KISS: Alive! 30 Dec 1982

“KISS: Alive! in Sioux City 1982”

Dr. Rox Remember When? 

Article #143; Jan 2023

By: RLSchwinden aka MrZerr0 

   Here we are, a new year, another article. In August 2022 a CD was released  on Zodiac Records #529 in Japan. “KISS: Alive! 30 Dec 1982 Sioux City, Iowa” then in November 2022 a CD Boxset “KISS Creatures Of The Night (40th Anniversary) Super Deluxe 5 CD” was released containing the 1982 Sioux City concert. Well, it just so happens myself and several of my close friends were at this show, some of us even front row; ME. And so the story goes like this…. 

My friend Eric DeW. worked at “Uncle John” and got Ticket #0001, He also got the tickets for me and Pat. Eric used to hang out at all the shows, and ended up meeting a lot of people. Eric and I put together a KISS Tribute band “Black Diamond” in hopes to do some promo for the upcoming show. We went down to the Promoters office “Terry Drea Presents:” to see what we could do to tie into this event. Vixen was to open as “Terry Drea Presents” booked them. Vixen canceled, and this was the 1st of 2 times they canceled on Drea, the 2nd being in Feb 1983. I heard they canceled because of the snowstorm,  but I also I heard because they had a bigger opportunity to open for someone else. Dare Force (Brian Bart, John O’Neil, Brian Lorenson & Mark Miller) was called in from MPLS to Open the show, I had just seen Brian Bart’s last show with DVC a couple weeks earlier. So we stood directly in front of him at first. 

I know what  the statistics  are in “KISS Alive Forever” for attendance for this concert, (as I was on the staff for this book)  but my friend Aaron who was also in attendance of this show, he and I think the S.C. Auditorium only held about 3500 people back then, from the front row looking back the house seemed almost full.

It was freezing cold that  day after a snowstorm, Eric, Pat and I walked down to the auditorium, we got there about noon that day, Eric and I left about midnight or later, Pat left before us. We went to my Apt. and Eric left about 1 am or so, because a lady I knew and worked with Merrill stopped by shortly after he left, her car had broken down and she ended up staying the night. My friend Aaron McF. was in attendance too, he recalled there were religious groups outside handing out fliers, and that fans in line were burning them to keep warm. My childhood friends Spencer and Chris were also in attendance. Someone threw up on Spencer’s girlfriend, and they left midway through the show. Chris and I took a  photo of Gene breathing fire and the exact same second, mine from the front row , Chris’ from the top balcony towards the back of the building. Local photographer Brent H. was also there and took some amazing front row photos, probably 24 in all.  

The 3 of us got there about noon, hoping to get a glimpse of KISS without makeup, and I was hoping to finally meet Ace. As Brent H. met Gene in Omaha in 1979, through his uncle, a hotel security guard.. I had brought my Kodak 110 camera and at least 1 roll of 24 exposures and my Grandma Margie’s GE Cassette Recorder and two 60 min Blank Tapes. I was skinny enough back then to hide it in the front of my jeans with my shirt over it, I have a photo of the actual machine I used. However Eric DeW. had a Press Pass from West High School. So it had been arranged for Eric to interview the Band about  6pm that day. I was not present during the interview but I do remember Eric telling me the most about his interview with Eric Carr.

The 3 of us were standing around outside the loading dock, Eric had gone to many concerts here and knew where to go to meet the bands and to occasionally get backstage too. Someone who worked at the SC Auditorium saw us standing in the cold and said we could come inside in the doorway, we naturally went a little further. The KISS Trucks were running late and the crew walked in, they all looked and dressed the same, long dark hair, sunglasses, black leather coats, and blue jeans, with a scarf, the only thing that really set them apart was the  color of their scarf, some were white, some red or blue. None of them were in a good mood. 

