The Alive/Worldwide Tour (also known as the Reunion Tour) was a concert tour by American rock band Kiss which began on June 28, 1996 in Detroit, United States and concluded on July 5, 1997 in London, England. It was the first tour with original members Peter Criss and Ace Frehley since the Dynasty Tour in 1979.
Background
While Kiss continued to exist publicly as Simmons, Stanley, Kulick and Singer, arrangements for a reunion of the original lineup were in the works. These efforts culminated with a public event as dramatic as any the band had staged since its 1983 unmasking on MTV. With those statements, Tupac Shakur introduced the original Kiss lineup, in full makeup and Love Gun-era stage outfits, to a rousing ovation at the 38th Annual Grammy Awards on February 28, 1996:
On April 16, 1996, the band members held a press conference aboard the in New York City, where they announced their plans for a full-fledged reunion tour, with the help of new manager Doc McGhee. The conference, MC'd by Conan O'Brien, was simulcast to 58 countries. On April 20, nearly 40,000 tickets for the tour's first show sold out in 47 minutes.Gooch and Suhs, Kiss Alive Forever, p. 224. The band would bring back their vintage stunts, including Simmons' blood-spitting and fire-breathing, Frehley's smoking and shooting guitar, pyrotechnics and platform risers.
The members worked out to get into better physical shape for the tour, with Frehley going for plastic surgery, as Stanley stated that they 'did not want people to be disappointed when they saw a bunch of fat guys in tights'.
Following rehearsals, Kiss began their reunion tour on June 15, 1996 with a warmup gig in Irvine, California for the KROQ Weenie Roast. It was considered by the band to be a live rehearsal for many aspects of the stage show before the tour was set to begin at a sold out Tiger Stadium in Detroit on June 28, 1996, playing to approximately 40,000 people. The tour lasted for 192 shows over the course of one year and earned $43.6 million, making Kiss the top-drawing concert act of 1996. On April 5, 1997 during the band's show at the Columbus Civic Center, Criss was unable to perform, resulting in the band bringing in the drum technician Ed Kanon for that performance.
In the tour program for the band's final tour, Stanley reflected on the tour:
Reception For the warmup performance at the KROQ "Weenie Roast", a reporter from the Los Angeles Times noted on the weak, stringy voice of Stanley, claiming that he was ill-equipped for his operatic style that 'it's almost heroic for him to even try'. He noted that Kiss still looked and sounded like Kiss, noting on the teamwork that the band were sharing during the performance, concluding that both Criss and Frehley were now 'reconciled for fun and lots of profit'.Los Angeles Times, June 17, 1996
A reporter from Rolling Stone who attended the first show of the tour at Tiger Stadium in Detroit, stated: "Sure, Kiss suck, but give them a little credit - they've sucked for more than 20 years. Surviving has meant the band has lived long enough to see its influence on the next generation, which perhaps explains the shocking spectacle of Billy Corgan and Sebastian Bach bonding backstage. So, OK, maybe Kiss don't suck. And in their defense, it should be shouted out loud that they were one of the first bands to embrace fully the notion of rock as a show, thus putting them ahead of the curve that would soon bring us Cats and the re-emergence of Las Vegas as the new American capital."Rolling Stone #740
From the final show in London at Finsbury Park, a reporter from The Independent stated: "As you'd expect with Kiss, it was one of the best stage entrances ever but, apart from a few moments, the gig soon sagged. They retained some interest through theatrics... the fact that all this was going on in daylight didn't help but when dusk fell, Kiss moved up several gears. Since it was the last night of a world tour that started over a year ago, sentimentality was a recurring theme. Singer and band spokesman Paul Stanley babbled on how important the Kiss Army were and how he'd like to get among them... If this was theatre, it was the theatre of the absurd, where the joke seemed to be on Kiss, until, finally, you realized that you'd had been laughing with them, not at them, all along."The Independent, July 11, 1997
Set list The following set list was performed at the warmup show of the tour in Irvine, California and is not intended to represent all of the shows on tour. "Deuce" "Love Gun" "Cold Gin" "Calling Dr. Love" "Firehouse" "Shock Me" "100,000 Years" "Detroit Rock City" "Black Diamond" Encore "Rock and Roll All Nite"
