KISS are honoring 30 years of their reunion for an MTV Unplugged performance with a new 2LP set. The band of Gene Simmons, Paul Stanley, Peter Criss, and Ace Frehley—alongside Bruce Kulick and Eric Singer—came together in 1996 for the now-celebrated performance. The premium vinyl will arrive as a yellow and red swirled color edition. The release comes packaged in a gatefold jacket featuring embossed details with expanded unreleased photos and a brand-new single-sided poster.
In an interview from earlier this year, drummer Peter Criss explained how the MTV Unplugged reunion led to a brand new KISS world tour. He and Ace Frehley were touring small theaters, missing the arena stages they had played as a band. The rest of the group wasn’t doing all that well, either. “They were playing KISS conventions. So, they were also not in the position where they used to love to be in that position. And so we got together and rehearsed,” he explains. “We still sounded so good. The magic was still there.”
After the rehearsals, the band decided to get together for another run, which included the MTV Unplugged performance. “Two weeks later I was on tour with my band in Canada somewhere, and I got a call from [KISS’s manager] Doc McGhee, and he said, ‘We wanna put the band back. We wanna go back out on a reunion tour…I already know for a fact you already sold out two years, and it’s gonna be around the world twice.’” Criss added that the news helped him get back into shape: “So, I had to work hard. I had to relearn all the KISS stuff that I hadn’t played in 17 years. I would get up in the morning and go to the gym. We took it real serious…”
In other KISS news, the band recently reissued their 1976 album Destroyer, to celebrate its 50th anniversary. In honor of the milestone, Destroyer received a purple liquid-filled vinyl, and a metallic gold and purple fire vinyl pressing.
Buy the 30th anniversary of KISS’ MTV Unplugged here.
