Add articles to your saved list and come back to them any time.<\/p>\n
At the height of Kissteria in 1980, Paul Stanley and his Kiss bandmates were holed up in the plush surrounds of their Melbourne hotel as news helicopters circled overhead, fans lined the streets below, and glam rock reached fever pitch.<\/p>\n
Their first Australian tour featured a stadium performance at Waverley Park, where more than 40,000 fans crowded into the VFL venue. On Saturday, some of those fans will likely be in the house when the MCG hosts up to 100,000 people for the AFL Grand Final \u2013 featuring Kiss as pre-game entertainment.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Kiss (from left) Gene Simmons, Tommy Thayer, Paul Stanley, and Eric Singer, are promising an FL pre-match show unlike any other.<\/span>Credit: <\/span>Paul Jeffers <\/cite><\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s an honour for us to be here,\u201d Stanley said on Thursday at the AFL\u2019s traditional pre-match press conference. \u201cAussies are passionate, and certainly about this game. It\u2019s going to be a challenge for us to be louder than the crowd, but we\u2019re going to do our best.\u201d<\/p>\n Founding member and bass player Gene Simmons recalled \u201chiding our faces\u201d on that first visit to Melbourne, and taping the curtains closed at their hotel.<\/p>\n \u201cWe took over the top floor, and we were stuck up there because people were trying to get photos of us,\u201d Simmons said from behind dark sunglasses, a baseball cap perched on his head.<\/p>\n Paul Stanley said Kiss were honoured to be playing at Saturday\u2019s AFL Grand Final.<\/span>Credit: <\/span>Paul Jeffers<\/cite><\/p>\n \u201cMelbourne has always been special to us,\u201d Stanley said, ahead of their pre-match gig and what will be the band\u2019s farewell show. Stanley, Simmons, drummer Eric Singer and guitarist Tommy Thayer return home to an American tour, and two final shows at New York\u2019s Madison Square Garden in December, bringing the curtain down on five decades of live shows.<\/p>\n \u201cWe plan on blowing things up … and we promise you there\u2019s no meatloaf on the menu,\u201d Stanley said, in a thinly veiled reference to Meatloaf\u2019s underwhelming 2011 pre-match show.<\/p>\n Simmons said the group\u2019s pre-show routine sometimes features groundbreaking Australian band the Easybeats on their stereo, as well as Rose Tattoo, and John Farnham.<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019re really ramping it up,\u201d he said. \u201cWe\u2019re bringing fire and brimstone, everything but the kitchen sink. And we\u2019re sending out a warning to low-flying planes over the stadium …. because we really are going to shake the heavens.\u201d<\/p>\n Veteran singer, songwriter and AFL Grand Final performer Mike Brady has tweaked his classic football anthem Up There Cazaly<\/em> to honour Ron Barassi, who died aged 87, the day after Barassi\u2019s former clubs Melbourne and Carlton played a thrilling semi-final.<\/p>\n \u201cBecause of the passing of the great Ronald Dale Barassi … I thought it would be nice to put him in there, so without pre-empting the line … I\u2019ve added just a little bit about Barassi,\u201d Brady said.<\/p>\n Mark Seymour will be part of the half-time entertainment, and said his sixth AFL Grand Final appearance is just as exciting as his first.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m never more nervous than playing on the turf here,\u201d he said about the MCG. \u201cIt\u2019s a massive event, an incredibly powerful feeling … and whoever\u2019s winning at half-time, you have to absorb that as part of your pre-gig psyche.\u201d<\/p>\n Kate Miller-Heidke, whose regional Australian tour begins in January, said she\u2019s thrilled to be singing the national anthem.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s a beautiful moment of togetherness,\u201d she said. \u201cIt\u2019s a really gorgeous moment when we can realise that what unites us is so much greater than what divides us.\u201d<\/p>\n Originally from Queensland, Miller-Heidke is also confident about the Lions\u2019 chances of winning a third Grand Final against Collingwood.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m looking forward to the Lions giving the Pies a massive shellacking,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n Composer, didgeridoo player and Queensland\u2019s recent Australian of the Year nominee, William Barton, will also feature in the match day entertainment, along with singer and songwriter Jess Hitchcock.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
Most Viewed in Sport<\/h2>\n
From our partners<\/h3>\n