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With
any luck, all most of the crew would hear was the quiet hum of
the bus air conditioning as they sleep off the effects of whatever
they'd imbibed the night before, while inside the arena, at 6:00
am, the riggers were at play. Thus begins another day on the road.
Its a show day and the company rigger is inside directing the
hang. All the lighting and sound equipment must be hung from the
arena ceiling, using 3/8" or 1/2" dia. wire rope and
1 or 2 ton chain hoists. Its a blend of art, science, and muscle.
Local hires walk the high steel and pull the heavy cables up by
hand under the watchful eyes of the company rigger, who makes
sure the chains fall at their prescribed locations.
At
7:00, the lighting crew is up and around and can begin unloading
their equipment from one of the 5 semis that make up the KISS
fleet. As soon as it is safe to do so, the lighting trusses are
placed onstage, assembled, and attached to the chain hoists hung
by the riggers only minutes earlier. Speed is of the essence,
for often the only access to the venue is across the stage, and
nothing else moves until the lighting crew is done. For this reason
heavy use of modular components is encouraged. Lamps are hung
six at a time on pre wired bars fed with a single multi-conductor
cable.
On this
day, however, there is plenty of room, and the sound boys can
begin unloading and rolling their fuzzy boxes around the stage
to the front where they will hang on their own chain hoists. If
all goes well no one will have to wait for anyone else to move
out of the way, and the load in will proceed like clockwork. How
often does this happen? Not very! As the lighting rig finally
leaves the floor, the pre wired KISS sign is laid out flat and
assembled. The 20' by 40' sign travels in 7 large sections. Once
it is built it is attached to its own truss and flown up vertically
behind the stage, all 3 tons of it!
Now the stage is empty once again, and the sound baskets are ready to fly. The set carpenters take over, unloading and assembling their set, followed closely by the band roadies and the monitor engineers who have their own, onstage, sound system to unload and build. The lighting crew works offstage, hooking up dimmers and consoles, and tying in the 1200 amps of power needed to bring their lighting system to life. On a good day most of the heavy work is done by 2:00 pm, leaving time for focusing lights and making adjustments. Sound check is at 4:00pm. Then its dinnertime! After that its time for a nap, or, perhaps a search for that special gal to fulfill your wildest dreams for ten minutes or so.
Thank
God for opening acts! Otherwise I'd of never gotten any rest at
all! I would usually curl up on a nice comfy road box backstage
somewhere. This way I would be sure of not being late for the
KISS set. Going out to the bus for forty winks was out of the
question, no one would ever find me. There was always too much
pre show shenanigans going on out there anyway. The blasting noise
of the opening band became my lullabye, and I was out till the
house lights came on and the eerie calm before the storm of intermission
awoke me. KISS openers in the '80's included such household names
as Wendy
O'Williams and the Plasmatics, Blue Oyster Cult, Bon Jovi,
Queensryche, Anthrax, and many others.
B eing the lighting
director afforded me the best seat in the house, as far as I was
concerned. After a brief chat over the headsets with up to 12
local followspot operators outlining my plans for the show there
was nothing to do but wait. Everything was as ready as it could
be. Sometimes the houselights would go out without warning, cued
from backstage. Suprise! Time to go to work. The opening moments
of the show were always a heady adrenaline rush for me. Every
mouth in the place screaming, every hand waving, every speaker
blasting.
After 90 minutes of ear splitting sound, blinding light and fairly intense concentration, I'm drained, and everyone in the place is exausted. But as the smoke clears and the crowd files out into the cold, the night is far from over. The carefully choreographed dance of the load in is now played in reverse to an audience of sweepers and moppers. This process usually took between 3 and a half and 4 hours. Meaning tail lights pulling away at 2 or 3 in the morning, with the spectre of starting the whole process over again looming a mere 4 hours away, five times a week. At this point I'd like to take a moment to thank all the Brothers and Sisters in I.A.T.S.E locals all across the country who helped us every day. Thanks for visiting the Jeff Durling KISS page.
For an excellent, and heartfelt tribute to the late Eric Carr, along with information on how you can help to keep his memory alive, please visit Den's Eric Carr Tribute Page
Try some of these books available at Amazon.com |
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| Kiss: The Early Years by Gene Simmons, Waring Abbott (Photographer), Paul Stanley |
Join Gene Simmons and Paul Stanley as they take you on a wild ride through the early years of kiss |
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| Kiss Alive Forever: The Complete Touring History |
Over a quarter century’s worth of visually spectacular and financially profitable concerts are testimony to that fact. KISS Alive Forever is the must-have reference for every die-hard KISS fan—-a complete archive of well over 1,900 performances, all categorized by tour. |
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| Kiss and Make-Up by Gene Simmons |
Best known for their pyrotechnic concerts and outrageous makeup, KISS has inexplicably endured for more than 30 years. Frontman Simmons here speaks to that longevity, as well as to the band's sale of 80 million records. After covering his childhood in Haifa, Israel, he quickly moves into the evolution of KISS, which he cofounded with Paul Stanley in New York City in 1972. Interspersed with commentary on the band are plenty of details on Simmons's social life. |
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| Kiss: Pledge Allegiance to the State of Rock and Roll: Stories Behind the Songs (Stories Behind the Songs Series) | Fuelled by an explosive mix of make-up, costumes, and attitude, Kiss burst on the music scene over thirty years ago and has become a rock institution. The band has sold more than eighty million records, has broken every concert attendance record set by Elvis Presley and the Beatles, and stands behind the Beatles alone in number of gold records in history. Kiss: Pledge Allegiance to the State of Rock and Roll features an in-depth interview with founding members Gene Simmons and Paul Stanley, and also focuses on the special relationship the band enjoys with its audience. (Kiss fans offer their own anecdotes.) Paul Elliot traces the origins of the band’s music through the 1970s, when they were the biggest band in the world, the 1980s when they took off their world-famous war paint, and into the 1990s, when they came back bigger and badder to become the world’s number one touring band. | |||
| Guitar World Presents Kiss (Guitar World Present Series) | The book is written in interview format, laced throughout with raw emotion, which provides a candid glance at the human face of this "Outer Wordly", "Bigger Than Life" band. It is a must for any KISS fan. | |||
| The Kiss Years Second Edition |
Relive KISS' soar to the top with outtakes and favorite memories from 1976 (Destroyer, Rock and Roll Over), 1977-78 (Love Gun, Alive II), 1981 (Music from the Elder) and 1996/97's Alive Worldwide Tour. |
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| Goldmine Kiss Collectibles Price Guide |
KISS is still one of the hottest bands in the world today and the most collectible musical group, next to Elvis and the Beatles. This book, featuring 2,000 listings and 500 color photos of the band's merchandise, offers detailed listings for every U.S. recording, as well as a large number of foreign releases. There are also detailed listings of more than 250 licensed products produced from 1974-1998, from action figures, Beanies and die-cast cars, to Halloween costumes, posters and videos. |
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Use the search box to find some of KISS's most popular albums like: 'Psycho Circus', 'Alive II', 'Love Gun', 'Rock and Roll Over', 'Hot in the Shade', 'Creatures of the Night', 'Music from 'The Elder'', 'Dynasty', 'Kiss', 'Dressed to Kill', 'Destroyer', 'Alive!', 'Hotter Than Hell', 'Crazy Nights', 'Revenge', 'Lick It Up', 'Asylum', 'Animalize', 'Alive III', 'Carnival of Souls: The Final Sessions', 'MTV Unplugged', 'Kiss Unmasked' |
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| Type in your selection and press the GO button | ||||
Links to Other Kiss Sites-
Last updated on Tuesday May 2, 2000
