How KISS Set 2 World Records With 1 Show

KISS certainly went out with a bang. In 2020, the hard rock band known for its wild live shows outdid themselves with a concert so explosive it set two world records in one go. On New Year's Eve 2020, KISS appeared in Dubai, the Arab Emirates, for what the group billed as "the largest and most bombastic celebration in our and anyone else's history" (via SiriusXM). The band known for such outrageous behavior as using their own blood for a comic book — just a bit of the messed-up reality of KISS — didn't disappoint.

The famously face-painted, spandex-and-leather-wearing band formed in New York in 1973 and began its rise to global fame mostly on the strength of epic live performances that included fire-breathing, smoke machines, and fake blood galore. KISS included pyrotechnics in its shows early on and things only got more elaborate as the years progressed. But that night in Dubai, KISS took it to epic levels that earned the band two spots in the Guinness World Records for highest flame projection and most flame projections at a concert launched at once.

KISS isn't the only rock act to make it into the Guinness World Records. For instance, Van Halen got in for being the highest paid band for a single performance for receiving $1.5 million to play the U.S. Festival back in 1983, but it seems fitting that KISS's entries are for something so close to its heart. When KISS started out, the band had a stage persona closer to Glam rockers the New York Dolls, but quickly morphed into something no one had seen before.

Lead singer Paul Stanley, guitarist Ace Frehley, drummer Peter Criss, and bassist Gene Simmons donned their signature black and white face paint and began to make waves. Before long, Simmons was spitting fire, Frehley's guitar was shooting sparks, and the entire stage was bursting with flames. "Pyro has been a part of KISS since the beginning of time," the band's manager, Doc McGhee, recalled in "This Business of Concert Promotion and Touring." "It's a big part of the show because it's over-the-top, it's exciting, and it has audio and visual impact with the explosions. A KISS tour is like the Fourth of July every day."

For nearly 50 years, KISS underwent lineup changes, even lost the makeup for a time (but kept the pyrotechnics), and by 2020, with only two of the original members, Paul Stanley and Gene Simmons, left, the band announced its final tour in 2020. Age was part of the reason KISS was retiring. Nine months into the Pandemic, the band headed for Dubai to perform on a 250-foot stage, just part of the $10 million extravaganza that was live-streamed across the globe.

A big part of the reason KISS agreed to the show was the freedom allotted to them: "Wait a minute. You mean we can put on the biggest pyro show of all time, since Krakatoa and the Big Bang?," Simmons recalled asking the promoters (via The Oakland Press). The answer was yes. And they did. The official Guinness World Record recorded the band's flame projection at an astounding 35 meters (almost 115 feet). KISS' second record breaker was for the 73 flame projections the band let off at the same time. As it turned out, the Pandemic postponed the rest of the band's final tour until August 2021, ending a 250-show run in December 2023.