Gene Simmons the Vault Experience or the Kiss: Kissteria Box Set – Which would you choose??

Published on by 2loud2oldmusic

Let’s have a little fun.  If you had $2,000, which would you buy…the Gene Simmons Vault Experience or the Kiss Kissteria Road Cast Box Set?  Yes, I know there is better things you can do with your money, but this is for fun.  I am not planning to get either of these…at least not right now.  Now before you answer the question, what is included with each?

The Gene Simmons Vault Experience

What is the Gene Simmons Vault Experience?  It is just that…an experience.  For your $2,000 you get to attend an all day Vault Experience which includes the following:

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  • Gene Meet & Greet: You and a guest will spend one-on-one time with Gene in your area (maybe 5 minutes based on what I have read, but he will sign anything you want including the top of the Vault and anything inside)
  • “Songs & Stories” Playback Session and Q&A: You and a guest will attend an intimate Vault preview
  • Gene photo/video/autograph session
  • Gene hand delivers your limited-edition personalized Vault (which has a special section with bonus items individually selected by Gene that are included that are unique to your vault – some guy got Kiss Kondoms)
  • Vault Pre-Pack: Signed Golden Ticket, T-Shirt, Download Card (with “Are You Ready”), And laminate

Let’s just let Gene explain:

You might think you know all about me, but believe it or not there’s more… After years of being in the spotlight with KISS, I’ve decided it’s time to share another side with you, a deeply personal one. With The Vault, I’ve created a 50-year time capsule (1966 to 2016) that serves as a soundtrack to my life, filled with songs I’ve written, but have never been released. Until now.

The Vault includes 150 recordings featuring notable rock and roll artists and of course, my bandmates from KISS.

As an obsessive music fan and collector myself, I’ve packed The Vault with exclusive mementos created just for The Vault – a new Gene action figure, an “In Gene We Trust” oversized commemorative coin, a deluxe book containing over 50,000 words and 160-pages of unseen photos from my personal collection. As well as a track-by-track commentary on every song. And I’ve hand selected a personal gift from me to you direct from my very own archive.

The best part? I will hand deliver your Vault at an exclusive, once-in-a-lifetime, event near you.

Now, at some of the events many former members of Kiss have shown up including Eric Singer, Bruce Kulick, Ace Frehley and even Vinnie Vincent is scheduled to show up in Nashville.  If I was going, I would be at the Charlotte one in June and no one has been announced yet for that one.  That would suck to think you wouldn’t get a special guest of some kind when a lot of the other cities have had it.  I think I would be pissed if that happened.

But is $2,000 really worth it?  Who knows.  There are some really cool songs on the CDs including some demos with the Van Halen brothers, but the songs are mostly demos.  Is that worth it?

Kiss Kisteria Road Case Box Set

The Kissteria Road Case Box Set is basically every Kiss album on Vinyl.  The list is endless and includes so many special items.  Just check out the list from Pledgemusic.com.  It is simply outstanding.

 

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Two box sets are included in this special bundle
Contents of Box Set #1:
All 28 original Casablanca Records/Mercury Records/UMe albums on 180g audiophile vinyl
All albums have been painstakingly re-created in their original artwork with special packaging highlights noted belowwhere applicable:
Dressed To Kill – Embossed Front & Back Jacket Covers
Alive! – 8 Page Color Booklet
Rock And Roll Over – Sticker Sheet
Love Gun – Paper Gun with “Bang” Sheet
Alive II – Tattoo Sheet & 8 Page Color Booklet
Gene Simmons, Paul Stanley, Ace Frehley, Peter Criss (solo albums) – Set of 4 Interlocking Posters
Dynasty – 22” x 33” Poster
Unmasked – 22” x 33” Poster
Music From The Elder – First Vinyl Pressing with Concept Album Sequence
MTV Unplugged – 24” x 24” Poster
Psycho Circus – First Vinyl Pressing Ever will include a 12”x12” Lenticular Cover
Alive: The Millennium Collection – First Vinyl Pressing Ever
Carnival of Souls: The Final Sessions – First Vinyl Pressing Ever
Exclusive vinyl titles for the Road Case:
Double Platinum – Embossed front & back jacket covers + Embossed platinum award insert
Greatest KISS – First Vinyl Pressing Ever. Will combine all exclusive tracks used worldwide into one package
KILLERS – First U.S. Release Ever. Will combine both Japan and Australia track lists into one package
You Wanted The Best, You Got The Best
Smashes, Thrashes & Hits
KISS Symphony: Alive IV
Exclusive Bonus Items for Vinyl Box:
Twelve 12”x17” Archival Posters in a poster tube
First Band Promo Poster
Hotel Diplomat Concert Poster
Asylum Promo Poster
Creatures Of The Night Promo Poster
KISS 1984 Promo Poster
Alive III Promo Poster
You Wanted The Best, You Got The Best Promo Poster
Smashes, Thrashes & Hits Promo Poster
MTV Unplugged Promo Poster
Live 1996 Tour Poster
Psycho Circus Promo Poster
Greatest Kiss Promo Poster
KISS Vinyl Cleaning Cloth
KISS Turntable Mat
KISS Dominoes
Four Band Photo Lithos
Certificate of Authenticity with Exclusive Box Number

