On july 22th we had our Gene Simmons Vault Experience in Amsterdam (NL)
But first we've to go back to september 20th from last year, the day that Gene announced his Vault! When we heard what all was included in the Vault Experience we know this is something we want to have in our KISS collection. First of all the music, 166 songs (demo's & unreleased songs from 1966 till 2016) on 11 CD's, the Vault itself, a big save that contains these CD's package in a massive cloth-bound with embossed gold foil commemorative book with tons of never seen before photo's of Gene's 50 year career. A limited edition Gene Simmons Business Action Figure, a In Gene We Trust oversized Coin and a Special Gift From Gene!
So when we bought our Vault early october, on that day our experience began.
On the KISS Kruise VII we got a taste of what we could expect with the making of the Gene Simmons Vault, hosted by the Demon himself & Keith Valcourt. Were you got a extreme close-up to the Vault, with some snippets of the songs that are included on the boxset and even Gene played My Uncle Is A Raft on his accoustic guitar!
Our experience went even better when on december 12th @ 8:57 PM we got a telephone call from Mr. Simmons himself! We were 1 of the lucky fans Gene called as a special suprise!
He thanked us for buying the Gene Simmons Vault! We talked about the Vault and everything that was in it. Also we talked about his upcoming new book: 27.
I spoke with Gene about the recent fire's in Los Angeles and I asked him if the Gene Simmons Band would do a European tour in 2018 and he confirmed some dates to me. Then we talked about family, we spoke over a lot of personal stuff and talked quite some time with eachother and all I can say that he was sincere about everything we talked about. When our conversation came to it's end he wished us a merry KISSmas and a happy new year. He looked forward to see us at the Vault Experience soon!
Wow, what more can I say?
In januari we got the Vault pre-pack in with all kind of items!
It includes: a Signed Golden Ticket by Gene with my name, a Download Card for Are You Ready, a Laminate & a cool T-Shirt!
In may we got this special Vault Personal Gold Plated Label in!
It's heavy and looking awesome with my name on it!
So, on july 22th, a sunny & hot sunday, we drove to Amsterdam were we had our Vault Experience @ the A'dam tower, in the Gibson Room on the 10th floor. We think this location was 1 of the best. But before we got in this room we first had to check us in and Keith recognised us right away and before I knew it I had my wristband, # 3 in line!
When we waited untill it was time to go to the Gibson Room we got some cool Amsterdam Vault Guitarpicks from Keith and at 12:30 PM it was time to go to the 10th floor. When we came into the room we looked for the stage and got us a nice place on the front row, now it was time to relax, get some drinks, talk to other fans untill Gene would take the stage.
Around 2 PM Gene was welcome by the fans with a lot of cheers and the Vault Songs & Stories and Q&A session began. First he told us what all was included on the Vault and his 50 year career. But we also wanted Gene to play something for us and so he did and played his very first song he ever recorded; My Uncle Is A Raft:
He also talked about how compose a song, how you come up with lyrics and suddenly he asked Marina to give him a song title. The first title she could think of was Do You Love Me and right on the spot Gene came up with lyrics and had a verse ready before we knew it. This was so awesome and here's our video of it:
The whole session was a lot of fun, Gene was funny (did a Elvis impression) joking and he even learned some new Dutch words, like gereedschapskist or what the word pick means in Dutch, lol.
As we said before it was a hot sunday and Gene get's sweaty and hotter every second during the sesssion and wiping of his face with some napkins.
He talked about how Paul Stanley wanted him to sing some specific parts of songs, like Take Me or I Was Made For Lovin' You. It was so funny and here's our video of it:
We had such a great time during this session and for us it could have go on for hours. But Gene would love to handing out some Vaults! Enjoy our photo's from the session:
After a small break it was time for for Gene to hand over each Vault personally. We were # 3 and around 3:30 PM it was our turn to get into the special room were would meet Gene and get our Vault out his hands! When we go into the room (nervous as hell, lol) a little bit dark, we looked for him and there he was, even without the make-up, he's still the Demon. He was so nice and sincere to us. Thanked us for beeing there and looked to all the cool items we brought with us to for him to sign.
Especially the KISS Lunchbox from the 70's or his Blood Cup from the show in Rock Im Rivier 2015!
We also let him sign the massive Vault Book:
We think at turned out great!
During all of this we talked with Gene about all kind of stuff and he's such a funny man!
So now it was time to get our Vault signed by Gene:
We wanted to let him write a quote (from him) that always had such a powerfull meaning to us and still has!
We think it turned out awesome, especially in gold!
After everything was signed, we got our photo's with Gene. We got a awesome photo together (see above) and also some great seperate ones:
But it wasn't over yet. I asked Gene if he would say a special message on video for me about our KISS weblog and he said it was a pleasure for him to do it, so here it is:
Isn't this awesome?
We thanked Gene for this incredible experience and when we left the room he thanked us for the gift! We walked out the room with a big smile on our faces!
Now we had to get the Vault into our car, first we had to get it into his original packing box, went all smootly, closed it with tape, get it on our trolly, get into the elevator and rolled it straight to our car. Job done!
When we got back to the Gibson Room, we talked with fans about their experiences, took photo's, got some drinks and then headed over the Butcher Club to get the special God Of Thunder burger, it tasted sooo good. But all good things have to come to a end, even if we don't want it. So we left around 7 PM (we drove very savely because we had a Vault with us) and arrived at home at 9. The first thing we did was un-packed our Vault and looked and touched it.
Then we opened the Vault and took the book out:
Now we could see the Gene Business Action Figure and the In Gene We Trust Coin and the Special Gifts From Gene.
Here's a closer look to the Gene Simmons Figure:
It looks amazing in details, his leather jacket, feels like real leather and his jeans feels like a real one!
Also the Gene Coin looks great:
There are so many details in it, like his signature, his devil handsign or his Axe bassguitar!
This is the backside of the Coin:
This is how we set up our Vault in our livingroom:
We think our set up looks great with Gene's guitars on the background. We put a custom made glassplate on top of the Vault to protect Gene's signed quote.
We placed the Coin and the Gene Figure (in a special display) on top of it.
The special Amsterdam Guitar Picks & Buttons got a spot in front of the vault.
We hang our Amsterdam laminates on the left handle of the Vault:
And our KISS Kruise VIII laminates with the Special Personal Gold Plated Label on the right handle:
It's now a real eye catcher in our room!
We alo let this vinyl sign by him:
The first KISS Album!
Here's a closer look to the Vault Amsterdam Guitar Pics & Buttons:
And looking to all these items, looking back to this day, listening to a Journey Of 50 Years of Gene music, all we can say we had a incredible, awesome Gene Simmons Vault Experience!!!
*(c) 2018. All personal photo’s/slideshows/filmed footage may only be used by others if is reference/linked to this site or me and ask me first!
