Buckcherry supporting Kiss on summer tour
Members of the band Kiss, (L-R) Tommy Thayer, Paul Stanley, Eric Singer and Gene Simmons, pose for photographers at the finale of Season 8 of ''American Idol'' in Los Angeles May 20, 2009.
Credit: Reuters/Phil McCarten
NASHVILLE (Billboard) - Buckcherry will support Kiss on all dates for the band's upcoming North American tour, the groups said in a statement on Wednesday.
The tour, which begins in September, made headlines last month when it was announced that Kiss had partnered with live music social networking site Eventful to route the tour through the top-voted North American markets as determined by demand on the Eventful website (www.eventful.com/KISS).
Voting will continue until June 30. According to the Kiss camp, more than 8,000 cities and towns are already represented on the fan-submitted list.
Interestingly, the top 10 markets in Eventful's Kiss demand, and 15 of the top 20, currently are Canadian cities.
"Canada is a great environment for rock 'n' roll, they're rabid for it, they turn out, and they love their rock and roll, so the fact that it's going over well in Canada does not surprise me at all," Buckcherry guitarist Keith Nelson told Billboard.com.
Buckcherry has made great strides in establishing itself as a consistent headliner over the last few years. In 2008-09, the band grossed $9.4 million from 54 shows reported to Billboard Boxscore, many co-headlining with Avenged Sevenfold.
So why veer off that headlining path to open for Kiss for 50 plus shows? "It's Kiss," Nelson said. "They're the biggest band in the world. They're legends."
Nelson does believe that, to a degree, Kiss would like to tap into Buckcherry's younger demo.
"I also think on some level they want to take a band out that doesn't suck," he added. "They have a lot of choices of bands to take out, and we're truly one of the last rock n roll bands out there. And I think they recognize that."
Kiss, which recently wrapped a tour of South America, is currently recording its first new studio album in 11 years.
(Editing by Dean Goodman)
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