The Animalize World Tour was a concert tour by American rock band Kiss in support of their twelfth studio album, Animalize.

Background This was the first tour with Bruce Kulick on lead guitar, replacing Mark St. John who couldn't play due to his arthritic condition. Originally Kulick was a temporary replacement, but after St. John's condition improved and he returned to the group, the other members decided Kulick was a better fit musically, resulting in Kulick being named an official member on December 2, 1984 after the band had played three shows with St. John.

According to Pete Bishop, a reporter from The Pittsburgh Press, the design of the stage featured a leopard-zebra appearance taken from the cover of the album Animalize. The lighted band logo was hung over the upstage portion with specials effects also featuring blasting caps and sparkler jets. There was also colored lights on trusses and beneath meshwork ramps. A truss would lift downwards to lift up the guitarists and lift them to a catwalk, descending down later on a smoke spewing platform.

The Animalize period was the band's most successful of the decade with the crossover success of "Heaven's on Fire" onto CHR/Top 40 radio, a very well-attended concert trek, and with Animalize selling nearly 2 million copies by the end of the tour. The live video Animalize Live Uncensored was recorded at Cobo Hall on December 8, 1984 during this tour, later airing on MTV. On April 7, 2023, Kiss officially released the only known soundboard recording of a live show with Mark St. John, as part of their Off the Soundboard series. The concert was recorded on November 28, 1984 at the Mid-Hudson Civic Center in Poughkeepsie, New York.

In the tour program for the band's final tour, Simmons reflected on the tour:

Reception Linda Moleski, a reporter from Billboard, who had attended the performance in Uniondale began her review by noting that the theatrics had not been toned down, but had toned down in appearance. She praised the concert as a 'powerful metal fury', but said she was disappointed from the performance of "Heaven's on Fire" as it was delivered more weakly and harshly. She pointed out the strong connection with both the audience and the players, even praising the uncluttered stage.

Jeff Bunch, a correspondent from The Spokesman-Review was not impressed from the band's performance in Spokane, stating that they were nothing more than a 'play-it-loud-and-say-it-crude' band and suggested that 'if the rumors that rock 'n roll died, it was true. He criticized that the band were strutting around on stage in a graphic matter while Stanley spent more time telling stories than singing - while noting the band having the audience on their feet throughout the whole performance. He concluded his review by stating that the band's success was relied on playing music loud and throwing in many theatrics as possible. He however, claimed that the opening act played to a better-than-average reception.

Set lists These are example set lists of what was performed during the tour on each leg, but may not represent the majority of the tour.

Europe set list "Detroit Rock City" "Cold Gin" "Strutter" "Fits Like a Glove" "Heaven's on Fire" "Under the Gun" "War Machine" "Young and Wasted" "I've Had Enough (Into the Fire)" "I Love It Loud" "I Still Love You" "Creatures of the Night" "Love Gun" "Rock and Roll All Nite" Encore "Lick It Up" "Black Diamond"

North America set list "Detroit Rock City" "Cold Gin" "Creatures of the Night" "Fits Like a Glove" "Heaven's on Fire" "Under the Gun" "War Machine" "Young and Wasted" "I Love It Loud" "I Still Love You" "Love Gun" "Black Diamond" Encore "Lick It Up" "Rock and Roll All Nite"

