The Tour

KISS and Motley Crue are hitting the road for a co-headlining tour -- dubbed simply "The Tour" -- this summer, the iconic rock acts announced on Tuesday.
The 40-date North American tour will kick off in Bristow, Va., on July 20 and run through the end of the summer, with the hard rock groups each playing 90-minute sets.
"These guys are the baddest band in the f***ing world," Motley Crue's Vince Neil said on stage with both bands at the Roosevelt Hotel on Tuesday. "Our very first tour was with [KISS], 1982. To be able to do it now is amazing."
"Seeing them on stage, it was obvious back then that this was the next big thing," KISS' Paul Stanley added. "We talk about bang for buck, this will be the definition of bang for buck on this tour. If you want to see more bombs and artillery, you'll have to check out the military."
Whether or not KISS bassist Gene Simmons' A&E reality show, "Gene Simmons Family Jewels," will follow the explosive tour was unclear. "Probably. Maybe… not," he said.
But he had a clear answer to for the pop stars now invading stadiums once filled largely by rock acts.
"We're sick and tired of girls getting up there with dancers and karaoke tapes in back of them," Simmons said. "No fake bulls**t. Leave that to the Rihanna, Smhianna and anyone who ends their name with an 'A.'"
Backstage, Motley Crue's Tommy Lee seconded Simmons' strong opinions.
"No disrespect to Rihanna, she's a great singer, but we're in a slump for some s**t that has some personality and appeal beyond a bunch of pop stuff that's floating around out there," he told Billboard.com. "I'm glad he said that actually because I don't think i can bear watching another f***ing award show that is just a little bit better than 'American Idol.' It's f***ing pathetic to watch people go out and f***ing karaoke with a bunch of lights and video. It's all completely watered down."
"More guitars? There can't ever be enough," Motley Crue's Mick Mars told Billboard.com, asked if the touring world needed a shot of rock. "I'd have 15,000 guitar players on stage."
Looking back, Lee had fond memories of the bands' shared '80s tour, remembering trying to catch the more established KISS members without their makeup backstage.
"I remember, I wanted to see what they really looked like," he said. "They had bandanas, wrapped around, so we never really saw what they looked like, the whole tour. That was a big thing for me."
"I still wonder that," KISS drummer Eric Singer added, laughing.
Singer and Tommy Thayer, both more recent additions to KISS, look forward to touring with Motley Crue for the first time.
"I wasn't there, I was in the crowd watching," Thayer said of the previous tour three decades ago.
"Both bands are fans of each other," Singer added. "Everyone in KISS is a fan of Motley, big time. I remember when 'Dr. Feelgood' came out, Paul used to play that record all the time."
During the press conference, the groups celebrated their own endurance through decades of rock, dubbing themselves, "Elvis on steroids."
"You may say it doesn't look like classic rock and roll in the sense of what Elvis did, but all we've ever been, both bands, is Elvis on steroids," Stanley said. "Elvis through a Marshall amplifier.
"We never forget, we were once in the audience seeing bands who let us down. This will be The Tour, that's what we're calling it, The Tour. You will be deaf and blinded, you will leave there stumbling out," he added
Tickets go on sale on Friday, March 23, via Live Nation and Ticketmaster.