Events Center targets KISS for Spencer stop

He also knows its limitations. Under normal circumstances, it may be a tough sell to book mega rock band KISS in a northwest Iowa arena capable of seating 2,664.

That's where area residents can help. The band is taking "demands" as part of a contest for the first ever fan-routed North American tour. In a nutshell, fans go to a Web site, plug in Spencer's 51301 zip code and the vote will count toward a local effort to route the upcoming KISS tour to Spencer for a stop.

Voting actually began April 6 at the event-based social networking site Eventful. It continues until June 30. Spencer residents can vote through www.kissonline.com as well.

"Right there on the home page, on the very first page, there's a big box that promotes this contest," Hallgren said. "There's a big button that says 'demand it.' That big yellow button, when you click on that, it will take you to the voting process. It's very simple."

The form requests your gender and year of birth, an e-mail for the verification process and the zip code, so the vote counts toward the "demanded" city. The results will be announced in July.

Early returns have the band spending a lot of time in Canada. The Dallas metro area is the only U.S. city in the top 10 as of Monday afternoon.

Spencer has a fighting chance because the final tally will be weighted based on the city's population size. The band has said it will book as many stops as financially possible -- and stops in Minneapolis and Omaha, Neb. are in the top 30.

"Any size market across the country has an opportunity," Hallgren said.

A city also needs to meet the requirements outlined in a booking disclaimer, including payment of the band's performance fee and the ability to provide a suitable venue.

"From a national perspective, to land a show like that, would definitely put northwest Iowa on the map for many out there in the music business," Hallgren said.

The general manager recalls how support for a 2005 stop by the Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus opened the door for many family-oriented shows to follow. He thinks a KISS concert -- or any strong showing for Spencer in the KISS contest vote -- could have the same impact among rock promoters.

"They're looking at those markets because there are a lot of rock shows out there touring," Hallgren said. "There's a lot of rock show promoters and they need to take their business somewhere where they are going to sell tickets and be successful."