different cities, countries or locations. Often concert tours are named to differentiate different tours by the same artist and to associate a specific to ...

by the American hard rock band

Kiss A kiss is the touch or pressing of one's lips against another person or an object. Cultural connotations of kissing vary widely. Depending on the culture and context, a kiss can express sentiments of love, passion, romance, sexual attraction, ...

. It was the first tour not to feature original drummer

Peter Criss George Peter John Criscuola (born December 20, 1945), better known by his stage name Peter Criss, is a retired American musician, best known as a co-founder, original drummer, and vocalist of the hard rock band Kiss (band), Kiss. Criss establi ...

, and the touring debut of his replacement

Eric Carr Paul Charles Caravello (July 12, 1950 – November 24, 1991), better known professionally as Eric Carr, was an American musician who was the drummer for the rock band Kiss from 1980 to 1991. Caravello was selected as the new Kiss drummer after ...

Background

The Unmasked tour was the first time that Kiss only played in

Europe Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a Continent#Subcontinents, subcontinent of Eurasia ...

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

, and

New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...

, with only one show played in the United States, at the Palladium Theatre in New York. "

Cold Gin "Cold Gin" is a song by the American hard rock group Kiss. The song was written by the band's lead guitarist Ace Frehley and was released in 1974 on the band's eponymous debut album. The song is featured on many compilations released by the band. ...

" returned to the set for the first time since the

Rock & Roll Over Tour The Rock and Roll Over Tour was a concert tour by the American heavy metal group Kiss. It began November 24, 1976 (shortly after the release of the ''Rock and Roll Over'' album) and ended April 4, 1977. History On February 18, 1977, the band ...

, and featured Ace Frehley on lead vocals, rather than Simmons who had sung the song on all previous tours on which it was performed. "You're All That I Want" was performed briefly, but was quickly dropped. "Strutter", which had not been performed live since the

Destroyer Tour The Destroyer Tour also known as The Spirit of '76 Tour was a concert tour by Kiss, in support of their fourth studio album '' Destroyer''. History The August 20 Anaheim, California show was the most famous show of the tour, the band played to ...

, returned to the set as well.

Iron Maiden Iron Maiden are an English heavy metal band formed in Leyton, East London, in 1975 by bassist and primary songwriter Steve Harris. While fluid in the early years of the band, the lineup for most of the band's history has consisted of Harri ...

were the opening act for the European leg of the tour. British heavy rock band

Girl A girl is a young female human, usually a child or an adolescent. When a girl becomes an adult, she is accurately described as a ''woman''. However, the term ''girl'' is also used for other meanings, including ''young woman'',Dictionary ...

supported Kiss at Stafford, Bingley Hall. During an autograph session from the band while on tour in West Germany, more than 2,000 fans in Frankfurt ended up causing severe traffic jams. The West Germany concerts would bring in a total of 100,000 fans. The stage show and costumes, with the exception of Carr and Stanley, were holdovers from the Dynasty Tour. This would be the last tour that Ace Frehley would perform with Kiss until the 1996 reunion tour. In the tour program for the band's final tour, Stanley reflected on the tour:

Reception

Roman Kozak, a reviewer from the magazine ''Billboard'' gave the performance a positive review. He opened his review, noting of the lineup changes with the introduction of the new drummer Eric Carr. Regarding the show, he acknowledged the performance as the typical Kiss show, but noted that the band were performing on a smaller stage than usual, with the performance being basically the same, with the inclusion of loud musical energy, special effects and lighting. He cited the change in the band's sound being more "melodic" and "pop-side", but still gave the fans the hard rock and heavy metal they wanted, taking note that the song "Talk to Me" was well-received by the audience.

Setlist

Detroit Rock City "Detroit Rock City" is a song by the American hard rock group Kiss, released on their 1976 album ''Destroyer''. The song was written by Paul Stanley and producer Bob Ezrin. The song is one of the band's most popular and is a classic rock staple ...

" #"

Strutter "Strutter" is a song by the American rock band Kiss, released in 1974 on their self-titled debut album, ''Kiss''. It was the third single released from the album and failed to chart. "Strutter" is one of the few Kiss songs written by Gene Simmo ...

" #"

Calling Dr. Love "Calling Dr. Love" is a song by United States, American hard rock band Kiss (band), Kiss, originally released on their 1976 album ''Rock and Roll Over''. A live version of the song was included on ''Alive II'', released in 1977. Since then, "Ca ...

" #"

Firehouse __NOTOC__ A fire station (also called a fire house, fire hall, firemen's hall, or engine house) is a structure or other area for storing firefighting apparatuses such as fire engines and related vehicles, personal protective equipment, fire h ...

" #" Talk to Me" #"Is That You?" #"2,000 Man" #"

I Was Made for Lovin' You "I Was Made for Lovin' You" is a song by American hard rock band Kiss, originally released on their 1979 album, ''Dynasty''. It was released as the A-side of their first single from the album, with "Hard Times" as the B-side. History The son ...

" #"

New York Groove "New York Groove" is a song written by English musician and producer Russ Ballard. The song was covered by rock band Hello in 1975 and later by Ace Frehley (formerly of Kiss) for his 1978 solo album. Frehley's version is the best-known versio ...

" #"

Love Gun ''Love Gun'' is the sixth studio album by American hard rock band Kiss, released on June 30, 1977. Casablanca Records and FilmWorks shipped one million copies of the album on this date. It was certified platinum and became the band's first top ...

" #"

God of Thunder Polytheistic peoples from many cultures have postulated a thunder god, the personification or source of the forces of thunder and lightning; a lightning god does not have a typical depiction, and will vary based on the culture. In Indo-European c ...

" #"

Rock and Roll All Nite "Rock and Roll All Nite" is a song by American rock band Kiss, originally released on their 1975 album '' Dressed to Kill''. It was released as the A-side of their fifth single, with the album track "Getaway". The studio version of the song pe ...

" Encore #

" Shout It Out Loud" #"King of the Night Time World" #" Black Diamond" *"You're All That I Want" was played until Nuremberg show. *" Shandi" was added as the fourth song in Oceania.

Tour dates

Cancelled dates

Personnel

Paul Stanley Paul Stanley (born Stanley Bert Eisen; January 20, 1952) is an American musician who is the co-founder, frontman, rhythm guitarist and co-lead vocalist of the hard rock band Kiss. He is the writer or co-writer of many of the band's most popular ...

– vocals, rhythm guitar *

Gene Simmons Gene Simmons (born Chaim Witz; he, חיים ויץ, ; born August 25, 1949) is an Israeli-American musician. Also known by his stage persona The Demon, he is the bassist and co-lead singer of Kiss, the hard rock band he co-founded with Paul ...

– vocals, bass *

Ace Frehley Paul Daniel "Ace" Frehley (; born April 27, 1951) is an American musician, best known as the original lead guitarist and co-founding member of the hard rock band Kiss. He invented the persona of The Spaceman (a.k.a. Space Ace) and played wit ...

– lead guitar, vocals *

– drums, vocals

References

Sources

* {{Authority control Kiss (band) concert tours 1980 concert tours