Lick It Up Tour
| Tour by Kiss | |
 |
|
| Associated album | Lick It Up |
|---|---|
| Start date | October 11, 1983 |
| End date | March 17, 1984 |
| Legs | 2 |
| No. of shows | 94 played |
| Kiss concert chronology | |
The Lick it Up World Tour was a concert tour by Kiss. It was the first tour by Kiss without make-up. They used the same "tank" stage design as the Creatures of the Night tour, keeping all the same gimmicks, with the exception of Gene Simmons' blood-spitting.
"All Hell's Breaking Loose" made its live debut in New Orleans on January 8, 1984. Just one day later, Kiss performed to their smallest crowd drawn in a major venue when just 1,507 filed into the Mississippi Coast Coliseum in Biloxi. The poor sales were blamed on the close proximity of the New Orleans and Biloxi shows, just one day apart. "Exciter" was performed briefly, making its first appearance on October 11, and its final known live appearance on March 7.
The January 11 show in Nashville was recorded, and an edited version aired on The King Biscuit Flower Hour. In recent years, the entire show was made available among collectors. At the January 27 show in Long Beach, KISS were presented with their first Gold records since 1980 for the Lick It Up album.
Lead guitarist Vinnie Vincent was fired after the European Tour due to "unethical behavior." Kiss didn't have enough time to search for another guitarist, so they re-hired Vincent for the American Leg of the tour until his firing became permanent after the tour ended. Bass guitarist Gene Simmons stated in various interviews that Vincent's dismissal was because he never signed his contract as an official member of Kiss and for unethical behavior.
The supporting acts for this tour were Accept, Axe, Great White, Heaven, Heavy Pettin', Helix, Highfever, The Pat Travers Band, Riot, Tigres de Oro and Vandenberg.
Simmons, when interviewed in August 1983, was unsure how his live persona would apply in the forthcoming "unmasked" shows. He commented, "There's still an element of finding out exactly who we are. I may possibly give up the blood-spitting onstage... The fire-breathing I'd like to do." "God of Thunder" was replaced with "Young and Wasted" early in the tour, and the reason for this was explained in an interview following the Madrid shows. Gene commented, "I tried 'God of Thunder'...and I thought it was wrong. Certain musical pieces should be kept for certain occasions -- out of respect. 'God of Thunder' is me; I am both people; but you have to adjust certain things." While Simmons would retain his fire-breathing routine, he was unsure, at the time, whether it would last: "If that begins to feel wrong I'll drop it as well. There's always a price to pay for something."
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