Simmons 'canadian Media Ruined Concert Surprise'

2 months ago 30th Aug 09:35

Kiss star Gene Simmons has blamed the Canadian media for ruining a surprise concert by forcing them to reveal their secret plans.

Earlier this year (09) the rockers offered devotees the chance to win aconcert in their hometown during the band's ongoing Kiss Alive 35 tour in a contest on their website.

Residents of Oshawa, Canada voted in the thousands, beating out every other major city in North America in the competition.

But Oshawa fans and government officials were furious after seeing their city had been left off Kiss' tour schedule when a series of new dates were announced on Monday (24Aug09).

Oshawa councillor Robert Lutczyk said at the time, "I'm devastated. Gene told us personally that Kiss would be in Oshawa. He said the top three in the contest are guaranteed a show".

(Oshawa) will get the full high-octane, high-energy show

A spokesperson for the band then confirmed that Oshawa had been skippeddue to logistical problems, promising a special tour stop in the future.

But in an interview with the Canadian Press on Wednesday (26Aug09), an angry Simmons revealed the rockers were actually planning a surprise for Oshawa but the backlash prematurely pressured them into confessing the idea.

Simmons ranted, "I'm really p**sed off at the media for creating this nonsense. Now the story's going to come out as a kind of, 'Gene is complaining about the media' (story) - you're God damn right I am. "We'll tell you when we're ready, not when you're ready, that's not howyou do things.

You have a birthday coming up and you want to know, 'What's my birthday present?' Settle down, take a pill, relax.

We'll let you know what it is - not when you want.

It's show business". The star went on to begrudgingly detail the group's surprise plans "Because of who and what Oshawa is - which is near and dear to our hearts because (they) won the number one spot above and beyond New York, L.A., Toronto, Vancouver - we wanted to do a huge campaign and literally premiere Sonic Boom, our new album, October 7 in Oshawa.

"(Oshawa) will get the full high-octane, high-energy show... this is going to be a two-and-a-half hour sweat-filled show, huge fireworks displays, the biggest screen you ever saw, brand new outfits, and almost every song that we can physically play during that time".

But the city's mayor, John Gray, insists the press handled the situation well and, the fans are delighted with the result.