1975/76
Fact: KISS's first Tourbook (featuring photos from the ALIVE! tour). This had 24 pages and came in 2 variants (a US & European Tour version). Featured a mailing card to join the KISS Army and is quite expensive in mint conditon.
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Take a closer look here
1976-77
Fact: Used for the DESTROYER/ROCK'N'ROLL OVER tours, this oversized tourbook had 16 pages. Apparently there are 2 versions as Paul got a little "thingy" about his pics and had them replaced in the reprint. Rock stars, huh! (Included an iron-on transfer!)
Collectibility rating:
Take a closer look at both here
1977
Fact: This 40-page Japanese tourbook from the ROCK'N'ROLL OVER tour is quite collectible. Featured great pics of the band and (unless you paid attention in Japanese class at school) unreadable text!
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1977
Fact: Great 20-page tourbook from the LOVE GUN/ALIVE world tours. Released at KISS's 70s high point this is probably the most seen of the Seventies tourbooks.
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1978
Fact: Extremely beautiful 40-page tourbook from the Japan tour. Again, all text is in Japanese but the pictures are amazing. Extremely collectible and worth paying the extra dollar (or yen) for.
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1979
Fact: According to KISS collector, Shawn Fox: " The story behind this tourbook is that it was printed first and was to be the Official DYNASTY tourbook. After a few hundred or so were pressed someone, whether Bill Aucoin or Kiss etc, decided to change the cover to the more common one we all know. That tourbook (the one with the DYNASTY cover) was sold at the first couple shows of the DYNASTY tour and sold out faster than expected. So these original books were sent down to the Savannah show as temporary replacements until the next batch of regular DYNASTY tourbooks were shipped in. The RETURN OF KISS book was only available at the Savannah show and possible the Columbia,SC show as well.There is a photo that exists of the merch stand from Savannah that shows the book for sale. Any other stories you hear about the book are false as the book was never reprinted and was never available anywhere else. "
Collectibility rating:
Thanks to Shawn Fox for the info!
1979
Fact: Version 2 of this 20 page book had a few variants of it's own, with different advertisements appearing in different books.
Collectibility rating:
Take a look at all 3 versions here
1980
Fact: Four different versions exist: A European Tour version. A UK version with 1978 movie promo, a German version with the edited KIZZ logo and the Aussie Tour version with different ads and more pages!
Collectibility rating:
Take a look at all 4 versions here
1982
Fact: Hard to find as KISS's popularity in 1982 (especially in the US) was waning with poor attendance greeting the band (now with Vinnie Vincent replacing Ace). Great photos inside including all 6 members of the group from their 10 year history including some great pics of the new (soon to be unmasked) line-up!
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1983
Fact: KISS's first tour without make-up came in 2 versions. This one was a European version which rehashed the '10th Anniversary' design on the cover
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Take a closer look at both versions here
1984
Fact: This second version replaced the tank cover with a photo of the current band.
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Take a closer look at both versions here
1984
Fact: The original version of this tourbook featured Mark St.John in his brief tenure with the band
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1984
Fact: The revised version was almost identical except with Bruce replacing Mark in all shots (except for a close up of Mark’s hand!)
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Take a closer look here
1985
Fact: This 28 page tourbook from their 1985-86 tour is actually quite funny to see. Filled with pictures of KISS in their most embarrasingly "glam rock-meets-Van Halen" costumes and featuring Gene doing his level best to look like a drag queen.
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Take a closer look here
1987
Fact: KISS's hugest tour book to date featured plenty of great KISS Exposed "draped-with-girls" style shoots and long interviews with each band member. Bigger than an A3 sheet of paper! Notice the missing yellow in the “S” of the KISS logo? That was fixed on a revised version.
Collectibility rating:
Take a look at the 2 versions here
1988
Fact: A 24 page from KISS's tour of Japan. Gene had started to look cool again, dressed in leather and this hard-to-find tourbook featured many great pics from the era!
