That experience can be found here @
https://www.kissfaq.com/forum24/viewtop ... 9#p3803829
I was then local to the northern Illinois area at the time and so I knew of the Shoes them being from up the road Zion and whatnot.
They were the critics darlings (especially Rolling Stone) and Gene loved them so it was cool that he put them on the bill.
Over the years I have run into them here and there and every time I try and strip mine them for more info about that show.
My latest run in w/Shoes was @ the Fixx in Waukegan the other night.
https://www.vvforums.com/viewtopic.php?t=9390
We were getting something to drink and they walked right up behind us.
Of course we turned around and said hello and engaged them ....
I was regaling them with the times I have seen them live.
I was telling them about when I saw them with Dwight Twilley in 2017, and how they were part of my first rock concert ever...
KISS NYE Rockford, Il. 1982.
They always love that and this time out Gary told me how when they were backstage he thought it was funny that their road crew were adamant that they not touch any of the staging. He also went in again to how Gene wanted to sign them.
In the early 2000s I was working at Borders books and music and who walked in? One of the members of the Shoes himself. I was positive it was him as I recognized him from the various album covers and his distinctive hair. He was with a lady friend and as she wandered around the store and away from him I politely asked her if the guy she was with was John Murphy from the Shoes. She said that it was and that she’d be happy to introduce me if I wanted her to. I said yes, and she brought John over. He was totally cool and asked when it was that I saw the band. I told him that it was warming up for Kiss and he laughed and said “Ah, one of our big gigs!”
He told me how the band was happy that Gene was a fan but really nervous that the Kiss crowd would hate them. He said the gig went off great and how cool it was to get to meet the band beforehand and see them without their makeup. He told me how Gene wanted to put them on a record label that he was thinking of putting together. The band was excited about this and Gene said that he’d let them know after he got off tour. After the tour, Gene spoke to them some more about it and then they never heard from him again. The band was writing new material and tried getting in touch with Gene many times but never heard back from him. They figured that he wasn’t interested and recorded a new record. Upon putting the record out, they were shocked when Gene called them up and was upset that they had gone on without him. They told him of how they waited and waited and had gotten in touch with his people and left messages but never heard back from him. They later haggled back and forth on some things but could not work anything out.
The great thing about the internet is that I was able to verify this story in an interview that the band did a while ago.
https://www.furious.com/perfect/shoes3.html
John also told me how the band early on was approached by an up and coming band that wanted to go out on tour with them in the Midwest. The catch was that the Shoes would have to warm up for them. John said that the feeling was that the Shoes had somewhat of a rep in the Midwest and that it would be unwise of them to let a new band be the headliner over them. The Shoes turned this offer down.
The band in question?
U2.
John laughed it off and was totally cool about it all.
https://shoeswire.com/about-us
