The Kiss Concert Has Been Cancelled: Information And My Opinion

Ok, so this has been the talk of the Sault for the last couple hours, and we finally have an official statement on the issue, so I'll finally make a post about it on here. So here's what you guys need to know.

A few hours ago, SooToday posted an article that said that Kiss had cancelled their Sault Ste. Marie concert for this Tuesday. Local contractors were advised they wouldn't be needed for the show, and hotel reservations were cancelled as well. There were conflicting reports about why the concert was cancelled, and now I can confirm that it's a weather issue. Because of inclement weather conditions between here and Pittsburgh (where their current show is), and the risk of possibly unsafe driving conditions, they are regretfully postponing tonight's concert. As a result, the Essar Center show will be on the second North American leg of Kiss' Alive 35 tour, tentatively scheduled for the summer of 2010. Tickets for the now-cancelled show on Tuesday may be used for the rescheduled summer show or refunded at the point of purchase. Refund information has not been announced as of 6:38 PM. My sources are from the SooToday articles on the situation, click here for the original article on the cancellation, and click here for the official announcement from Kiss and AEG Live on why they cancelled.

Ok, so how can I diffuse this firestorm....well, first off, I recommend that you guys don't blame the band for what happened. We can't control the weather, and honestly, none of us probably know how bad the weather is between Pennsylvania and Ontario. You could say that Kiss doesn't have winter tires or can't handle our weather or whatever, but after 35 years of playing, this can't have been the first time they've postponed a concert due to bad winter weather. And with all the equipment they have, would they really want to risk it? Don't start going on thinking "Oh, Gene just doesn't like us, we're too small for Kiss, bla bla bla". If that was the case, they wouldn't have rescheduled the Kewadin Casino concert in 2005 for the next year. That had a case you could make for us being shafted, cause they cancelled that show to play in Japan instead. Even still, they came back, they rocked, it was a success. This time, it was either cancel, or risk the weather.

What's to say this will be any different? This time, they cancelled for a reason out of their hands, and they're promising to come back in the summer, which means they'll be here a lot sooner for the makeup date than they were for the Kewadin show. People are already hitting the panic button thinking "OH NO, KISS SCREWED US OVER, THEY'RE NEVER COMING, GENE'S A LIAR!" and all that. I think people are extra panicked and annoyed because they cancelled just two days before the show. If this had happened months ago, it wouldn't be nearly as big of a firestorm. Trust me on this, EVERYTHING WILL WORK OUT. KISS ARE COMING, they will put our rescheduled date on the second leg (which is where I originally thought they'd end up when they FIRST announced the original dates), and hopefully all of this will die down once again. Gene loves money, he wouldn't cancel a show that would make him lots of it if he could help it, and judging by all the promotion and excitement over this, we would pump a lot of cash his way. Gene wouldn't cancel, he wouldn't shaft us, and he was good on his word the last time under worse circumstances. It likely will be no different now. KISS ARE COMING, TRUST ME!!!!

So yeah, that was my short recap of what's been announced so far, hopefully what I said will help get some people not thinking too drastically. When I hear official details on ticket refunds or anything else like that, I'll be sure to let you guys know! Stay tuned for more updates on this and more!