Metal, Hardcore, Indie, Rock
On Saturday, November 15, KISS performed an energetic “unmasked” concert at the “KISS Kruise: Landlocked In Vegas” event held at the Virgin Hotels resort and casino complex in Las Vegas. As reported by blabbermouth.net, Bruce Kulick, who first joined KISS in 1984 and remained the band’s lead guitarist for 12 years, accompanying them on the “Animalize” tour and staying with them until the 1996 reunion tour, joined the legendary rockers on stage for the final two songs: guitarist/vocalist Paul Stanley, bassist/vocalist Gene Simmons, guitarist Tommy Thayer, and drummer Eric Singer.
Setlist:
Producer Mark Canton and director McG (full name: Joseph McGinty Nichol) talked about the upcoming “biopic” “Shout It Out Loud” about KISS. “Shout It Out Loud” will honor the band’s heritage, according to McG, a former music producer and music video director who later directed feature films including “Terminator Salvation” and “Charlie’s Angels.”
I think KISS is the most exciting rock n’ roll band in history, and because of that, we owe the [KISS] Army the most exciting film in history. I think with this band, the fact that this band broke on a live record, [they] broke on a live record because people want to feel what it was like to go to the show. I’m from Michigan, so I feel a particular affinity to the band. My goal is to give everybody something you can go to the theater and just have your face melted and just feel the heat coming off the stage — and for that matter, coming off the screen — which is what I get so excited about at a KISS show. Then, when it gets to the streamers and you can watch it at home and live this incredible story that is far more strange than fiction – two buddies, a cab driver [driving] to Madison Square Garden [saying], ‘One day, that’s going to be me,’ and a substitute teacher whose mother is a Holocaust survivor. Against all odds, didn’t get it done as WICKED LESTER, put the paint on, developing personas, it’s the ultimate rock n’ roll fantasy, and it’s going to kick your fuckin’ ass.
Both McG and I have a history of making movies for movie fans. Music [and] movies go together in everything that we do, and we know that this is the age where you have to make choices, and what is going to get you out of your house and rocking? Where is the connection? You have a lot of choices, and, of course, affordability is something we’re all hearing about [right now], but we can assure you that for all of your hard-earned effort, money, family and everything else, that you’re going to go out, you’re going to be inspired. We’re going to have you go into the theater feeling that connection that you have all earned over the years, and you’re going to come out of the theater that much the better for it… We’re really focused on good stories well-told. It is not just about the event — it’s about telling a story about these two incredible individuals who came together against all odds. It’s that type of story that everyone relates to, I think more than ever these days around the world. We’re really proud of the screenplay. We feel like it’s going to be not just a fun movie, but a great movie. – Marc Canton
I think more than any other band in the history of rock n’ roll, there is rock n’ roll before KISS, and there is rock n’ roll after KISS. If you think of ‘The Social Network’ — there was the world before Facebook, then Facebook happened, and it was forever changed, and now it’s just a part of our world. Rock n’ roll was pretty straightforward until KISS came along and blew it up, literally and figuratively, with bombs and pyrotechnics and spitting blood and costumes and fun and explosiveness and providing a life that was larger than our own… Taylor Swift has pyrotechnics. That all traces back to KISS. This is the inflection point in the movie where the world was forever changed through the power of rock ‘n’ roll. – McG