Contents of Box Set #2
7’’ singles:
Singles:
1. Nothin’ To Lose / Love Theme From KISS
2. Kissin’ Time / Nothin’ To Lose
3. Strutter / 100,000 Years
4. Let Me Go, Rock ‘N’ Roll / Hotter Than Hell (Germany sleeve)
5. Rock And Roll All Nite / Getaway (Holland sleeve)
6. C’mon And Love Me / Getaway (Japan sleeve)
7. Rock And Roll All Nite (live) / Rock And Roll All Nite (Germany sleeve)
8. Shout It Out Loud / Sweet Pain (Japan sleeve)
9. Flaming Youth / God Of Thunder (U.S. sleeve)
10. Detroit Rock City / Beth (Japan sleeve)
11. Beth / Detroit Rock City (Germany sleeve)
12. Hard Luck Woman / Mr. Speed (Germany sleeve)
13. Calling Dr. Love / Take Me (Germany sleeve)
14. Christeen Sixteen / Shock Me (France sleeve)
15. Love Gun / Hooligan (Sweden sleeve)
16. Shout It Out Loud (live) / Nothin’ To Lose (live) (Germany sleeve)
17. Rocket Ride / Tomorrow And Tonight (live) (Germany sleeve)
18. Strutter ‘78 / Shock Me (Germany sleeve)
19. Hold Me, Touch Me / Goodbye – Paul Stanley (U.K. sleeve / Purple vinyl) + mask
20. New York Groove / Snow Blind – Ace Frehley (U.K. sleeve / Blue vinyl) + mask
21. Radioactive / See You In Your Dreams – Gene Simmons (U.K. sleeve / Red vinyl) + mask
22. Don’t You Let Me Down / Hooked On Rock ‘N’ Roll – Peter Criss (Germany sleeve)
23. You Matter To Me / Hooked On Rock ‘N’ Roll – Peter Criss (U.K. sleeve / Green vinyl) + mask
24. I Was Made For Lovin’ You / Hard Times (Germany sleeve)
25. Sure Know Something / Dirty Livin’ (Germany sleeve)
26. Shandi / She’s So European (Holland sleeve)
27. Tomorrow / Naked City (Japan sleeve)
28. A World Without Heroes / Dark Light (Spain sleeve)
29. I Love It Loud / Danger (U.S. sleeve)

Here is what the Label says about it:

KISS only delivers the best and for their 40th anniversary Mercury Records and UMe proudly present the greatest vinyl boxset in all the land, KISSTERIA – The Ultimate Vinyl Road Case! Thirty-four LPs, featuring nineteen studio albums, five Alive releases and their four solo albums pressed onto audiophile 180g vinyl for the first time since as far back as 1985 for some titles. Also included are six exclusive vinyl albums (pictured left) not available via any other offering. With all audio newly remastered in ultra-high definition DSD (Direct Stream Digital), KISSTERIA – The Ultimate Vinyl Road Case offers a maximum fidelity treatment for each iconic album.

Additional bonus items include twelve 11″×17″ archival posters including the band’s very first promo poster, KISS vinyl cleaning cloth, KISS turntable mat, KISS dominoes set, four band lithos highlighting four decades of the band and a certificate of authenticity proudly displaying the limited edition number of each box set. Weighing nearly 50 pounds when fully assembled, 1,000 fans worldwide will be lucky enough to own this legendary vinyl box set and prove to the millions of KISS followers all over the world who amongst them are the MEGA FANS.

Custom ANVIL® Road Case to house 34 KISS LPs and a plethora of extras.