Tour dates + List of 1996 concerts, showing date, city, country, venue, and opening acts Date City Country Venue Opening Act(s)June 15, 1996IrvineUnited StatesIrvine Meadows Amphitheatre Red Hot Chili PeppersJune 28, 1996DetroitUnited StatesTiger Stadium Alice in ChainsSpongeJune 30, 1996LouisvilleFreedom Hall Alice in ChainsJuly 2, 1996St. LouisKiel CenterJuly 3, 1996Kansas CityKemper ArenaJuly 5, 1996DallasReunion Arena PushmonkeyJuly 6, 1996HoustonThe SummitJuly 7, 1996San AntonioAlamodomeJuly 9, 1996New OrleansLouisiana Superdome The MelvinsJuly 10, 1996MemphisPyramid ArenaJuly 12, 1996MolineThe MARK of the Quad CitiesJuly 13, 1996Saint PaulSt. Paul Civic CenterJuly 14, 1996RosemontRosemont Horizon July 16, 1996 The NixonsJuly 17, 1996FairbornErvin J. Nutter CenterJuly 19, 1996ClevelandGund ArenaJuly 20, 1996 D GenerationJuly 21, 1996PittsburghCivic Arena The NixonsJuly 22, 1996 D GenerationJuly 25, 1996New York CityMadison Square GardenJuly 26, 1996 CIVJuly 27, 1996 311July 28, 1996 The NixonsJuly 30, 1996BostonFleetCenterJuly 31, 1996 D GenerationAugust 2, 1996Quebec CityCanadaColisée de QuebecAugust 3, 1996MontrealMolson CentreAugust 5, 1996OttawaCorel CentreAugust 6, 1996TorontoSkyDomeAugust 8, 1996CincinnatiUnited StatesRiverfront ColiseumAugust 9, 1996IndianapolisMarket Square ArenaAugust 10, 1996MilwaukeeBradley CenterAugust 17, 1996LeicestershireEnglandCastle Donington August 21, 1996PhoenixUnited StatesAmerica West Arena Stabbing WestwardAugust 23, 1996InglewoodGreat Western ForumAugust 24, 1996August 25, 1996 Red FiveAugust 27, 1996San JoseSan Jose Arena Stabbing WestwardAugust 28, 1996SacramentoARCO ArenaAugust 30, 1996PortlandRose Garden ArenaAugust 31, 1996TacomaTacoma DomeSeptember 1, 1996SpokaneSpokane ArenaSeptember 2, 1996VancouverCanadaGeneral Motors PlaceSeptember 5, 1996Salt Lake CityUnited StatesDelta Center The HungerSeptember 7, 1996DenverMcNichols Sports ArenaSeptember 8, 1996September 10, 1996Valley CenterBritt Brown ArenaSeptember 11, 1996Oklahoma CityMyriad Convention CenterSeptember 13, 1996TupeloTupelo ColiseumSeptember 14, 1996BirminghamBJCC ColiseumSeptember 15, 1996PensacolaPensacola Civic CenterThe Verve PipeSeptember 17, 1996MiamiMiami ArenaSeptember 19, 1996JacksonvilleJacksonville ColiseumSeptember 20, 1996St. PetersburgThunderdomeSeptember 22, 1996OrlandoOrlando ArenaSeptember 24, 1996North CharlestonNorth Charleston ColiseumSeptember 25, 1996ColumbiaCarolina ColiseumSeptember 27, 1996CharlotteCharlotte ColiseumSeptember 28, 1996GreensboroGreensboro ColiseumSeptember 29, 1996KnoxvilleThompson–Boling ArenaOctober 1, 1996 AtlantaOmni ColiseumOctober 2, 1996 The BogmenOctober 4, 1996RoanokeRoanoke Civic CenterOctober 5, 1996HamptonHampton ColiseumOctober 6, 1996LandoverUSAir ArenaOctober 7, 1996 DeftonesOctober 8, 1996PhiladelphiaCoreStates Center The BogmenOctober 9, 1996 DeftonesOctober 11, 1996October 12, 1996AlbanyKnickerbocker ArenaOctober 13, 1996BuffaloMarine Midland ArenaOctober 15, 1996IndianapolisMarket Square ArenaOctober 16, 1996Auburn HillsThe Palace of Auburn HillsOctober 17, 1996 Coyote ShiversOctober 18, 1996LexingtonRupp Arena DeftonesOctober 20, 1996ClevelandGund ArenaOctober 21, 1996RosemontRosemont HorizonOctober 23, 1996OmahaOmaha Civic Auditorium Royal Crown RevueOctober 24, 1996October 26, 1996Las CrucesPan American Center FluffyOctober 27, 1996AlbuquerqueTingley ColiseumOctober 29, 1996San DiegoSan Diego Sports Arena Caroline's SpineOctober 31, 1996IrvineIrvine Meadows Amphitheatre PoeNovember 1, 1996 Reel Big FishNovember 2, 1996Las VegasMGM Grand Garden Arena Caroline's SpineNovember 5, 1996AustinFrank Erwin Center Johnny BravoNovember 6, 1996LafayetteCajundomeNovember 7, 1996ShreveportHirsch Memorial ColiseumNovember 9, 1996Little RockBarton ColiseumNovember 10, 1996DallasReunion ArenaNovember 20, 1996BirminghamEnglandNEC ArenaThe Verve PipeNovember 21, 1996ManchesterNYNEX ArenaNovember 25, 1996LondonWembley ArenaDecember 1, 1996BrusselsBelgiumForest NationalDecember 2, 1996ParisFranceZénith de ParisDecember 4, 1996BerlinGermanyDeutschlandhalle Die ÄrzteDecember 6, 1996StockholmSwedenGloben Arena The Verve PipeDecember 7, 1996GothenburgScandinaviumDecember 8, 1996OsloNorwayOslo SpektrumDecember 10, 1996RotterdamNetherlandsRotterdam AhoyDecember 11, 1996FrankfurtGermanyFesthalle Frankfurt Die ÄrzteDecember 12, 1996OberhausenOberhausen ArenaDecember 14, 1996PragueCzech RepublicSportovní hala The Verve PipeDecember 15, 1996December 16, 1996ViennaAustriaLibro Music HallDecember 18, 1996MilanItalyFilaforumDecember 19, 1996ZürichSwitzerlandHallenstadionDecember 20, 1996StuttgartGermanySchleyerhalle Die ÄrzteDecember 21, 1996DortmundWestfalenhalleDecember 28, 1996WorcesterUnited StatesWorcester Centrum The 4th FloorDecember 29, 1996UniondaleNassau Veterans Memorial ColiseumDecember 30, 1996HartfordHartford Civic CenterDecember 31, 1996East RutherfordContinental Airlines Arena