The 3 of us were standing there watching the crew looking over these cables, many were power cables, and 2 of them were talking, “These will not work, you need to get something else” It was then a man of some authority walked over to us 3 and asked “So what are you guys doing?” Eric responded “Just hanging out” he then asked “You want a job?” we said “Sure” so he slapped “local Crew” Passes on us and put us to work. Now they split us up, I went to “Stage Right” Gene’s side and was instructed to move all cabinets marked “Stage Right” with the sticker “Join The Dummy Club” on them. I remember pushing these 4 x 2 feet cabinets  up the ramps and thinking “Shouldn’t these things weigh more?” little did I know they were “Fake Empty Cabinets” I did take one of the stickers off and kept it, I have it to this day. As I was moving my cabinets to the right side of the stage, when Paul Stanley walked out onto the stage and was shown a guitar case by a roadie, Paul opened the case and took out a Tobacco Les Paul and looked it over and said “No, this one is not mine, it’s Ace’s. Make sure it gets back to him” I thought “What does that mean?” I looked at my Forman and said “Hey, that’s Paul Stanley!” he replied quite tersely “Get moving or there will be no show” As I walked through the halls to get more dummy cabs I passed a guy with long black hair wearing a white lab coat, I thought “Now that guy is somebody, he’s not Ace, or Eric, but he is somebody … It was in Fact Vincent Cusano. As Eric and Pat were hauling bags of dry ice up the stairway, I was at the top, a guy yells “Get the f*** out of my way, that would be Gene $immon$, when he came out of the doorway he walked on stage and looked out into the auditorium and said “What a S*** Hole, is this how far we have fallen?”   

When I was done moving  “Dummy Cabs” I was escorted off the stage to the main floor. While I was leaning against the wall, I saw Paul sitting on one of Eric Carr’s Road Cases. I remember in person his hair looked a medium brown, his skin was kind of tan, he was wearing a brown leather bomber jacket, brown jeans, and the Very Same animal print Boots he is wearing in the “Lick It Up” Video. I ran over to him and asked :Mr. Stanley, can I ask you some questions?” he replied “It’s Paul, my father is Mr. Stanley, sure what’s up?” Then for over 20 minutes, the questions came flying out of my mouth.

 So In no certain order:

“Can you give this to Ace?” PS “Sure but he’s no longer with us”

“Is it Vincent Cusano, now” PS “Yes, how did you know that?” 

“The trade magazines at the promoters office” PS “Oh yea, well he’s Vinnie Vincent now”

“Is that because of Ace’s last car crash and pneumonia?” PS “well he’s recovered from that, but for other reasons too”  

“When did you stop playing “Parasite” live?” PS, “About 1975”

“Who’s going to sing Black Diamond” PS” Why, Eric will he’s got a great voice” 

“Is this tonight’s set list?” PS “No, this is last night’s, we didn’t do “Strutter” last night” 

“That’s the 1st song you wrote together?” PS “Sort of, Gene had a song that I added onto” 

“Who wrote what on “Comin Home” “Rock Bottom” and “Flaming Youth?” PS “I had the bulk of the song written before I brought in the studio Ace just added some chords, Ace just added the intro to my song, Ace had written the main riff for the song with Gene, Bob (Ezrin) and I finished it off in the studio, you see we never really ever wrote songs together” 

“Gene wrote with Stephen Coronel, was he the guitarist before Ace? PS “No. Gene was in a band with him, and then I was in a band with him, and he introduced us to each other.

“Why Did you stop using the “L6” PS “Well it’s actually a “Midnight Special” maple neck with a white body and sparkles in the finish” 

“Do you still have it? You want to sell?” S “Yes, it’s in the warehouse in NY, and no I’m going to keep it” 

“Do you consider yourself a Musician or a Performer” PS “I think the 2 go hand in hand” 

“For “Creatures” did you record it live in the studio like AC/DC does or did you layer tracks?” PS “Both, we played the basics “live” in the studio but with plexiglass partitions so we could see each other, then we layered tracks over that, but the foundation was live”

I had Paul autograph my “Creatures” promo poster and Promo Kit PS “Where’d you get these, were not selling them?” 

“I got it from the Promoter at his office” 

Eric had a piece of his Stratocaster Autographed. Me “You don’t have any Strats do you?” PS “I own one, but I don’t play it live, Vinnie uses a Strat on a couple songs in our show” 

“How come Gene had no new songs on “Killers” PS “well, I had several songs ready and Gene didn’t” 

“What’s with the animal print on your BC Rich?” Paul looks at his animal print boots and responds “I kinda like it don’t you?” 

