Jim Dyson

Kiss With Shinedown July 16 Brandt Centre

The best part about Gene Simmons and Paul Stanley performing in full makeup in 2013? We get to pretend they are at the peak of their powers.

Thanks to the magical wonder that is grease paint, they don’t look a day over 30, even though the Kiss cofounders are twice that in actual years. Age notwithstanding, the band behind Beth, I Was Made For Lovin’ You and Detroit Rock City is still youthful and upbeat on stage these days.

That’s good news for fans who want to rock and roll all night (and party every day), because the ageless group is heading back out on the road with a Canadian tour that begins July 5 in Victoria, B.C. The Canadian tour, wrapped around the band’s latest album Monster, includes 19 dates with a show at Regina’s Brandt Centre on July 16.

Tickets went on sale on April 5. Don’t be surprised if there are none left by the time Kiss arrives in Victoria and begins to work its way east across the country.

Few could have predicted that in 1973, when Kiss got its start, fans would still be clamouring to see them 40 years later. But Kiss members were always rock ‘n’ roll misfits, and by loading up on shtick – led by the blood-spitting, fire-spitting Simmons – they knew most people would not give them a fair shake.

Their fans are devout, however, which means sell-outs are possible at every stop on the tour.

“We’re a band at this point in our career where we can live up to our own legend,” Stanley said in a media release to announce the Canadian tour. “Legends can be confining because they’re cloaked in myth.

I’ve always maintained that obstacles are what you see when you lose sight of your goals. If you know where you’re going, you don’t see what’s in your way.

“Kiss has always been about attaining whatever we think is possible. It’s about celebrating life and going against the odds for what you believe in. As corny as that might sound, it got me where I am and the naysayers will have to live where they are.”

The lead single from Monster is stick-to-your-ribs rock ‘n’ roll: Big, dumb and incredibly fun. Though the band has seen various members pass through its ranks – drummer Eric Singer and guitarist Tommy Thayer are the latest to fill the shoes of Peter Criss and Ace Frehley – Simmons and Stanley remain.

That’s all you need where Kiss is concerned.