Incredibly, after 46 years, the earliest known live video of KISS has surfaced. The footage was shot during a December 21st, 1973 club gig in Queens at the Coventry, a New York venue that hosted many early KISS shows, including their debut the previous January. The video captures a historic moment, as the concert marked the first time all four members of the group appeared on stage in full makeup.

KISS had recently signed to Casablanca Records, and before the show starts, the announcer tells the crowd the label will be putting out KISS’s album in the new year. We get to see the band play two songs that will be on that record—“Deuce” and “Cold Gin”—but that’s all there is, unfortunately, as the video ends before the conclusion of the latter tune.

For the first 90 seconds or so, not much happens in the clip, so we’ve got it cued up to where the action begins. KISS fans will surely be delighted to see the group execute the now-famous synchronized choreography during “Deuce,” which they still do to this day.

Video from another KISS show at the Coventry, which took place the following evening, was included on volume three of Kissology. Watch it here.
 

Previously on Dangerous Minds:
KISS comes ‘Alive!’: How to market a band of superheroes
The surprising origins of the KISS merchandising machine that generated $100 million in the 1970s
KISS: Their X-rated early days