‘I Hear That Waterloo Is a Hot Rock’n’Roll Town!!’

On this date in 1977, the Dictators opened for Kiss at McElroy Auditorium in Waterloo, Iowa. This was the first of 6 sporadic dates the guys did with Kiss between February and March of that year.

Manitoba used to tell the story of the 2 bands’ different perspectives as follows:

“We would show up at these shows, and say to ourselves, ‘Alright, we’re finally starting to get someplace, 10,000 people!’ and then we’d pass Simmons in the hallway, and he’d be complaining, ‘Why are we playing in this tiny 10,000 seat dump??’”

Rumor has it that there were significant problems with the backstage accommodations, as the Dictators got bumped from their dressing room into Auxiliary Electrical Closet B to make room for Kiss’ pyro crew and the crates of Paul Stanley’s emergency girdles.

— Salvi C.