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Take a closer look here
1990
Fact: Just as big as The Crazy Night tourbook this would feature pics of Leon the Giant Sphinx and their laser show. Unfortunately this would also be Eric Carr's final tour with KISS and in retrospect makes a nice tribute to the man.
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1992
Fact: A hard-to-find KISS tourbook due to the tour not lasting that long. This oversized book would be the first to feature the blond-haired Eric Singer on the cover and also mark the first time the KISS logo was not featured on a tourbook. Looks very cool as do (finally!) the band!
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Take a closer look here
1995
Fact: This 24-page book was used for KISS's tours of Australia and Japan. These feature the same line-up and the REVENGE tourbook. Features the band in all it's post-Grunge glory.
Collectibility rating:
Take a closer look here
1995
Fact: This 36-page half-sized tourbook was sold on the KISS Convention tours of Australia & US where the band would also appear for the first time Unplugged. Featured many photos of the costumes, Memorabilia on sale at the events.
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Take a closer look here
1996
Fact: About four versions from the reunion tour exist (including a silver cover variant). This featured glorious photos of the band and it's members from all new shoots. The earlier versions had more retrospective shots.
Collectibility rating:
Take a closer look here and here
1996
Fact: About four versions from the reunion tour exist (including a silver cover variant). This featured glorious photos of the band and it's members from all new shoots. The newer had more pics from the tour itself.
Collectibility rating:
Take a closer look here and here
1998
Fact: For a band that's motto is Keep It Simple Stupid, another 2 versions exist! A Dodger Stadium show Halloween versions and the more common world tour version with more live shots and an extra 4 pages added from the afore-mentioned gig.
Collectibility rating:
Take a closer look here
2000
Fact: A monster of a tourbook at 68 pages features a retrospective look at the band, every gig ever played listed in this tourbook that was to be KISS 's last ever tour (yeah, right Gene!) The cover featured a die-cut KISS logo. A Japanese/Australian variant exists with Eric Singer's page inserted when he temporarily replaced Peter Criss for this leg of the tour.
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Take a closer look here
2003
Fact: On sale at the KISS gig with the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra, 28th February 2003. This would feature the return of Peter Criss to the fold and the arrival of Tommy Thayer replacing the now-solo Ace Frehley! The book also contained a quick history of the band's vists Downunder!
Collectibility rating:
Take a closer look here
2003
Fact: Issued for the band's four Japan shows. Features plenty of good retro pics, a history of the band and all text in English!
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2003
Fact: From the Aerosmith/KISS Tour that would mark Peter Criss's final appearances with KISS before his contract was not renewed. I assume using the title of "World Domination" for a US-only tour is the band's scathing dig at US Foreign policy? Eh? OK, maybe not.
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Take a closer look here
2004
Fact: The first tourbook to feature 'new-KISS' in all their "actually-playing-the-songs-quite-well-now" glory. With Tommy and Eric in the band together for the first time, this tour book again featured extensive cool new studio and live shots of the band.
Collectibility rating:
Take a closer look here
2008
Fact: Big new tourbook for the 2008 World Tour. Their first foray back to Europe in some years.
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Take a closer look here
2009
Fact: One-off event program of the Cobo Arena gig.
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2009
Fact: The new tourbook from the US Tour released to coincide with the SONIC BOOM album.
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2010
Fact: All new tourbook for the European leg of the SONIC BOOM tour
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Fact: Basically the same as the “Sonic Boom Over Europe” Tourbook but with new cover and a few revises. Disappeared very quickly making this slightly rare.
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2013
Fact: Starting from the Australian leg, this is the tour book kicking off the MONSTER tour (There had been none provided during "The Tour" US 2012 leg with co-headliners Motley Crue) making this their first in over three years! First piece of merchandise to feature the silver "40 Years" logo and featuring retrospectives on their previous Aussie tours.
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For a more in-depth look at KISS tourbooks go to our friends at Kissfanshop.de and kissfaq.com
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