Rare cuts, make-up contests and chef Paul Stanley - eight awesome things we learned on-board KISS Kruise 2022
By Matt Stocks - Classic Rock
KISS Kruise 2022 was the ultimate KISS party, and we got to sneak onboard to see it all go down
Sixthman is the name of the cruise company responsible for the recent surge in rock ‘n’ roll excursions sailing out of Florida and Los Angeles. They do blues cruises with Joe Bonamassa, punk rock cruises with Flogging Molly, outlaw country cruises, emo cruises, and even wrestling cruises with Fozzy frontman Chris Jericho. They also just announced the Headbangers Boat cruise for next year with Lamb of God, Mastodon, Hatebreed and Gwar. But the cruise they’re best known for is the world famous Kiss Kruise, which has been running for the last 11 years.
When this writer received an email exactly one week before this 2022's first Kiss Kruise was due to take place (two set sail back-to-back this year), asking if I wanted to come out and DJ the onboard Halloween party and host a series of live Q&As with the band and their manager, legendary music mogul Doc McGhee, I did what any sane person do: I cleared my schedule, packed a bag, and caught the next flight from London to Los Angeles.
You wanted the best. You got the best, so here are ten things we learned from KISS Kruise XI - Week 1.
The sail away show is KISS as you'll never see them anywhere else
The Sail Away Show has become the stuff of legend over the last decade. It’s basically the only time you get to see KISS perform deep cuts with no make-up on, and as anyone who’s seen KISS without make-up will attest, it’s an entirely different experience to the full stage production with blood and pyro and all the rest of it.
When Paul Stanley becomes The Starchild, he affects that trademark high-pitched voice to ask the crowd questions, like, “How does it sound out there?” But as the afternoon sun beats down on the deck of the Norwegian Jewel, Stanley assures us that won’t be happening today. Today is different. Today is special. Today KISS will assume the role of a bar band onboard the boat that rocked.
At other points during the intimate Sail Away set, Tommy Thayer sings Shock Me from the 1977 KISS album Love Gun, the Gene Simmons ballad Goin’ Blind gets a rare outing, as does Christine Sixteen, Two Timer and Nothin’ to Lose. The band even bust out the old Wicked Lester (Kiss before KISS) tune She, a song Stanley admits to having not performed live in 47 years. It’s all about the early seventies deep cuts and the KISS Navy are here for it. As are we.
