KISS AND DEF LEPPARD ANNOUNCE NORTH AMERICAN TOUR DATES
KISS and Def Leppard will team up this summer for a 42-city North American tour that will “deliver good news and excitement,” says KISS guitarist Paul Stanley.
The tour begins June 23rd in West Valley City, Utah, and wraps up August 31st in Woodlands, Texas. Tickets go on sale starting Friday.
The groups announced the tour Monday at the House of Blues in Los Angeles.The press conference was streamed live via the Live Nation website.
Def Leppard singer Joe Elliott says he and Gene Simmons first discussed the idea of the two bands touring together when he and the Kiss bassist played some South American dates two years ago as part of a rock-and-roll all-stars tour. “It’s finally happened, which is fantastic,” Elliott says.
It’ll be the first time the two bands have shared a bill, though Stanley says, “We’ve run into each other at festivals. It just seemed to be a natural fit.” Stanley also noted that one of guitarist Phil Collen’s pre-Def Leppard bands, Girl, opened for KISS in the U.K. during the early ’80s.
KISS did a similar co-headlining tour with Motley Crue in 2012.
KISS released its first albums, 40 years ago, and the band will commemorate the anniversary with a slew of archival releases, including a 34-LP vinyl box set and a two-CD compilation called KISS 40. The group will be inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame April 10th.
Def Leppard has been writing music for the group’s next album. “We all camped out at my house last month and wrote songs, which you will hear none of this summer,” Elliott says. Collen says he expects that album to come out in 2015.
Simmons says a dollar from each ticket sold on the tour will go to to the Wounded Warrior Project and other military non-profits. Those charitable partners include the USO, Hire a Hero, Project Resiliency/The Raven Drum Foundatio, and The Augusta Warrior Project. “Politicians fart through their mouth,” Simmons says. “Only the military makes freedom possible.”
Stanley adds that the group also plans to hire vets for its crew. “We try to find a couple of vets who want to go out and be part of the team,” he says. “This is a chance for somebody to travel and be part of the KISS Army.”
Elliot says he doesn’t see any rivalry developing between the groups while they’re on tour. “It’s two great bands that are going to be playing for the same amount of time,” he says. “It’s joint forces. I don’t see it as competitive at all.”
KISS/Def Leppard tour dates:
June:
23 – USANA Amphitheater, West Valley City, Utah
25 – Pepsi Center, Denver, Colo.
27 – Sleep Country Amphitheater, Ridgefield, Wash.
29 – White River Amphitheatre, Auburn, Wash.
July:
2 – Concord Pavilion, Concord, Calif.
3 – Sleep Train Amphitheatre, Wheatland, Calif.
5 – Verizon Wireless Amphitheatre, Irvine, Calif.
6 – Sleep Train Amphitheatre, Chula Vista, Calif.
8 – The Forum, Los Angeles, Calif.
9 – Ak-Chin Pavilion, Phoenix, Ariz.
12 – Austin360 Amphitheater, Austin, Texas (on sale March 22nd)
13 – Gexa Energy Pavilion, Dallas, Texas
15 – Riverbend Music Center, Cincinnati, Ohio
16 – Bridgestone Arena, Nashville, Tenn.
18 – Aaron’s Amphitheatre at Lakewood, Atlanta, Ga. (on sale March 22nd)
19 – PNC Music Pavilion, Charlotte, N.C.
20 – Walnut Creek Amphitheatre, Raleigh, N.C.
22 – Cruzan Amphitheatre, West Palm Beach, Fla.
23 – MIDFLORIDA Credit Union Amphitheatre, Tampa, Fla.
25 – Jiffy Lube Live, Bristow, Va.
26 – PNC Bank Arts Center, Holmdel, N.J. (on sale March 22nd)
August:
1 – Xfinity Center, Mansfield, Mass.
2 – Boardwalk Hall, Atlantic City, N.J.
3 – Susquehanna Bank Center, Camden, N.J.
