Tom Morello attended his first concert with KISS but couldn’t actually see the band.
The guitarist shared this memory with Allison Hagendorf when asked about his first concert: “That’d be KISS, 1977 at the Chicago Stadium.” He recalled being very excited as KISS was his favorite band, and he bought a ticket at Ticketron.
Morello continued, “I waited in the line in the cold and I bought a ticket. I was there the morning tickets went on sale and my ticket said ‘a partial view of KISS.’ Which I assume meant it was going to be some sort of introspective look into their, into their poetic souls.”
“It meant that my seat was behind a pole. And it was still the most exciting 2 hours I had experienced in my life. And it made me go, ‘Hallelujah.’ ‘Rock and rolls for me.’ I had to look around, I had to look around the pole to see Gene breathing fire and whatnot,” Morello added.
He also shared this small part from the interview on Instagram, captioning it, “On this day in 1977 I attended my first rock n roll concert, a KISS concert at the old Chicago Stadium. A life changing moment.”
A long-time fan of KISS, Morello was chosen to induct the band into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2014. In his speech, he said, “Growing up, KISS was my favorite band—and it was not easy being a KISS fan. Just as KISS were relentlessly persecuted by critics, their fans were relentlessly persecuted by the self-appointed arbiters of taste in middle schools and high schools across America.”
Morello added, “Influence? Simply put, KISS is the band that made me and millions of others love rock and roll. What Elvis and the Beatles were to previous generations, KISS were to us. They propelled millions of young people to pick up instruments. Their influence is everywhere.”
Tom Morello has been a part of the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame and its nominating committee for over a decade.
