Kiss A Few Ticket Stubs

I just thought I would share the stubs from a few of the more noteworthy concerts that I have been to over the years. For the most part, the ticket stubs are self-explanatory. But for the ones that deserve a bit more explanation, please see below. I have a whole shoeboxful more, but I cannot find them at this time. Then there are the multitude of stubs I have lost over the years, and of course now, you don't always get a stub when you go to a concert. Kinda sad.

1) KISS - The Farewell Tour - Complete with "Rock and Roll All Night" confetti

2) KISS - Revenge Tour

3) KISS - Alive Worldwide '97 - This was the first leg of the "Reunion" tour

4) Peter Criss / Ace Frehley - The Bad Boys tour - This show was kind of a "Fuck You" to Gene and Paul from Ace and Peter. This concert was held in the now defunct "KSHE's Real Rock Cafe", which was a Hard Rock Cafe type of set up owned by St. Louis, Missouri's classic rock station KSHE-95 FM. Peter and Ace had their ownn respective bands, and were touring behind releases. The crowd was tiny, only about 300 people, if that. Peter came out and played a wonderful, coherent rock set, while Ace was an hour late, drunk off his ass, and punching the drop ceiling tiles out with his guitar.

5) Milwaukee Metalfest - There are two tickets shown here, one from 1998, and one from 1999. I used to make the trip from St. Louis, MO to Milwaukee, WI every year to see both days. My last year for going was 2003. So many legendary bands played Milwaukee Metalfest over the course of two days! Each year was a brand new experience, and each year was truly a milestone in time for me.

6) Armored Saint - Symbol of Salvation tour - I have a prototype Armored Saint metal logo pin that was given to me by Joey Vera at this show, directly off of his jacket. The story is elsewhere in my collection, so I won't repeat it here. I still have the pin. The club was Empire Concert Club in Cleveland, OH. It is probably best known for being the location of Manowar's "Return of the Warlord" video. I saw many shows in that club in the two years I lived in Cleveland - Morgoth / Kreator / Biohazard, Doro, GWAR, Sanctuary, Flotsam & Jetsam / Vio-Lence / Defiance, Kings X, Kansas, and hundreds of local Cleveland, OH metal bands such as Breaker, Nightfall, Destructor, Mercury, Spudmonsters, Hatrix, etc. Such a shame the club no longer exists.

7) Lizzy Borden - Master of Disguise tour - Another defunct Cleveland, OH club. I saw Overkill twice there, along Galactic Cowboys, and a host of local bands

8) Fear Factory - Obsolete Tour

9) W.A.S.P. - Kill, Fuck, Die Tour - This was the ill-fated W.A.S.P. / Motorhead tour, but because Blackie and Lemmy clashed early in the tour, Motorhead dropped off and we were treated to the likes of Impotent Sea Snakes. So fucking lame! But of course because I didn't know who Impotent Sea Snakes were, I went early enough to see them. Go ahead...Youtube them if you wanna know. Don't say I didn't warn you.

10) Lynyrd Skynyrd / Doobie Brothers - One of the absolute best concerts I have ever been to. I went to this one only because I won the tickets from the radio. I am damned glad I did. I will never forget it.

11) Dio - Strange Highways Tour - This was the first time I had the pleasure and honor of seeing Dio live. After the show, Ronnie James Dio sat on the steps of his tour bus until 6am meeting the fans, talking to us, spending time with us, signing autographs and taking pictures. This stub is signed by Ronnie, Vinnie Appice, and Tracey G. Jeff Pilson from Dokken was playing bass for this tour, but he jumped on the bus early and apparently went to sleep.