Karlsruhe welcomes Kiss Forever Band ‘home’ for 17th Year Anniversary event

By Joy Dana Goerig, Karlsruhe Correspondent and Chyrisse Tabone, Tampa Correspondent

VENUE: Festhalle Durlach, Karlsruhe, Germany-October 23, 2015

Established Hungarian musicians formed Kiss Forever Band in 1995. Zoltán Váry became Starchild (Paul Stanley), Pocky The Demon (Gene Simmons), “Space Ace” Zoltán Maróthy assumed the role of Ace Frehley, and “Catman” Tobola Csaba was cast as Peter Criss.

Now, who doesn’t love or have fond memories of Kiss? When I was a teen, they were the gold standard that everybody wanted to listen to and dress up as for Halloween. They had quite a following in Detroit and used to play in Cobo Hall on a regular basis. In fact, the Alive album was recorded there in 1975. I remember my uncle used to brag that the top of his head (he would point to a mop of dark hair) was in the crowd photo displayed on the album cover.

Well, the next best thing to a Kiss concert has to be the Kiss Forever Band, the premiere, award-winning Kiss Tribute Band in Europe. Formed in Budapest in 1995 by four well-known rock musicians who loved Kiss, they began playing out at venues with partial make-up and later moved to full Kiss costumes by the late-1990s. They had the pleasure of meeting their idols (sans Ace Frehley) in 1997 in Budapest, toured with former Kiss drummer Eric Singer in 1998, and began their first Germany tour in 1998, which has become an annual tradition. Since then, they have toured to approximately 23 countries, including Russia (even before the “real” Kiss visited the country).

Rock At Night was very excited about seeing the Kiss Forever Band in Karlstruhe, Germany at Festhalle Durlach on October 23, 2015. This was the 17^th Year Anniversary and was really sort of a “homecoming” for the band, which has a very strong affection for the city. According to Joy Dana, Karlstruhe Correspondent, she was absolutely blown away by the authenticity of the production, which was very elaborate with confetti, fire, and special effects. She said, “It was very hard to find the right words as I was standing there thinking ‘holy shit, they are amazing’ and I was totally speechless!” The outfits and production were top notch—but best of all, the music was accurately portrayed. These guys are supreme rock musicians whether playing Kiss or not—and we must not forget that!

Check out the photos and a short video below:

PHOTO GALLERY

KISS FOREVER in Karlsruhe, Germany

 

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