5 – Saratoga Performing Arts Center, Saratoga Springs, N.Y. (on sale March 22nd)
6 – Nikon At Jones Beach Theatre, Wantagh, N.Y. (on sale March 22nd)
8 – Farm Bureau Live at Virginia Beach, Virginia Beach, Va. (on sale March 22nd)
9 – Pavilion at Montage Mountain, Scranton, Penn.
10 – Xfinity Theatre, Hartford, Conn.
12 – Molson Canadian Amphitheatre, Toronto, On.
13 – Darien Lake Performing Arts Center, Darien, N.Y. (on sale March 22nd)
15 – Alpine Valley Music Theatre, East Troy, Wisc.
16 – First Midwest Bank Amphitheatre, Tinley Park, Ill.
17 – Target Center, Minneapolis, Minn.
20 – Wells Fargo Arena, Des Moines, Iowa
22 – Klipsch Music Center, Noblesville, Ind.
23 – DTE Energy Music Theatre, Clarkston, Mich. (on sale March 22nd)
24 – First Niagara Pavilion, Burgettstown, Penn. (on sale March 22nd)
26 – Blossom Music Center, Cuyahoga Falls, Ohio
28 – Verizon Wireless Amphitheater, Maryland Heights, Mo. (on sale March 22nd)
29 – BOK Center, Tulsa, Okla.
31 – Cynthia Woods Mitchell Pavilion, Woodlands, Texas
additional source: usatoday.com
As for the tour, the days of me paying $200.00 for a ticket is over. I payed $9.00 to see Van Halen in 1981, $10.00 to see KISS in 1983. Adjust for inflation, Ticket prices are extremely over priced. I paid $185.00 for OK seats to KISS Motley Crue. $175.00 for Van Halen same year. I’m done, I’ll buy the CD’s and live DVD’s .
Unless I missed reading it, which band will open? I’m a much bigger Def Lepp fan; their music always captured me more than what KISS has put out. This is definitely an interesting pairing for a concert tour.
…and for those that wanted to support the suggestion posed by Scott Ian that Kiss was supposedly bigger today than in 1977? The real Kiss at their peak didn’t need to co-headline with a band like Foreigner or Bad Company back in the day since they could do it on their own. The Motley Crue co-headline tour wasn’t some fluke or novelty act, but the standard by which the cover band has to conform to if they are to play arenas in the U.S.. While the original Kiss was the biggest band in the world in the late 70’s, the cover band wouldn’t even come close to being in the top 10 rock acts today that have, can, and could play arenas in the states on their own merit. Bands already mentioned like AC/DC and Bon Jovi are too obvious. I’m sure the Queen get together will pull great numbers on this upcoming tour of theirs. Just two or three years ago Roger Waters was still headlining arenas just as a solo artist. Perhaps the best example is some overrated, post-grunge band like Nickelback are still headlining arenas in this country. For those that wanted to debate the cover band being bigger than the real thing in their prime need to stick with Scott Ian’s spoken word outings and leave the reality check to the Kiss fans that clearly know the difference from the classic lineup success to the Gene and Paul imposter band.
Ed – can you confirm if Night Ranger will be the third band on the bill? No mention of any opening act was made at the press conference. I know Poison was supposed to be on the tour, but Bret didn’t want to hit the road with Poison this summer. Would love to see Night Ranger on this bill.
No idea on 3rd billed band but that is usually a tough spot. very little money, set time short and very early with nobody usually in venue..
YEAH! I want to see the original KISS lineup tour too!!!! I don’t care if they don’t get along with each other. I don’t care if Ace and Peter don’t even want to tour with KISS anymore. I don’t care if they go onstage and sound horrible. I just want to see the original lineup because KISS owes me. Don’t ask me what they owe me. They just owe me. If I don’t get my way, I’m going to trash Paul and Gene because….well…because they moved on. While I’m at it, I want the mullet to come back. I want Eddie Trunk to do “Metal News” at 11 p.m. on WDHA every Friday night. I want L’Amours to reopen and have Anthrax and Metallica to play there with their original lineup. I also want Full House back on TV with the original lineup too. Why? Because KISS owes me!
Outstanding.