KISS Alive Forever: The Complete Touring History, will be released on Tuesday, October 1 but KISS ASYLUM has arranged to bring you five exclusive "sneak peeks" inside the book. Here's the first preview including two never before seen photographs from the 14th KISS concert on July 13, 1973 at the Hotel Diplomat. Advance copies of the book can be ordered at www.kissaliveforever.com.


From Chapter 2, The Clubs:

July 13, 1973
Manhattan, New York
The Crystal Room @ Hotel Diplomat
Headlining Act: The Brats
Opening Act: Planets
Attendance: 500
Promoter: KISS

For the first of what would be only two gigs at the Hotel Diplomat, KISS performed a 65-minute set. Brats guitarist Rick Rivets: "They told us they were going to rent the Diplomat because it was legal, and the cops wouldn't be coming like they did at the loft. Then both bands would just split the money, and if there were any losses, it wouldn't be that great.

"Ace had drawn up the ad for the show. He called me up and said that KISS would headline since we headlined last time. I said it was fine with me; I didn't really care because most of the people left after they had finished anyway. Unfortunately, our singer found out, and he went nuts. He called up Paul and was yelling at him over the phone, 'You guys are nothing without us!' I was thinking, 'What the hell are you doing? You know those guys are going to blow us off the stage. Let them go on after us.' But he insisted that we were the stars."

In an attempt to turn this gig into an unofficial showcase of sorts, the band sent out press kits to key industry contacts.

For this show, Paul and Gene rented a brown Mercedes limousine to bolster Peter's sagging spirits and overall feeling that the band was going nowhere.

Long time KISS fan Rick Fox, (who dated Peter Criss's sister Joanne Criscuola) remembers: "I used to sneak out of my house to go see them. For the first Diplomat Hotel gig, my friend and I bought a whole bag of balloons, blew each one of them up and drew the KISS logo and all of the band's faces on them. Then I deflated them, and carefully placed them back in the box. Right before the band came onstage, we blew the balloons back up and when the lights came up, we'd assault them with all the balloons. The band's reaction was: 'What the fuck? Where'd all the balloons come from?'

"The Diplomat had these huge mirrored columns at the corners of the stage which had a lip to it that stuck out a few inches. During the show, Ace would walk out to the edge, then around the front of the column very slowly before finally walking around back, wrapping his cord around it."

Sylvain Sylvain of the New York Dolls: "When KISS did their first show at the Diplomat I went to see them. It was so sold out and so hyped up. I remember Peter's mom was their selling T-shirts. Later Paul came up to me in the bathroom and asked me if we wanted to do shows with them which we did do once they were signed."

Rick Rivets: "They must have had at least 100 people on the guest list; it was all record company people. When we got there, the place was packed. You couldn't even move, it was so jammed. But as soon as they finished, the place cleared out."

"I was with Rick Rivets, [Brats bassist] David Leeds and Ace after the gig," lead singer for The Brats Keith West reflects, "and we headed over to Chinatown with the ten bucks we each made. By five in the morning we were really hammered, and Ace grabbed some old lady's bag and started throwing it around in the middle of the street. She has no idea who this guy is, and he's yelling 'Bonsai!' We crashed somewhere, and when we woke up in the morning David's pants were down. He had whipped cream all over him. That was Ace. "

From KISS ALIVE FOREVER: THE COMPLETE TOURING HISTORY by Curt Gooch and Jeff Suhs. (c) 2002 by Curt Gooch and Jeff Suhs. Published by Billboard Books, an imprint of Watson-Guptill Publications, New York. Photos (c) 1973/2002 by Gavino "Boji" Abaya.