KISS – Alive Forever: The Complete Touring History

“Fan,” the dictionary tells us, comes from “fanatic,” yet seems somewhat more tempered: “a person enthusiastic about a specified sport, performer, etc.” A “fanatic,” on the other hand, is unreasonably enthusiastic; overly zealous.”

The point being that there is a fine line between one and the other. And a lot of the fun of KISS – Alive Forever comes from crossing that line over and over again.

In a nutshell, Curt Gooch and Jeff Suhs’ book details every performance that the legendary group has played, from January of 1973 up through this past March. Yes, every one.

No detail is spared: you get the dates, venue names and locations, the names of the other bands on the bill and, when possible, attendance figures and even set lists. You can even find out if there are audio or video recordings of any particular show. I can tell you, for instance, that the day I turned twenty, KISS was on their Dynasty tour and played at the Carolina Coliseum in Columbia, South Carolina. Whitesnake opened for them.

But this is much more than a list of events. Gooch and Suhs fill the book with a lot of history – interviews and reminiscences bring all of the history to life and give you a fascinating “behind the scenes” look at the trials of a touring band.

And it’s between the lines where the most interesting things occur. You get to watch people who start out playing Jethro Tull and Moody Blues covers and follow them through the formation of a band and then on to the point where the spectacle of the show supersedes the music. You get new band members, old band members, action figures and conversations between band members and concert goers at gas stations somewhere between Milwaukee and Chicago.

Myths about the band are examined and new truths are uncovered. You cannot help but be impressed with how much work, how much love, really, went into this book. And it’s a very sobering testimony to the passing of time.