GENE SIMMONS Recalls One Of His Most Memorable KISS Gigs: Japan, 1977 - "German Shepherds And Armed Police Were On Call To Monitor The Audience"
March 20, 2019, 5 years ago
KISS will bring their End Of The Road tour to the UK from July 9th - 16th. Ahead of the dates, Gene Simmons offered some anecdotes to Telegraph.co.uk's Travel section, recalling gigs in Japan and Donnington, and explaining why the Tower Of London is on his travel wish-list.
Recalling one of his most memorable gigs, Japan, 1977, Simmons reveals: "German Shepherds and armed police were on call to monitor the audience when we first played at the Budokan in Tokyo. They were out en masse to ensure that none of the audience made any noise or moved from their seats while the artist was on stage. At the end, the audience had to clap very politely. Obviously, we assumed the show was going terribly, but it was explained to us later. The culture’s changed there but our Japanese and Chinese fans are generally more reserved."
In regards to European festivals, Gene states: "We’ve headlined at Donington a few times and I’m continually astonished by the fact that, even when it’s raining cats and dogs, 70,000 or 80,000 people are getting drenched, covered in mud, but they’re still jumping up and down like locusts and having the time of their lives. At a Californian festival, rain would be a major disaster - but I guess the English are pretty used to it."
Read more at Telegraph.co.uk.
The End Of The Road tour lands in Toronto tonight, March 20th, at Scotiabank Arena. Find the itinerary here, and see pro-shot footage from the tour below:
