Gene Simmons and Eric Carr attends the “Rennbahn Express Star Party” in Austria

On 31. May, 1981, Gene Simmons and Eric Carr attended the “Rennbahn Express Star Party” which took place in the Vienna Stadthalle, Austria.

In the middle of recording “The Elder,” Gene and Eric travelled to Austria for what would be their final appearance wearing the “Unmasked” costumes. Having already cut their hair, they had to wear wigs in order to appear somewhat as expected costumes and not give away any of the planned changes. On stage they threw record covers into the audience, were interviewed by Vera Russwurm, and received the Golden Otto award from soccer star Hans Krankl for “Best Rock Band in the World” award from Rennbahn-Express at the Vienna Stadthalle at a multi-artist event for 13,000 music fans. Gene was reticent to discuss the new album other than commenting that fans would be in for all new surprises when the project was completed later that year. The performance lasted barely 10 minutes. The entrance fee was 55 and 75 schillings respectively. There were a whole lot of guests, including Bud Spencer, Hans Krankl, Teens, Oliver Onions, Franz Morak, Ganymed, No Bros, Speedy, Chuzpe, Wilfried and Ludwig Hirsch. The visit was brief with the party (Gene, Eric, Bill, George Sewitt, John Harte and Laurie Greenan) arriving in Vienna on May 30th. With the promotion being held on the afternoon of the following day there was little time available to schedule other events though there was a meeting with Phonogram. On June 2nd, Gene Simmons and Eric Carr were on the front page of the “Kronen Zeitung” together with Hans Krankl. There was an extensive interview with Gene & Eric on the radio on “Ö3”, where Gene also spoke in German. The TV youth program “Okay” also reported on the star party, and Gene & Eric were also briefly interviewed backstage.