Lick It Up World Tour

The Lick it Up World Tour was a concert tour by American hard rock band Kiss, in support of their 1983 album Lick It Up. It was the first Kiss tour during which the band performed without wearing their trademark make-up. The "tank" stage design from the preceding Creatures of the Night tour was used again, keeping all the same gimmicks, with the exception of Gene Simmons' blood-spitting. The tour included the band's first European dates since the 1980 Unmasked Tour.

Lick it Up World 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

In the tour program for the band's final tour, Simmons reflected on the tour:

The Lick It Up tour was a challenge, at least initially, as it was the first tour we did without makeup and I had to re-calibrate from being the fire-spewing Demon with eight-inch heels to a mere mortal playing rock and roll music. But Kiss are survivors. We survived in makeup up and out of makeup; we survived all different kinds of music-thrash, disco, dance, grunge, new romance and we survive, persevere and thrive. It means we win! Kiss has always marched to the beat of their own drum.[1]

Tour notes

"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, which took place 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 did not 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, High Fever, The Pat Travers Band, Riot, Tigres de Oro and Vandenberg.[2]

Average Attendance – (7000)

Gene Simmons' visual effects

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. Simmons 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."

It has been widely disputed whether Simmons spit blood for the first and only time without his trademark make-up at the tour's first show in Lisbon. Simmons has both confirmed (in 2002) and denied this claim. In 2007, a picture was put on the internet of Gene Simmons supposedly spitting blood on this tour, but it was later found to be a fraud.[3]

Setlist

1. "Creatures of the Night" (Paul Stanley, Adam Mitchell)
2. "Detroit Rock City" (Stanley, Bob Ezrin)
3. "Cold Gin" (Ace Frehley)
4. "Fits Like a Glove" (Gene Simmons)
5. "Firehouse" (Stanley)
6. "Exciter" (Stanley, Vinnie Vincent)
7. "Gimme More" (With Vinnie Vincent, guitar solo) (Stanley, Vincent)
8. "War Machine" (Simmons, Bryan Adams, Jim Vallance)
9. "I Love It Loud" (With Gene Simmons, bass solo) (Simmons, Vincent)
10. "I Still Love You" (Stanley, Vincent)
11. "Young and Wasted" (Simmons, Vincent)
12. "Drum solo" (Eric Carr)
13. "Love Gun" (Stanley)
14. "All Hell's Breaking Loose" (Stanley, Simmons, Eric Carr, Vincent)
15. "Black Diamond" (Stanley)
16. "Lick It Up" (Stanley, Vincent)
17. "Rock and Roll All Nite" (Simmons, Stanley)

Tour dates

[4]