That is a crap load of stuff.  Pledgemusic.com has the Singles Collection as part of the package as well all for $1,650 which is a little less than the Gene Simmons Experience.

Which One Would You Choose?

This is a hard one for me as I am not positive which one I would actually choose if I really had the choice.  It would be cool meeting Gene and getting him to sign some items from my personal collection as well as the Vault items.  It would also be cool to maybe meet Eric, Bruce, Ace or Vinnie if one of the showed up.  It would definitely be a once in a lifetime experience.  But is the music really worth it?  That is the question.  Are the good demos or just crap.  I haven’t heard so don’t know.

Now the Kissteria Box set has so many special items including 7 or 8 first time pressings on Vinyl and the added Singles collection is just icing on the cake.  Mostly, it is slightly cheaper than the Gene Simmons Experience.

Both are ridiculous and that makes it so hard to choose.  I think if I had to choose, I might go with the Kissteria Vinyl Box Set.  Meeting Gene would be awesome, but am I that big of a fan and what if the 10 CDs suck and then all I have is the memory of meeting Gene.  Is that worth $2,000?  With the Box set, I know what I am getting.  Tough choice.

Now, leave a comment and tell me what you would do.

27 thoughts on “Gene Simmons the Vault Experience or the Kiss: Kissteria Box Set – Which would you choose??”

    1. Definitely worth $200. I agree about the ones you have vs the ones you don’t. That is a plus. But in the end, they are still $2,000 for 10 CDs. You get to meet Gene, but only 5 minutes with him. That is a lot per minute.

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  2. The KISS set! I read a review of a fellow blogger who knows someone who doled out for the Simmons Vault. I think the Simmons deal was on 12 CD’s and the guy basically said 6-7 are junk. (rough sounding demos etc) So for that its a big time gamble.
    At least with KISS you what your getting with this Roadcase which is impressive…..wish i had the dough for that one!

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  5. I’d take the vinyls in the road case. I don’t need to meet Gene. If I passed him on the street, fine, but if it’s that expensive for 10 CDs of demos and five minutes of his time, haha no. Now, if I had $4000, then why not get both.

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  10. I am very confused as to why PledgeMusic has several Kissteria Road Case sets available for sale now. I thought that all 1,000 of those sets that were originally offered a few years ago sold out back then. From what I know, after the initial rush of sales of the Kissteria Road Case set, Kiss upped the ante by throwing in the Casablanca 45 RPM vinyl set at no additional cost (the PledgeMusic sets have both the Road Case plus the 45s set).

    So…again…how are there still some sets available if they supposedly sold out before, and why does PledgeMusic have (most of? all of?) them?

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    1. I was surprised by that as well. I assume it is legit, but maybe it is not. I think they only have 67 left for sale.

      Maybe these were returned or never delivered. I am not sure the reason.

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  11. I have them both and they are both very different. If you have the Kiss past releases then, the box set is really having all the vinyl. The Gene Simmons vault (I only have the book and Cds) is really quite awesome. However, to enjoy the Vault, you really need to have grown up listening to Kiss to appreciate it. Most of the songs are not up to today’s stellar studio mixing for example. But they are not supposed to be. They are demos and rough cuts. So if you want to hear how different songs came together (like Dr. Love, Only You, Journey to 100,000 years for example) the Vault is outstanding. I remember getting the solo albums for Christmas when I was a kid and listening g to them for hours while I read Circus magazine arties about them and their music. This brought me back to that time, pouring over the book and learning about all the history. If I had to give you advise, save your money and enjoy what you have if you are a mediocre fan. I am not trying to insult. If you enjoy vinyl and are a super kiss freak and have to have everything, then this set would be for you. As for the Vault, it is purely amazing if you want to go behind the curtain. Whatever you pick, it will be the right choice. Note: someone on an earlier comment t said you are paying to meet Gene Simmons. It is $2,000 with meet and greet. $1,500 for the set only. I did not get to meet. I am sure if you pick that version, it will be worth it. Have fun.

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    1. Thanks. I was really only contemplating buying the Vault as I already have pretty much everything on Vinyl. I would love to hear the origins of some the songs, i would love to hear the Van Halen tunes and I think it would be a cool piece to have. I figured the songs weren’t always that well recorded, but I think I would be okay with that. I collect Kiss bootlegs and sometimes you get some shoddy sounding shows and it doesn’t bother me much. Thanks for the insight and advice.

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