Freedom to Rock Tour

The Freedom to Rock Tour was a concert tour by the American rock band Kiss. The tour hit secondary markets and smaller cities in 2016. The tour started on July 4 in Tucson, Arizona, marking a return to the city for the first time since 2000. The tour was also the first full scale North American tour for the band since 2014.

Freedom to Rock Tour

Tour by Kiss
Location	North America
Start date	July 4, 2016 (2016-07-04)
End date	October 30, 2016 (2016-10-30)
Legs	1
No. of shows	42
Kiss concert chronology

In the tour program for the band's final tour, Stanley reflected on the tour:

The Freedom to Rock tour is a big, awesome show, and the band is big and awesome. Anybody can pattern their show on what we've done in the past, but you'll never be us. That's why we're Kiss, and that's why we've been around 40 years. Kiss has multi-generational appeal because Kiss has an appeal that's timeless. Kiss isn't only about music. It's about an attitude, it's about a way of life and it's about a philosophy of approaching life. The idea of going for what you believe in and not stopping until you achieve or attain it. It's one of the great thrills and sources of satisfaction to see somebody who's brought their mother or father to a show and see these people really enjoying it and getting it.^[1]

History

At the Rockford, Illinois show, Cheap Trick's Rick Nielsen joined the band onstage to play "Rock and Roll All Nite".^[2]

Reception

Emerson Malone of the Daily Emerald described the Eugene, Oregon show as "Musically, the band still sounds incredible and the set came with numerous things to love: Thayer's inky, sludgy guitar in "Calling Dr. Love" and "Strutter," Singer's drum fills in "Cold Gin," and Singer taking the reins on vocals during the lighter-sparking ballad "Beth."^[3]

Lacey Paige, of Exclaim, praised the nostalgic aspect of a Kiss concert, as "For younger audiences, experiencing a live Kiss concert for the first time is like stepping into a time machine and going back to the late 1970s, when the New York-based glam-shock-rockers' career soared to the pinnacle of rock'n'roll prestige. A Kiss show perfectly encapsulates the zeitgeist of that era, giving older generations of fans a chance to relive and relish the essence of their youth."^[4]

Mike Baltierra, of Seattle Music Insider, did a positive review of the Kennewick, Washington concert: "Stanley had the crowd eating out of the palm of his hand. While Simmons lurked over the crowd, Thayer ripped out riff after riff, and Singer pounded on the drums".^[5]

Set list

This is the set list from the first show of the tour, and may not represent the majority of the tour:^[6]

1. "Detroit Rock City"
2. "Deuce"
3. "Shout It Out Loud"
4. "Do You Love Me?"
5. "I Love It Loud"
6. "Flaming Youth"
7. "God of Thunder" (Gene Solo, Spits Blood and Flies)
8. "Psycho Circus"
9. "Shock Me" (Tommy Guitar Solo)
10. "Cold Gin"
11. "Lick It Up"
12. "War Machine"
13. "Love Gun"
14. "Black Diamond"

    Encore

15. "Beth"
16. "The Star-Spangled Banner" (John Stafford Smith cover)
17. "Rock and Roll All Nite"

Notes

• "Flaming Youth" not played in Tucson
• "Strutter" only played in Boise, Eugene and Kennewick
• "100,000 Years" only played in Tucson, Boise, Eugene and Kennewick
• "I Was Made for Lovin' You" only played in Edmonton
• "O Canada" only played in Edmonton and Calgary
• "God of Thunder" not played in Tucson, Boise, Eugene and Kennewick
• "Creatures of the Night" was played in Grand Rapids but otherwise replaced by "Do You Love Me?"

