Pitchfork

Metallica and Kiss are among the 30 highest-grossing touring bands of 2019 so far.

According to live music industry magazine Pollstar, the thrash icons and the shock rock legends have earned $69.7 and $58.1 million worldwide respectively between November 22, 2018 and May 22, 2019.

Also in the Top 10 are symphonic metallers Trans-Siberian Orchestra ($57.3 million), while classic rock linchpins Fleetwood Mac and Bob Seger have raked in $67.7 million and $52.8 million respectively.

Further down the list of the 100 top-grossing world tours of 2019 are Paul McCartney ($40.7 million), Eagles ($24.2 million), Roger Waters ($11.9 million), Disturbed ($11.0 million), Muse ($9.3 million), Aerosmith ($9.2 million), Shinedown ($8.1 million) and Def Leppard ($5.6 million).

The full list of the top 10 highest-earning touring bands of 2019 so far is:

1. Elton John – $82.6 million
2. Pink – $81.8 million
3. Justin Timberlake – $75.5 million
4. Metallica – $69.7 million
5. Fleetwood Mac – $67.7 million
6. Ed Sheeran – $63.6 million
7. Kiss – $58.1 million
8. Trans-Siberian Orchestra – $57.3 million
9. Bob Seger & The Silver Bullet Band – $52.8 million
10. Travis Scott – $51.7 million

Mike Brandvold

Blabbermouth

Mitch Lafon

Matt Porter

Metal Head Zone

KISS frontman Paul Stanley has posted a photo of himself with his 99-year-old dad on Twitter, and wrote a special message to him.

Paul wrote:

“Happy Fathers Day To My Dad! 99 Years Young And I’ve Never Loved You More Than Now.”

In addition, KISS bassist Gene Simmons also shared a Fathers Day message as you can read below.

“Happy Fathers Day. To all you Dads out there, love your family, love the mother of your children, love your children. And at the end of your life, that’s all you will have. And if you have that, you will have everything!”

Check out the tweets below.

KISSmuseum.com

We’ve just added over 100 new KISS T-Shirts to our website from a private collector who has a little of everything, specializing in the rare and obscure. Lots of stuff we have never seen before. Most are singles so get them while you can…

KISS T-Shirt Collection at KISSmuseum.com

Anti Music

KISS frontman Paul Stanley says that the door is open for original guitarist Ace Frehley and drummer Peter Criss to appear on the band’s End Of The Road farewell tour.

Stanley was asked about the possibility during an appearance on Columbus, OH radio station 96.3 WLVQ and Paul responded, “Who knows? I have to say that door is open, but it’s nothing that I contemplate daily.

“We’re 45 shows into a sold-out tour, and it’s going to continue. And it’s a celebration, not of any lineup of the band – it’s a celebration of everything we’ve accomplished with our fans. And that’s not limited to any particular people. So whatever happens, happens.

“But this lineup in particular – Eric’s been playing drums for over 25 years, I think, and Tommy’s been in the band for 18 years, so we have a pretty good stability and tenure of this lineup.”

Michael Brandvold

KISSmuseum.com

Some GREAT new additions for June. Guitars, albums, ’70s to the present – something for everyone…

New KISS items are HERE at KISSmuseum.com

The Hog

Loudwire

As KISS wind down their touring career, they’ve had a lot of accomplishments, including induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame back in 2014. But while they’ve rocked and rolled many nights, it definitely wasn’t a party every day en route to the Rock Hall, according to Paul Stanley.

The singer recently reflected on the Rock Hall induction with 95.7 The Hog, revealing that it wasn’t the best experience for the band, though the fans ultimately got their wishes. “It was validation for our fans, who it meant the world to,” Stanley revealed (as transcribed by Blabbermouth). “It was vindication in the sense that the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame kept us out for 17 years, and were really left with no choice but to begrudgingly let us in.”