Date	City	Country	Venue	Opening Act(s)
Europe
October 11, 1983	Cascais	Portugal	Pavilhão de Cascais	Helix
October 13, 1983	Madrid	Spain	Pabellón de Deportes del Real Madrid	Helix, Tigres de Oro
October 14, 1983
October 15, 1983	San Sebastián		Velódromo de Anoeta
October 16, 1983	Barcelona		Palau dels Esports de Barcelona
October 18, 1983	Toulouse	France	Palais des Sports de Toulouse	Helix
October 19, 1983	Clermont-Ferrand		Maison des Sports
October 21, 1983	Leeds	England	Queens Hall	Helix, Heavy Pettin'
October 22, 1983	Stafford		Bingley Hall
October 23, 1983	London		Wembley Arena
October 24, 1983	Leicester		De Montfort Hall
October 25, 1983	Poole		Poole Arts Center
October 27, 1983	Glasgow	Scotland	Glasgow Apollo
October 28, 1983	Edinburgh		Edinburgh Playhouse
October 29, 1983	Newcastle-upon-Tyne	England	Newcastle City Hall
October 31, 1983	Paris	France	Espace Balard	Helix
November 1, 1983	Offenbach am Main	West Germany	Stadthalle Offenbach
November 2, 1983	Munich		Löwenbräukeller
November 3, 1983	Basel	Switzerland	St. Jakobshalle
November 4, 1983	Sindelfingen	West Germany	Messehalle
November 6, 1983	Neunkirchen am Brand		Hemmerleinhalle
November 7, 1983	Linz	Austria	Linzer Sporthalle
November 8, 1983	Vienna		Wiener Stadthalle
November 9, 1983	Graz		Eisstadion Liebenau
November 10, 1983	Essen	West Germany	Grugahalle
November 11, 1983	Kassel		Eissporthalle Kassel
November 12, 1983	Lille	France	Palais de la Foire
November 13, 1983	Brussels	Belgium	Forest National
November 15, 1983	Lausanne	Switzerland	Halle des Fêtes de Beaulieu
November 17, 1983	Risskov	Denmark	Vejlby-Risskov Hallen
November 18, 1983	Gothenburg	Sweden	Scandinavium
November 19, 1983	Stockholm		Johanneshovs Isstadion
November 20, 1983	Malmö		Malmö Isstadion
November 21, 1983	Hillerød	Denmark	Frederiksborg Center
November 23, 1983	Helsinki	Finland	Helsinki Ice Hall
November 25, 1983	Oulu		Oulu-halli
North America
December 26, 1983	Atlanta, Georgia	United States	The Omni Coliseum	Axe, Pat Travers Band
December 28, 1983	Augusta, Georgia		Augusta-Richmond County Civic Center	Axe
December 29, 1983	Lakeland, Florida		Lakeland Civic Center	Axe, Pat Travers Band
December 30, 1983	Pembroke Pines, Florida		Hollywood Sportatorium
December 31, 1983	Jacksonville, Florida		Jacksonville Memorial Coliseum
January 1, 1984	Tallahassee, Florida		Leon County Civic Center	Axe
January 6, 1984	Birmingham, Alabama		Boutwell Memorial Auditorium	Vandenberg, Riot
January 7, 1984	Memphis, Tennessee		Mid-South Coliseum
January 8, 1984	New Orleans, Louisiana		Kiefer UNO Lakefront Arena
January 9, 1984	Biloxi, Mississippi		Mississippi Coast Coliseum
January 10, 1984	Knoxville, Tennessee		Knoxville Civic Coliseum
January 11, 1984	Nashville, Tennessee		Nashville Municipal Auditorium
January 13, 1984	Dallas, Texas		Dallas Convention Center
January 14, 1984	San Antonio, Texas		HemisFair Arena
January 16, 1984	Austin, Texas		Palmer Auditorium
January 17, 1984	San Angelo, Texas		San Angelo Coliseum
January 18, 1984	Houston, Texas		Sam Houston Coliseum
January 19, 1984	Corpus Christi, Texas		Corpus Christi Memorial Coliseum
January 21, 1984	El Paso, Texas		El Paso County Coliseum
January 22, 1984	Albuquerque, New Mexico		Tingley Coliseum
January 23, 1984	Odessa, Texas		Ector County Coliseum
January 25, 1984	Denver, Colorado		University of Denver Arena
January 27, 1984	Long Beach, California		Long Beach Arena
January 28, 1984	Las Vegas, Nevada		Thomas & Mack Center
January 29, 1984	Fresno, California		Selland Arena
January 31, 1984	Reno, Nevada		Lawlor Events Center
February 1, 1984	Berkeley, California		Berkeley Community Theatre
February 2, 1984	Bakersfield, California		Bakersfield Civic Auditorium
February 3, 1984	San Bernardino, California		Orange Pavilion
February 5, 1984	Salt Lake City, Utah		Salt Palace
February 8, 1984	Sioux City, Iowa		Sioux City Municipal Auditorium	Vandenberg, High Fever
February 9, 1984	Omaha, Nebraska		Omaha Civic Auditorium	Vandenberg, Heaven
February 10, 1984	Milwaukee, Wisconsin		MECCA Arena
February 11, 1984	Dubuque, Iowa		Five Flags Center
February 12, 1984	Bloomington, Minnesota		Met Center
February 14, 1984	Green Bay, Wisconsin		Brown County Veterans Memorial Arena
February 15, 1984	Chicago, Illinois		UIC Pavilion
February 16, 1984	Indianapolis, Indiana		Market Square Arena
February 17, 1984	Saginaw, Michigan		Wendler Arena
February 18, 1984	Detroit, Michigan		Cobo Arena
February 19, 1984	Columbus, Ohio		Battelle Hall
February 21, 1984	Trotwood, Ohio		Hara Arena
February 22, 1984	Richfield, Ohio		Richfield Coliseum
February 24, 1984	Worcester, Massachusetts		Centrum in Worcester	Accept
February 26, 1984	Hampton, Virginia		Hampton Coliseum
February 28, 1984	Baltimore, Maryland		Baltimore Civic Center
March 1, 1984	New Haven, Connecticut		New Haven Coliseum
March 3, 1984	Upper Darby, Pennsylvania		Tower Theater
March 4, 1984	Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania		Stanley Theater
March 5, 1984	Erie, Pennsylvania		Erie Civic Center
March 7, 1984	Binghamton, New York		Broome County Veterans Memorial Arena
March 8, 1984	Poughkeepsie, New York		Mid-Hudson Civic Center
March 9, 1984	New York City, New York		Radio City Music Hall
March 10, 1984
March 12, 1984	Quebec City, Quebec	Canada	Colisée de Québec
March 13, 1984	Montreal, Quebec		Montreal Forum
March 15, 1984	Toronto, Ontario		Maple Leaf Gardens
March 17, 1984	Evansville, Indiana	United States	Roberts Municipal Stadium

Notes

1. (2019). End of the Road World Tour Program, pg. 20.
2. "necramonium.com – Informationen zum Thema necramonium". www.necramonium.com.
3. "KISSAsylum.com – News Around The Clock!". kissasylum.com.
4. "KISS TOURDATES Lick it up 1983–84". www.kissfanshop.de.