STRIKE 41

KISS CONQUERS EUROPE


 


 I was two years old, and probably didn’t know what good rock ‘n roll music was all about, the last time the original lineup of KISS were in Europe. But in November/ December 1996 it was time again for the greatest rock-warriors in the universe to conquer Europe.
My plan for the tour was to see as many shows as possible in the shortest time and in the cheapest way. So I and my friend Venus made a plan starting in Stockholm and ending in Dortmund. In 16 days we were going to see 13 shows. Venus rented a car and bought a lot of food. I took the plane to Stockholm and met up with Venus. We knew it was going to be tough to drive, sleep and eat in the car, but it sure was wel well worth it.
The first show in Stockholm, Friday Dec. 6th, was really great. When the lights went out and the famous intro began the crowd went wild. The bombs went off and “Deuce” began. During the second song, which was “King of the Night Time World”, a wall of Marshall cabinets rose up from the stagefloor. They continued through the set. One moment that I remember very well about this show was the way Gene started “God of Thunder”. He used the famous I Love It Loud intro. I think a lot of people expected that song since it had a lot of radio-time the past year. Paul was talking in Swedish, saying things like, “I love your butt” and “You are cute”. He also announced that the show for the summer was the fastest sell-out in the history of Sweden so they added a second show which later also sold out. The audience was really hot and sang along to every song, even the guitar solo in Detroit Rock City. You could see in the bandmembers’ faces that they were pleased with their performance. Right after the show we left for Gothenburg. This show was also as close as possible to perfection. The songs were exactly the same. Nothing special to mention about this show.

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