Kiss have played a sporting event in Australia: pyro in broad daylight, 500 children in costume, guitar smashing, 100,000 fans, three songs

Kiss have played their their second-to-last show in the southern hemisphere after flying into Melbourne to provide the pre-game entertainment at this year's Australian Rules Football Grand Final between Collingwood Football Club and the Brisbane Lions. 

The band played a three-song set in front of 100,240 fans at the Melbourne Cricket Ground, opening with I Was Made For Loving You before Shout It Out Loud and Rock And Roll All Nite brought the short set to an explosive climax. 

"It’s an honour for us to be here,” said frontman Paul Stanley, at the pre-game press conference. “Aussies are passionate, and certainly about this game. It’s going to be a challenge for us to be louder than the crowd, but we’re going to do our best."

“We’re really ramping it up,” added Gene Simmons. “We’re bringing fire and brimstone, everything but the kitchen sink. And we’re sending out a warning to low-flying planes over the stadium... because we really are going to shake the heavens."

Stanley also made reference to Meat Loaf's enthusiastic but famously off-key appearance at the 2011 final, which was met with universal disdain by critics at the time. "We plan on blowing things up," he said. "And we promise you there’s no meatloaf on the menu."

Instead, Kiss augmented their set with plenty of pryo, a large number of dancing children sporting Kiss costumes and make-up, and some traditional guitar smashing at the death, although local broadcaster Channel 7 was criticised for not showing that bit.  

Meanwhile, in a closely-fought contest, the Magpies beat the Lions 12.18 (90) to 13.8 (86), while the half-time entertainment was provided by former Hunters & Collectors singer Mark Seymour and Kate Miller-Heidke, who finished ninth at the Eurovision Song Contest in 2019. 

Kiss play Sydney's Accor stadium on October 7. The final run of US dates kicks off at the Moody Center in Austin TX, on October 29, and climaxes with a pair of shows at New York's Madison Square Garden in early December. Full dates below.  

Kiss End Of The Road Tour 2023

Oct 07: Sydney Accor Stadium, Australia
Oct 13: Dubai Coca-Cola Arena, Dubai
Oct 19: Cincinnati Heritage Bank Center, OH
Oct 20: Detroit Little Caesars Arena, MI
Oct 22: Cleveland Rocket Mortage Arena, OH
Oct 23: Nashville Bridgestone Arena, TN
Oct 25: St. Louis Enterprise Center, MO
Oct 27: Ft. Worth Dickies Arena, TX
Oct 29: Austin Moody Center, TX
Nov 01: Palm Springs Acrisure Arena, CA
Nov 03: Los Angeles Hollywood Bowl, CA
Nov 06: Seattle Climate Pledge Arena, WA
Nov 08: Vancouver Rogers Arena, BC
Nov 10: Edmonton Rogers Place, AB
Nov 12: Calgary Scotiabank Saddledome, AB
Nov 13: Saskatoon SaskTel Centre, SK
Nov 15: Winnipeg Canada Life Centre, MB
Nov 18: Montreal Centre Bell, QC
Nov 19: Quebec Videotron Centre, QC
Nov 21: Ottawa Canadian Tire Centre, ON
Nov 22: Toronto Scotiabank Arena, ON
Nov 24: Knoxville Thompson-Boling Arena, TN
Nov 25: Indianapolis Gainbridge Fieldhouse, IN
Nov 27: Rosemont Allstate Arena, IL
Nov 29: Baltimore CFG Bank Arena, MD
Dec 01: New York Madison Square Garden, NY
Dec 02: New York Madison Square Garden, NY

Tickets are on sale now.