“I heard about a show where “RUSH” played some pranks on you guys and in return you guys did worse to them, like RUSH wore your makeup and played “Rock And Roll All Nite” and you guys hit them with cream pies, then RUSH rolled marbles across the stage and shot toy arrows at you guys” PS “Wow, how’d you hear that? Not quite, but you got it really close though, it went something like this….”

*about 3 weeks later, Eric came over to my Apt. and handed me this “Circus” Magazine on the cover a small photo of Paul Stanley with the headline “KISS Stories From the Road” where Paul recalls what really happened on the last show of the KISS/ RUSH Tour Dec 1975. Eric handed me a copy and said “This is because of YOU, I was standing right there when you asked him about this specific show, Merry Christmas” 

Then I proceeded to ask him about various things, “His Dad” “His Niece” “Maroon Corvette” “His Makeup” etc. 

Paul excused himself to do some charity work for a little girl in a wheelchair. 

A little later after this I was instructed to take a walkie talkie to the building’s office and answer calls if they came in. As I walked through the backstage area, I passed the guitar room ?Larry? was changing strings on Paul’s guitars, I stopped and asked him a few questions “Are you their usual tech?” L: “No, I am Rick Neilsen’s Guitar Tech, but they are off right now” me “Does Paul change his strings every show?” L: “No, I do it for him” A few minutes later I saw 2 roadies sawing the necks on the Gibson Sonex Guitars that Paul was going to break over the next few nights. One roadie was playing, a Sonex and singing old folk songs like “Oh Suzannah” and other songs like that. Then I passed Paul walking through the halls, I thought he was looking for the toilet, I told him “It’s that way, he replied “I know where it is” the tour manager told me, “That’s how he gets his exercise, is walking the venue’s  hallways before a show”   I was in the office for about 20 min. I got to read the Tour Rider 3 Ring Binder while waiting, I took the top page off and kept it for a souvenir. Then the tour manager came and got me and said I was done for the day. As I was walking up from the 1st floor, I passed by the loading bays, my friend Eric D. came rolling in on a drum case wearing Paul’s Actual Firehat, he handed it to me and exclaimed “Look the badge is just a paper sticker!”  

We were taken to the main floor, and told we could stay here until showtime. Low and behold, Gene, Eric and Paul walked out on stage, NO MAKEUP and began to do soundcheck! I remember them running through parts of songs for the setlist, about 3 different ones, (Firehouse, Calling Dr. Love, Black Diamond)  But I also remember them running through some parts of songs I did not know, (Keep Me Comin, I’m A Legend Tonight, Rock And Roll Hell)) at this point Big John Hart walks in and shouts “What are you guys doing in here?” I responded, “Hey Big John it’s cool we have passes” he said “Not for in here, right now you don’t, now get out” he chased us out the side doors, so we sat with our ears to the closed doors and listening as best we could.

And showtime, Dare Force from Minneapolis was the opener, I was familiar with about half of their original songs, (Pushin Your Luck, On My Way, Set My Soul On Fire, Are You ready?) I took a few photos of them. Then KISS comes on, I am still front row directly in front of Paul. I noticed right away he was singing in a higher pitch. On the new CD of this show, in a Youtube post the host mentions the part where Paul points out “Somebody was giving him the finger” the YT Host states he thinks it’s because it’s Vinnie and not Ace, let me tell you something, I was one of Very Few People Who Did Know That Was Vinnie Vincent, and not Ace. I hear several people say “Why do you think Ace changed his makeup” In fact only 2 years later in the same month the same thing happened in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, when Bruce Kulick walked out instead of Mark St. John. I told my friend Kevin S. (Dec 1984) “This is my favorite band, I am not sure who that guy is on lead guitar, I think it’s Bob Kulick’s brother” The guy giving Paul the finger, was the person on my left side an great big burly A**hole of a dude and he was giving Paul the finger, because he thought it was cool. In fact at the end of “Rock And Roll All Night” when Paul broke the Sonex, he handed the neck right to my friend Eric  D. and walked over to me and handed the body to me, the Big Burly Dude, elbowed me in the chest and as I fell backwards he took the body of the guitar out of my hands. Worth noting, a month later he ran an ad in the Sioux City Journal “Selling the body of Paul Stanley’s guitar for $200.oo” No, I did not buy it. But I did get a piece off of the neck that Eric got. 

