The night KISS and its army battled a snowstorm at the Richfield Coliseum
Updated Mar 12, 2021;
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CLEVELAND, Ohio – KISS was so big in 1978 the only thing that could slow down the classic lineup of Paul Stanley, Gene Simmons, Ace Frehley and Peter Criss was the weather.
The band’s epic “Alive II Tour” loaded with pyrotechnics, fire, smoke bombs and platform risers was rolling along in early 1978 when it ran into a roadblock or, better yet, a blizzard at the Richfield Coliseum. The show proved to be one of the more memorable during KISS’ peak run.
“The concert was oversold,” remembers Simmons. “The fire department was nice, so they allowed 2,000 or 3,000 people more than the capacity. But then they had the snowstorm of the century that night. The parking lot had five or six feet of snow.”
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(l. to r.): Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens and J.P. “The Big Bopper” Richardson
February 3, 2021, marks the 62nd anniversary of the tragic airplane crash that subsequently became known as “The Day the Music Died,” sadly referenced in Don McLean’s 1971 song, “American Pie.”
Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens and J.P. Richardson, aka The Big Bopper, died along with pilot Roger Peterson.
After a February 2, 1959, “Winter Dance Party” show in Clear Lake, Iowa, Holly, Valens and Richardson took off from the Mason City, Iowa, airport, in a three-passenger plane that Holly chartered, piloted by Peterson during inclement weather. It crashed into a cornfield just minutes after takeoff.