KISS: The Final Concert at Tiger Stadium
June 28th, 1996: KISS at TIGER STADIUM – I thought I had a rough experience at the final show at Tiger Stadium, but photographer, Ken Settle has me beat. I had a personal high for times groped in my life. My boss loaned me his 7th-row seats because he knew how much I love Alice in Chains, but I never made it through the crowd to get there. I had to turn around and try to get back so he could have the seats for KISS (he missed part of the show getting there too). Having said that, enjoy Ken’s story. It ain’t easy being behind the lens. – Doni
Ken Settle:
From the Film Archives: On this date in 1996, Kiss launched their reunion tour, complete with makeup, at Detroit’s Tiger Stadium! It was truly quite a spectacle! Kiss fans began showing up at the famous corner of Michigan and Trumbull by noon, many wearing full Kiss makeup and complete Kiss stage clothing! It was a sight to behold to see the Kiss Army hanging around the very working-class, blue-collar section of Detroit where Tiger Stadium stood. There was even a local reporter for a local CBS news affiliate there in full makeup and costume walking around the stadium that afternoon interviewing fans!
Photographers were gathering at our designated place to meet up at Gate 7, I think it was. I counted something like 40 photographers there, which was A LOT for that time, and they came from all over the world.
I was shooting for Rolling Stone Magazine, Player Magazine in Japan, and the major daily in Pheonix, The Arizona Republic. So my editors asked Kiss’ publicist if I might be able to shoot more than the standard first two songs. I asked the publicist when I arrived if that was doable and she didn’t yet know the answer. The Detroit group Sponge was on first. All of us photographers were escorted in to shoot the band, and they did a great job rocking the old stadium! I found myself filled with hometown pride in the band!
After shooting Sponge we were escorted back out onto the street to wait to go in to photograph Alice In Chains, who replaced Stone Temple Pilots on the show and tour. Rolling Stone had asked if I could shoot the band’s entire set. Well… when the band’s publicist came out to escort the photogs back in, she told me she had some bad news. Not only could I not shoot any additional songs of Alice In Chains, but I could not shoot them AT ALL! What..wait…WHY???? I had shot the band for years!
Well, because I was shooting for Rolling Stone! According to the publicist, the band was upset with Rolling Stone because, for their recent Rolling Stone cover, they chose a shot of Layne Staley by himself instead of one of the full band. In addition, they were upset because they felt that the magazine concentrated too much on Layne’s problem with substance abuse. So……..they denied access to the magazine and thus to me!!! So…when they walked all 40 or 50 photographers in to shoot, I was the only one left standing alone on the street at Michigan and Trumbull!!
After licking my wounds for an hour while Alice In Chains’ music washed over the streets of Detroit, Kiss’s publicist came back out to escort all of the photographers in to shoot the historic reunion show. I asked her as we were walking onto the field in the stadium what the band’s decision was regarding shooting more than two songs, and she said, “Gene told her ‘NO…Rolling Stone will never put us on the cover so they can get two songs like everyone else (they DID eventually put them on the cover….in 2014!).'” Dangggg!! This is not my day!
It was an incredibly hot and humid night down in front at Tiger Stadium, with a blanket of moisture and cigarette smoke hanging over the stadium. But the feel was positively electric. I did notice a potential problem though. The promoter made the decision to put folding stadium chairs down on the uneven terrain on the field in front of the stadium, and foolishly, some of the fans were trying to stack the chairs and climb on top to get a better view of the stage as it was a VERY high stage.
The band came on with huge fanfare…“You wanted the best..you GOT the best!” We reached our cue and they let us photogs run into the pit and jockey for position in front of the impossibly high stage. I brought a plastic Rubbermaid footstool with me to stand on, so I felt I would be OK.
I got into position up on my footstool and all of a sudden a bunch of folding chairs started making their way into the pit. Turns out, the folks trying to stack the chairs had a big chair collapse and security was bravely down in the mosh in front trying to heave the chairs out of the way and into the pit. If it smacked the odd photog or two…oh well!!!
I was dealing with the chaos OK from on top of my footstool at about the halfway point of the first song when WHAMMMMMM!!! Some big dude trying to launch himself onto the stage slammed into me from behind knocking me off the stool and knocking my head into a road case in the pit, breaking my glasses and putting a bit of a gash on my forehead!! My glasses were toast. Unusable… And I NEED my glasses to see to focus my cameras. Remember..this is in the all manual, film days. Pre-digital!
To make matters even worse, I felt around for my footstool and found that when the big guy knocked me down, he landed on my footstool, flattening it into a turtle! I tried in vain to straighten the legs out to no avail!
I was getting nervous now. We were into the second and final song. My glasses were busted and my footstool was flattened. I couldn’t see and I had nothing to stand on! Finally, my survival instincts kicked in and I dragged a road case over and stood on it to shoot. It was a struggle to see, but I felt that I was managing to hit focus most of the time. I shot the remainder of the second song and we were escorted out of the pit and into the Tiger Stadium tunnel.
On my way out…the publicist was walking toward me with the band manager, the legendary Doc McGhee. She stopped and asked me with a smile, “So how did it go, Ken?” I answered cheerfully, “Oh it went great!” But I laughed a little bit to myself when I remembered that I was standing there wearing a ripped shirt, dripping sweat, a cut on my forehead, and my broken glasses shoved into my shirt pocket! And holding a flattened Rubbermaid footstool!
Check out more of Ken’s amazing stories and pictures here.