Tour dates Date City Country Venue Opening Act(s)Europe September 30, 1984 Brighton England Brighton Centre Bon Jovi October 1, 1984 Southampton Gaumont Theatre October 2, 1984 St Austell Cornwall Coliseum October 4, 1984 Manchester Manchester Apollo October 5, 1984 Glasgow Scotland Glasgow Apollo October 6, 1984 Edinburgh Edinburgh Playhouse October 7, 1984 Newcastle upon Tyne England Newcastle City Hall October 8, 1984 October 10, 1984 Leicester De Montfort Hall October 11, 1984 Ipswich Gaumont Theater October 12, 1984 Stafford Bingley Hall October 13, 1984 Leeds Queen's Hall October 14, 1984 London Wembley Arena October 15, 1984 October 17, 1984 Offenbach am MainWest Germany Stadthalle Offenbach October 18, 1984 Munich Circus Krone October 19, 1984 Neunkirchen am Brand Hemmerleinhalle October 21, 1984 Copenhagen Denmark Falkoner Center October 22, 1984 Drammen Norway Drammenshallen rowspan="2" October 24, 1984 Lund Sweden Olympen October 26, 1984 Stockholm Johanneshovs Isstadion Bon Jovi October 27, 1984 Gothenburg Scandinavium October 29, 1984 Hanover West Germany Stadionsporthalle October 30, 1984 Düsseldorf Philipshalle October 31, 1984 Ludwigshafen Friedrich-Ebert-Halle November 1, 1984 Lausanne Switzerland Palais de Beaulieu November 3, 1984 Brussels Belgium Forest National November 4, 1984 Zwolle Netherlands IJsselhallen November 5, 1984 Paris France Zénith de Paris North AmericaNorth America show notices: November 15, 1984 Bethlehem United States Stabler Arena Queensrÿche November 16, 1984 Glens Falls Glens Falls Civic Center November 17, 1984 Rochester Rochester Community War Memorial November 18, 1984 Buffalo Buffalo Memorial Auditorium November 20, 1984 Syracuse Onondaga County War Memorial November 23, 1984 Worcester The Centrum November 24, 1984 New Haven New Haven Coliseum November 25, 1984 Philadelphia The Spectrum November 26, 1984 Uniondale Nassau Veterans Memorial Coliseum November 27, 1984 Baltimore Baltimore Civic Center November 28, 1984 Poughkeepsie Mid-Hudson Civic Center November 29, 1984 Binghamton Broome County Veterans Memorial Arena December 2, 1984 Indianapolis Market Square Arena December 4, 1984 St. Louis Kiel Auditorium December 5, 1984 Evansville Roberts Municipal Stadium December 6, 1984 Terre Haute Hulman Center December 7, 1984 Fort Wayne Allen County War Memorial Coliseum December 8, 1984 Detroit Cobo Arena December 11, 1984 Saginaw Saginaw Civic Center December 12, 1984 Columbus Ohio Center December 13, 1984 Dayton Hara Arena December 14, 1984 Richfield Richfield Coliseum December 15, 1984 Louisville Commonwealth Convention Center December 17, 1984 Peoria Peoria Civic Center December 18, 1984 Cedar Rapids Five Seasons Center December 26, 1984 Kansas City Kansas City Municipal Auditorium December 27, 1984 Lincoln Pershing Auditorium December 29, 1984 Saint Paul St. Paul Civic Center December 30, 1984 Milwaukee MECCA Arena January 3, 1985 Greenville Greenville Memorial Auditorium Krokus January 4, 1985 Johnson City Freedom Hall Civic Center January 5, 1985 Fayetteville Cumberland County Memorial Arena January 6, 1985 Charlotte Charlotte Coliseum January 8, 1985 Knoxville Knoxville Civic Coliseum January 9, 1985 Atlanta The Omni Coliseum January 10, 1985 Orlando Orlando Sports Stadium January 11, 1985 Fort Lauderdale Sunrise Musical Theater January 12, 1985 January 13, 1985 St. Petersburg Bayfront Center January 15, 1985 New Orleans Kiefer UNO Lakefront Arena January 16, 1985 Biloxi Mississippi Coast Coliseum January 17, 1985 Huntsville Von Braun Civic Center January 18, 1985 Birmingham Boutwell Memorial Auditorium January 19, 1985 Nashville Nashville Municipal Auditorium January 21, 1985 Pensacola Pensacola Civic Center January 22, 1985 Memphis Mid-South Coliseum January 24, 1985 Lubbock Lubbock Municipal Coliseum Queensrÿche January 25, 1985 Abilene Taylor County Expo Center January 26, 1985 Austin Frank Erwin Center January 27, 1985 Corpus Christi Corpus Christi Memorial Coliseum January 29, 1985 Dallas Reunion Arena January 30, 1985 San Antonio HemisFair Arena January 31, 1985 Houston Sam Houston Coliseum February 1, 1985 Waco Waco Convention Center February 3, 1985 Odessa Ector County Coliseum February 4, 1985 Amarillo Amarillo Civic Center February 5, 1985 El Paso El Paso County Coliseum February 6, 1985 Phoenix Arizona Veterans Memorial Coliseum February 7, 1985 Las Vegas Aladdin Theatre February 9, 1985 Oakland Kaiser Convention Center February 11, 1985 Salt Lake City Salt Palace February 13, 1985 Seattle Seattle Center Arena February 14, 1985 Portland Portland Memorial Coliseum February 17, 1985 Long Beach Long Beach Arena February 18, 1985 February 20, 1985 San Bernardino Orange Pavilion February 21, 1985 Bakersfield Bakersfield Convention Center February 22, 1985 San Diego San Diego Sports Arena February 24, 1985 Sacramento Sacramento Memorial Auditorium February 26, 1985 Spokane Spokane Coliseum February 27, 1985 Vancouver Canada Pacific Coliseum March 1, 1985 Edmonton Kinsmen Field House Sentinel March 2, 1985 Lethbridge Sportplex Queensrÿche March 3, 1985 Calgary Stampede Corral March 7, 1985 Regina Regina Agridome Dokken March 9, 1985 Winnipeg Winnipeg Arena March 10, 1985 Grand Forks United States Hyslop Sports Center March 11, 1985 Bismarck Bismarck Civic Center March 13, 1985 Duluth Duluth ArenaMarch 14, 1985 Green Bay Brown County Veterans Memorial ArenaMarch 15, 1985 La Crosse La Crosse Center March 16, 1985 Dubuque Five Flags Center March 17, 1985 Des Moines Iowa Veterans Memorial Auditorium March 19, 1985 Madison Dane County Expo Coliseum W.A.S.P. March 20, 1985 Marquette Lakeview Arena March 22, 1985 Lansing Lansing Civic Center March 23, 1985 South Bend Athletic & Convocation Center March 24, 1985 Cincinnati Cincinnati Gardens March 25, 1985 Toledo Toledo Sports Arena March 26, 1985 Pittsburgh Pittsburgh Civic Arena March 28, 1985 Springfield Springfield Civic Center March 29, 1985 East Rutherford Brendan Byrne Arena

Bruce Kulick performed the first half of this show and Mark St. John performed the second half. Mark St. John performed the entirety of these shows. This was Bruce Kulick's first show as a permanent member of the group. This show was professionally recorded and shown on MTV, then later released as Animalize Live Uncensored.

Box office score data +List of box office score data with date, city, venue, attendance, gross, referencesDate(1984)CityVenueAttendanceGrossNovember 15BethlehemStabler Arena4,472 / 6,000$49,346December 2IndianapolisMarket Square Arena10,393 / 10,500$111,865December 4St. LouisKiel Auditorium4,380 / 5,700$54,533

Personnel Paul Stanley – vocals, rhythm guitar Gene Simmons – vocals, bass Eric Carr – drums, vocals Bruce Kulick – lead guitar, backing vocals (all but November 28 and 29 dates) Mark St. John – lead guitar, backing vocals (only November 27, 28, and 29 dates)

References

Sources