Nikki Sixx Explains Anger Over Kiss Stage Set
Nikki Sixx explained why he was angry after seeing a video of Kiss during their End of the Road world tour.
Last week he branded part of the show, in which arms extend from the stage carrying a platform with a band member aboard, an “exact reenactment” of the “grand finale” used on Motley Crue’s farewell tour in 2015.
In a new interview with Kerrang!, Sixx said he decided not to attend the Kiss show himself, meaning he’d only seen the stage set in online clips.
Before he went into detail, he noted, “First of all, I have to say that I really like Kiss’s earlier songwriting; when I was a little kid who was learning to play music, they were a huge band. Aerosmith was always my favorite, but you can’t argue with simplicity of songs like ‘Deuce’ and ‘Black Diamond’ and ‘Strutter’ and ‘Parasite.’ In terms of my songwriting influences, they go into the same category as Slade or Cheap Trick. It’s very simple, hooky songwriting.”
Then he continued: “But what they did that really bothered me, and my bandmates, is, we built these giant arms that fitted in the venue’s ceilings, that had lights in them, and we developed these things. It was a lot of work and it cost a lot of money. And these things would hide up there. … Then at the end of the set these arms would come down from the ceiling and me and Vince [Neil] would jump on them and they would take us out over the arena, and that was our grand finale.”
He accused Kiss of “using our arms” on their current tour. “It was exactly our shtick!" Sixx said. "I just think it’s uncool. I think it’s uncool of the company to make the same thing again for them. … It was our last tour on Earth, and something that people have posters of on their walls is now being repeated by Kiss. Sure, we all use pyro and stuff, but with this we reinvented an idea.”