Coming on April 7th in Kiss' ongoing “Off The Soundboard” archival series is Live In Poughkeepsie 1984. The custom, mustard yellow double-LP set features one of only two full concerts guitarist Mark St. John ever played with the band. The November 28th, 1984 Animalize tour show from the Mid-Hudson Civic Arena in Poughkeepsie, New York comes only weeks before St. John was permanently replaced by Bruce Kulick on December 8th, 1984.
Mark St. John, who replaced Vinnie Vincent and played on 1984's Animalize, developed reactive arthritis and although toured with the band — stood off-stage while his understudy — longtime Kiss associate Bruce Kulick actually played all but two-and-half of the tour's eventual 119-date tour.
In the 2016 audio book for his memoir, Face The Music, Paul Stanley spoke about the problems regarding Mark St. John's brief and troubled tenure in Kiss: “After we'd shot the cover photos showcasing Mark, he came down with a rare arthritic condition. It often effects people's knees but in Mark's case it struck his hand. Mark couldn't move his fingers. 'My doctor says it'll go away in two weeks,' he told, us. I called him every day — 'Any better?' — 'No.”
Mark St. John — whose real name was Mark Leslie Norton — died at age 51 on April 5th, 2007, due to a brain hemorrhage brought on by an accidental overdose of methamphetamines.