Tour dates

Date	City	Country	Venue	Support Act
July 4, 2016	Tucson	United States	AVA Amphitheater	Magnetico[7]
July 7, 2016	Boise		Taco Bell Arena	Caleb Johnson
July 9, 2016	Eugene		Matthew Knight Arena
July 10, 2016	Kennewick		Toyota Center
July 12, 2016	Edmonton	Canada	Rexall Place
July 13, 2016	Calgary		Stampede Roundup Festival
July 15, 2016	Spokane	United States	Spokane Arena
July 16, 2016	Bozeman		Brick Breeden Fieldhouse
July 18, 2016	Colorado Springs		Broadmoor World Arena
July 20, 2016	Independence		Silverstein Eye Centers Arena
July 22, 2016	Lincoln		Pinnacle Bank Arena
July 23, 2016	Springfield		JQH Arena
July 25, 2016	Wichita		Intrust Bank Arena
July 27, 2016	Sioux City		Tyson Events Center
July 29, 2016	Cheyenne		Cheyenne Frontier Days
July 30, 2016	Minot		North Dakota State Fair
August 1, 2016	Mankato		Verizon Wireless Center
August 3, 2016	Duluth		Amsoil Arena
August 5, 2016	Moline		iWireless Center
August 6, 2016	La Crosse		La Crosse Center
August 8, 2016	Milwaukee		BMO Harris Bradley Center
August 10, 2016	Green Bay		Resch Center
August 12, 2016	Fort Wayne		Allen County War Memorial Coliseum	The Dead Daisies
August 13, 2016	Grand Rapids		Van Andel Arena
August 15, 2016	Saginaw		Dow Event Center
August 17, 2016	Springfield		Illinois State Fair
August 19, 2016	Des Moines		Iowa State Fair
August 20, 2016	Rockford		BMO Harris Bank Center
August 22, 2016	Dayton		Nutter Center
August 24, 2016	Toledo		Huntington Center
August 26, 2016	Youngstown		Covelli Centre
August 27, 2016	Erie		Erie Insurance Arena
August 29, 2016	Rochester		Blue Cross Arena
August 30, 2016	University Park		Bryce Jordan Center
September 1, 2016	Allentown		Great Allentown Fair
September 3, 2016	Worcester		DCU Center
September 4, 2016	Portland		Cross Insurance Arena
September 7, 2016	Bridgeport		Webster Bank Arena
September 9, 2016	Richmond		Richmond Coliseum
September 10, 2016	Huntington		Big Sandy Superstore Arena
October 29, 2016	Uncasville		Mohegan Sun Arena	—
October 30, 2016	Cabazon		Morongo Casino, Resort & Spa

Box office score data

Venue	City	Tickets sold / available	Gross revenue (USD)
Taco Bell Arena	Boise	5,631 / 7,274	$261,604
Matthew Knight Arena	Eugene	4,926 / 5,794	$294,844
Toyota Center	Kennewick	4,687 / 5,528	$383,214
Brick Breeden Fieldhouse	Bozeman	5,032 / 5,032	$420,130
Broadmoor World Arena	Colorado Springs	4,885 / 6,225	$276,276
Silverstein Eye Centers Arena	Independence	4,996 / 6,385	$284,771
Pinnacle Bank Arena	Lincoln	7,535 / 10,027	$524,921
JQH Arena	Springfield	6,870 / 8,017	$505,754
INTRUST Bank Arena	Wichita	7,841 / 10,153	$495,153
Tyson Events Center	Sioux City	4,511 / 5,984	$281,261
Verizon Wireless Center	Mankato	4,328 / 5,176	$279,445
AMSOIL Arena	Duluth	5,157 / 5,883	$406,092
i wireless Center	Moline	7,214 / 9,885	$505,480
La Crosse Center	La Crosse	5,061 / 7,000	$247,782
Allen County War Memorial Coliseum	Fort Wayne	6,989 / 8,343	$495,864
Van Andel Arena	Grand Rapids	7,259 / 9,222	$482,773
Dow Event Center	Saginaw	4,287 / 5,484	$284,780
Resch Center	Green Bay	6,265 / 7,420	$424,122
BMO Harris Bank Center	Rockford	5,693 / 7,208	$395,872
Ervin J. Nutter Center	Dayton	6,194 / 8,000	$453,729
Huntington Center	Toledo	5,562 / 6,687	$359,271
Covelli Centre	Youngstown	5,289 / 5,598	$472,700
Bryce Jordan Center	University Park	4,530 / 6,005	$301,423
Erie Insurance Arena	Erie	5,431 / 7,054	$279,264
Blue Cross Arena	Rochester	5,677 / 7,172	$268,616
DCU Center	Worcester	5,656 / 7,541	$445,487
Cross Insurance Arena	Portland	4,888 / 6,436	$334,071
Webster Bank Arena	Bridgeport	5,261 / 6,916	$366,856
Richmond Coliseum	Richmond	6,407 / 8,368	$385,873
Big Sandy Superstore Arena	Huntington	6,109 / 6,109	$607,645
Parque Fundidora	Monterrey	17,511 / 36,015	$793,407
TOTAL		187,718 / 236,926 (80.1%)	$12,424,982

Gross

The tour grossed $15.4 million, with 233,262 tickets sold in 40 shows. ^[8][9]

Personnel

Kiss

• Paul Stanley – vocals, rhythm guitar
• Gene Simmons – vocals, bass
• Tommy Thayer – lead guitar, vocals
• Eric Singer – drums, vocals

Guest appearances

• Rick Nielsen – guest guitarist (August 20, 2016)