Just 15 months on from their final performance, veteran rockers KISS have announced their return to the live stage with a one-off ‘unmasked’ concert.
The show was announced via an email sent to fans, confirming that the group would be performing as part of the three-day KISS Army Storms Vegas event, which runs from Nov. 14 – 16 at Virgin Hotels Las Vegas.
Though a full rundown of activities are said to arrive shortly, the headline of the message is KISS’ intention to perform a makeup-free show as part of the event. The performance will be the band’s first since December 2023, where they wrapped up their End of The Road Tour with a two-night stand at New York City’s Madison Square Garden.
Despite their large-scale farewell tour (their second, after 2001’s fittingly-titled KISS Farewell Tour), fans had speculated that the band could indeed take to the stage again at some point. Bassist Gene Simmons was quick to nix that claim, clarifying the band’s plans in an interview with Rolling Stone in November 2023: “I’ll say right here, right now, my hand on the Bible, it will be the final KISS-in-makeup appearance.”
Turns out, it wasn’t a farewell at all, though, because the legendary rock band is returning to the stage in 2025. The news comes just days after frontman Gene Simmons announced without explanation that most of his solo 2025 tour was being postponed to 2026.
Loudwire.com reportedthat the performance is set to be an unmasked live show to take place as part of the three-day KISS Army Storms Vegas event which is slated to take place Nov. 14-16 at the Virgin Hotels in Las Vegas.
Get front-row seats to an electrifying Pop! Moment of Kiss’ Alive II Tour in 1978. This Walmart-exclusive features Pop! The Demon, Pop! The Catman, Pop! The Starchild, and Pop! The Spaceman on stage, with spotlights, scaffolding, a drum set, and a fireworks spectacle backdrop in an array of colors behind them. The band’s name, Kiss, rises above, in lights. This unique collectible comes in a prepackaged case that can be hung on the wall or displayed in your music collection. The Pops! inside are secured to the case to keep your display looking pristine. This Pop! Moment Deluxe commemorates Kiss’ record-breaking sold-out nights for the Alive II Tour, which went worldwide. Get your tickets and all-access passes to re-create your favorite Pop! Music moments. Vinyl figures are approximately 4-inches tall. Approximate dimensions of the case: 13” H x 18” W x 4 5/8” D
Spats, temper tantrums and scathing retorts within the Kiss camp are no rarity, and Ace Frehley has been at the center of his fair share of them.
Now the guitarist, who hasn’t donned his Spaceman outfit since the turn of the millennium, wants to set the record straight regarding his two departures from the band.
The facts are straightforward.
Frehley successfully auditioned for the band in 1973, despite his antics nearly leading to Gene Simmons punching his lights out. He stuck around for nine studio albums, and helped turn the band into one of the most commercially successful acts around before making his unceremonious departure in 1982.
After reuniting for the band’s 1995 MTV Unplugged performance, the original lineup — Frehley, Paul Stanley, Gene Simmons and Peter Criss — regrouped the following year. Ace bowed out for a second time after performing at the closing ceremony for the 2002 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake, Utah.
But why did Ace leave both times? According to Stanley and Simmons, he was fired. But as Ace tells Guitarist, that’s not what happened.
“A lot of the misconceptions were created by Paul and Gene,” he says. “They still say in interviews that they fired me, but I was never fired from Kiss. I hate when I hear that. And they say that both times I was fired. I quit both times.”
Gene Simmons: “By 1981, I was spending more and more time in Hollywood. I was approached by Marcy Carsey, a producer of shows like The Cosby Show and Roseanne, to try out for a show to be called Grotus. I would be the star. I shot a short pilot and everyone seemed to like it enough to get me in front of the ABC staff. There were ten people around a table and we chatted for five minutes. Then they offered me my own TV series. I was stunned.”
I went outside with my business guy, who explained the deal to me. I would get $60,000 an episode. He told me if I left KISS, where I was making substantially more, I would in essence be paying for the privilege of being on television.
– “Kiss and Makeup” by Gene Simmons
Gene Simmons and His Band regret to announce the cancellation of their upcoming performances scheduled for April and May 2025.
The affected shows include April 3rd at the House of Blues in Anaheim, CA; April 8th at Muckleshoot Casino Events Center in Auburn, WA; April 10th at The Great Saltair in Magna, UT; April 26th at The Fillmore Miami Beach at Jackie Gleason Theater in Miami Beach, FL; and May 24th at House of Blues in Houston.
Ticketmaster sent the following message to ticket holders on Thursday (Mar 20th):
“Unfortunately, the Event Organizer has had to cancel your event. You don’t need to do a thing. We’ll issue a refund to the original method of payment used at time of purchase, as soon as funds are received from the Event Organizer. It should appear on your account within 14-21 days.”
Automatic refunds will be issued.
It’s unclear why the shows were canceled.