The Starchild added, “They treated us like crap, even that night. We had trouble – how about this? – getting into the arena. We had no idea about the rundown of the show or when we were getting onstage. It was disgraceful what they did, but we won. It’s the story of KISS from the beginning – that people who believed in themselves and who were told that what they were doing wasn’t worth anything and wouldn’t succeed came out on top.”

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Jody Havenot

Michael Brandvold

Entertainment One

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Classic Rock

Iggy Pop claimed that he killed the 60s, but it turned out it was four semi-normal guys right off the streets of New York who really drove the final stake through heart of the peace-and-love decade nearly 46 years ago.

Gene Simmons, a former elementary school teacher; Paul Stanley, a cab driver with a heart-shaped face; Peter Criss, a sometime butcher and itinerant drummer who studied under the mighty Gene Krupa; and Ace Frehley, a gang member-cum-liquor delivery man. They stormed out of a $40-a-month fourth-floor walk-up in New York’s Chinatown in their six-inch platforms and sweaty black leather looking like four beasts disgorged from the underworld, and unleashed an unholy and entirely masculine creed of sex, braggadocio, innuendo and conquest, all delivered at a screeching 110 decibels and addressing every young man’s fantasies.

While the band’s message has changed over the years (they’ve become more family-friendly and forswear any cursing during the show), they still attract legions of foot soldiers into the Kiss Army – even now, when they’re calling it quits in one final tour they’ve dubbed the End Of The Road. (They’ve attempted to trademark the term with the US Patent office to prevent any other retiring bands from using it. Good luck with that.) So far, 44 shows have been played in North America, with another 25-date run beginning in August. The European leg begins next week, and there are plans to extend the tour until, probably, mid-2020.

Back at the beginning, the band were fuelled by high ambition, an unrelenting will, a prodigious work ethic and only the most rudimentary of musical talents. But they not only changed the face of musical history by painting it in Stein’s Clown White, they also kicked off their own brand of revolution, putting music back in the hands of the ordinary people and turning it back into a populist manifesto, picking up where Grand Funk Railroad left off by knocking rock music off of its lofty perch, stripping it of its perfect hair, wrecked cool and tight velvet stovepipe pants.

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Blabbermouth

KISS frontman Paul Stanley spoke to KTLA 5 Morning News about the band’s “End Of The Road” farewell tour, which kicked off in January and is expected to last for three years.

Asked what his definition of “farewell” is, Stanley said (see video below): “Well, it’s the end of the road, in the sense that we’ve spent 45-plus years touring. And as glorious as it is doing two hours on stage and playing for sold-out houses, really it takes its toll, whether it’s my two torn shoulders that have been repaired, or my bicep tendons, or my knees. I wear them proudly as battle scars.

“I think it’s time,” he continued. “The show that we’re doing right now is the biggest thing we’ve ever done. It’s just state of the art. We’ve done 44 shows so far, all of them sold out, played to half a million people, and we’re just getting started, actually. It’s a big world.”

Asked whether he still spends time practicing his guitar playing, Stanley said: “I’m on stage so much of the time, and we’re playing so often that there’s really no need. But when we rehearse, like for the ‘End Of The Road’ tour that we’re on, we spent about three months rehearsing. Now, we’ve been playing these songs for 45-plus years, but there’s a difference between playing them and really synchronizing, and that synchronicity, that comes from rehearsing. So, we took this very seriously. We wanted the band to be in top form, and if we’re gonna call it quits, it’s great to do it when everybody loves each other rather than everybody’s not talking or the band is on the decline. It seems like the right time for a victory lap, and that’s what we’re doing.”

As most fans remember, back in 2000 and 2001, KISS already performed a “Farewell Tour”. The trek, which was the last to feature drummer Peter Criss, played 142 shows over five legs, covering North America, Japan, and Australia. Stanley later said that the 2000 tour was nothing more than an attempt by the group to “put KISS out of its misery” after years of ego clashes and disagreements over songwriting credits between the band’s original members. Continue reading →

Micheal Brandvold