I looked over the set list Paul gave to my friend Eric D. I noticed they were performing 6 songs off of the new Album, I don’t think they had ever done that since the 1st album in 1974. And 4 songs from the 1st album, well it was the “10th Anniversary Tour” after all, 3 songs off of “Destroyer” 2 off of “Rock And Roll Over” and 1 off “Dressed To Kill” and 1 off of “Love Gun” nothing off “The Elder” “Unmasked” or “Dynasty” or even “Hotter Than Hell”

On “Creatures Of The Night” Vinnie used a Black Strat. that actually got left behind and Vinnie had to call back and ask that he be forwarded to him. 

I expected during “Firehouse” Paul would toss his fire hat out to the crowd, since it was just a sticker on the badge, but I was close enough to see he tossed to a roadie on his side of the stage.

I think on “I Love It Loud” Gene sang the same verse 2 times. 

Vinnie did his guitar solo after “I Want You” using a Gold Jackson Shark and Violin Bow, I remember thinking “he’s just copying Jimmy Page now”  

During “Rock And Roll Hell” they shot off a lot of pyro, a lot. It got so hot in the front that Pat C. passed out and they had to take him to the hospital. So much pyro that during the next song “I Still Love You” the stage curtains caught on fire. The curtains probably being made of asbestos, created a  smoke that was so thick and killer, Paul started choking during the guitar solo of “I Still Love You” but was still able to finish the song. 

During “God Of Thunder” there was a guy next to Pat yelling “Spit On Me Gene, Spit On Me” 

On Eric’s Drum Solo, I was back stage to see them setting it up, the turret was on a Children’s Train Track, and moved from inside by 3 roadies, no mechanics what so ever. I did get an Eric Carr drum stick, that he actually used, they were blank, only the ones he tossed to the crowd had the KISS: Eric Carr printing on them. 

During Paul’s “Love Gun Rap” I kept yelling “Love Gun” he looked me right in the eye when he said “Cock” and even had a slight grin when I was shocked. 

On “Rock N Roll All Nite” this was the 1st tour where they cut the 1st Chorus down to 2 lines instead of 4. I watched Gene and Eric go into the 3rd line as Paul and Vinnie looked at them like “What are doing?” when these 2 went back into the song.

A guy I knew from the promoter’s office Jake J. was one of the people in charge of cleaning up the dressing rooms, he told me later, “Man those guys did a lot of “coke” there was white powder everywhere. Little did Jake know it was setting powder for the makeup. I found out later my dad Bill helped the local union crew tear down, because KISS was so far behind schedule for the Rockford show. My dad saw Vinnie went over to him and said “My kid is a huge fan, can I get a guitar pick from you for him?” Vinnie just told him to “F*** Off” he said Vinnie was a total ass and it was all he could do not to punch him. My Dad, DID get me a pick, by the way.

Here is the SetList for this Concert. From MY Cassette recording.

Creatures Of The Night
Strutter (added for this night)
Calling Dr. Love
Firehouse
I Love It Loud
Cold Gin
Keep Me Comin’ (dropped after this show)
War Machine (written by: Bryan Adams)
I Want You
Vinnie Vincent Guitar Solo (with Violin Bow)
Rock And Roll Hell (written by: Bryan Adams)
I Still Love You
Shout It Out Loud
Bass & Blood Solo (with sound effects)
God Of Thunder
Eric Carr Drum Solo
Love Gun

Paul Stanley Guitar Solo (the riff later added to: Lick It Up)
Black Diamond (Sung by: Eric Carr)
Detroit Rock City
Rock And Roll All Nite (Paul broke a Gibson Sonex)

This article is Dedicated to:
Eric DeW. Pat C. Brent H. Chris C. Spencer C. Eric W. John S. Aaron McF.

Well there you have it folks the summary of Mr. Zer0’s PsychoGello Show, you can hear this radio Show at www.MrZeroS.Com – Podcast as well as 89 other PsychoGello Shows. You can also hear Mr. Zer0’s “Evolation Show” and “Hits And History Shows w/ Rick Burnett” on www.MixCloud.Com

 This day in history Thurs 30 Dec 1982 and MrZerr0 was there the entire time with a  cassette recorder …with that MrZerr0 has left the station.

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