Anthony De Lucia | alive75.com
It was 1975 all over again for KISS fans as “Alive! ’75 – A Tribute to KISS” brought the KISS Alive! album to life in Newton, NJ.From the opening sampled recording of “You wanted the best and you got it…” right on through to the almost two-minutes of confetti to close the show, Alive! ’75 re-created every element of an iconic 1975 KISS performance and left their audience exhausted – and demanding more!
With the single exception of pyrotechnics and open flame which were not permitted in the theater, Alive! ’75 delivered all of the elements one might expect in a 1975 KISS concert, as well as a number of surprises. Using a combination of light, sound, special effects and good old fashion theatrical ingenuity, the show delivered all the blood, smoke and simulated fire fans were looking for. As the curtain opened and the stage set was revealed, folks could be seen pointing and shouting appreciatively in response to recognizing many of the key 1975 visual elements on the set. In fact, fans were completely blown-away when through the magic of “Broadway” a youthful Gene Simmons himself appeared right out of 1975 and on stage along side the Alive! ’75 cast to perform his infamous fire-breathing routine.
The support for the show has been tremendous and made the impossible possible. By way of example, Anthony De Lucia, the shows creator and Demon cast member, relayed the story of how the Alive! ’75 candelabra came to be. “I had been trolling the internet for months looking for something that could work on stage and pass for that classic candelabra. It was critically important to me, seeing as how there really was no other iconic prop on stage. It was proving to be a fruitless task.”
Anthony continued, “By a stroke of good fortune, I met Len DeLessio at the NJ KISS Expo a few months ago. We chatted about all things KISS and Alive! ’75 and he was very intrigued by this project. One thing led to another and a week later Len is digging through the photos he took some 39 years earlier, searching for a good shot of the candelabra for me – and he found the most perfect photograph! The angle and perspective of his photograph gave me all the information I needed to develop a detailed construction spec-sheet that I then gave to a local custom welder. A week later I was standing in front of a perfect replica of the 1975 candelabra!”
And as if that wasn’t enough of a nostalgic tie-in, Len also stayed involved with the production and ultimately came aboard and photographed the opening night show. “We were completely blown away by the generosity and support of folks like Len throughout this entire process” said Anthony. “Folks like Craig Cohen of PodKISSt who gave us an opportunity to share our story on their network and Pasquale Vari of The KISS Army Nation Facebook group who produced an early exposé for us and traveled over six hours to be there for our opening performance! And the hundreds of other fans who came out to support us despite the fact that we were a brand new project with no previous video or audio reference to speak of and only a few admittedly “not perfect” promo photos. It was very humbling and it drove us to give everything we could to deliver a great experience.”
In fact, the 1975 pre-show experience may have actually proven to be too effective, as many entered the actual theater wondering aloud about who was smoking marijuana – one patron going so far as to demand security investigate (it was all part of the experiential nature of the show). Polka Dot Ron, a local New Jersey entertainer with a decidedly mid-70s vibe did a great job in getting the audience firmly planted in the 1975 timeframe and mindset immediately preceding the concert and its overwhelming sensory assault.
“We worked very hard and paid attention to lots of details. That said, these initial shows were really a proof-of-concept in order for us to to test and learn. We wanted to see what we could deliver and, quite frankly, to see if there was even interest in this type of show. Watching some of the video footage from the show we realize there are plenty of things we missed and plenty of things we can do better next time – and there are plenty of things we got right and overall we are very proud of the package we’ve delivered.”
“We spent hours upon hours after each show hanging out with fans – now friends of the show. So grateful for folks like Eddie and Carmela, Pasquale, Bob, Scott, John, Ron, Chris, Jason, Andy and countless others. Their feedback has been incredible, both in regards to some of the smallest details they picked-up on (which makes us happy because they noticed), as well as areas we could improve in (which makes us happy because the next time we’ll get better!). It’s all good and all welcomed – we want to hear from everyone with an opinion in order to continually improve upon the performance and the production which in turn will continue to improve the overall experience for everyone involved.”
One thing is for certain with Alive! ’75 – there are even better shows to come! Plans are currently underway for 2015 dates. Complete details on this one-of-a-kind experience may be found at www.alive75.com. Contact ‘info@alive75.com‘ for more information.