Simmons began touring with his solo band after Kiss called it quits at the end of 2023.
Ace Frehley‘s relationship with his former Kiss bandmates Gene Simmons and Paul Stanley has been tumultuous over the years, to say the least. While tensions have mostly simmered down nowadays – Frehley referred to Simmons and Stanley as “just like brothers” last year – their feuds have been legendary as far as rock music goes.
Frehley was a founding member of Kiss in 1973, played in the band until his departure in 1982, and then rejoined in 1996, before leaving again in 2002. While it’s often thrown around that he was fired from the band, Frehley maintains that he left of his own volition.
“A lot of the misconceptions were created by Paul and Gene,” Frehley says in an interview in the new issue of Guitarist magazine. “They still say in interviews that they fired me, but I was never fired from Kiss. I hate when I hear that. And they say that both times I was fired; I quit both times [in 1982 and 2002].”
He even asserts that the first time he quit the band, Paul Stanley made efforts to get him to stay. “They didn’t want me to leave; the first time I quit, Paul showed up on my doorstep, took me out to lunch, and was trying to change my mind, but I had already made up my mind,” Frehley says.
Despite the success he enjoyed as a member of Kiss, Ace Frehley reckons he’s better off as a solo artist. “The success of my [1978] solo album [Ace Frehley] made me realize that I was more creative away from Paul, Gene, and Peter [Criss] than I was around them,” he says.
“And so, time marches on, but yeah, they’ve said shit, like, I’m late, and I’m lazy, and yeah, maybe not as much as they’ve said it, but it’s true. As far as when I’m working, and I’ve got an idea, and I’m excited about it – I have tunnel vision.”
KISS Destroyer Resin Sculpture by Illusive Concepts – Limited Edition 3-D Image. Sculpture looks to be in mint condition. Original box has some minor shelf wear.
Celebrate the 50th Anniversary of the landmark live album KISS ALIVE! with this jolting in concert retrospective. Created by Andrew Sgambati. View it at andrewsgambati.com
Please keep in mind since this was recorded last week a lot has already changed. The vinyl is sold out on KOL, you can order a CD from Japan and the shirts without Bruce and Eric have been pulled down.
JPL Productions has shared 4K fan-filmed video of original KISS guitarist Ace Frehley’s entire Match 13 show at Sony Hall in New York City. Check it out below.
Setlist:
“Shock Me
“Deuce
“Cherry Medicine
“Love Gun
“Rocket Ride
“Parasite
“Detroit Rock City
“Rip It Out
“She
“New York Groove
“Cold Gin
– guitar solo – (Karl Cochran tribute)
“Shout It Out Loud”
“Rock And Roll All Nite” (with Richie “The Emperor” Scarlett)
Fittingly enough, for a band who are more of a marketing campaign than a band, the most heavy metal thing about Kiss is their look. Everything from the face paint to the guitars to the pyrotechnics that have singed the eyebrows of generations of concert-goers screams metallic excess. This is a band whose awe-inspiring heaviness is something to be feared and respected. Whose music is just as fearsome as their blood-spitting demon of a bassist.
Then you play Destroyer and find out that Kiss are basically just Cheap Trick after bingeing a few seasons of Dragula. It’s true, Simmons and Stanley’s shock-rock troupe are, at their core, a really sassy power-pop band, especially in their 1970s heyday. As time went on their tried to darken their sound and add the menace of their look to their music, but there’s a reason why the last 20 years of their touring career was essentially a megabudget reboot of their 70s concerts with nothing from, y’know, Revenge.
None of this is a criticism, by the way. If anything, it makes sense that a band with the business sense of Kiss would make their image cool and scary enough to appeal to any teenage boy worth their salt, but the music accessible enough for them to actually want to listen to it. With that in mind, it also makes sense that one of their extensive back catalogue of 1970s hits wasn’t written with them in mind, but ex-Faces frontman, Rangers enthusiast and man intensely curious as to whether you find him sexually thrilling, Rod Stewart.
This is mid-to-late 1970s ‘Rod The Mod’, too. We’re not talking Nod’s As Good As A Wink…, man of the people, proto-Oasis Rod; we’re talking soft-rock Godhead, gunning-for-a-knighthood Rod. Worst of all, this is ‘Sailing’ Rod. Y’know who was a massive fan of this kind of Rod Stewart? ‘The Star Child’ himself, Paul Stanley.
After the success of the live album Alive made Kiss a hard rock sensation, a number of the songs that Stanley was writing had to be shelved for not being “Kiss enough”. One of these was a number Stanley was working on called ‘Hard Luck Woman’, which Stanley envisioned being a hit for, you guessed it, Rod Stewart. He even wrote the song to be sung with a Stewart-esque raspy vocal. However, what constituted a Kiss song changed irrevocably with their own bid for MOR stardom, Peter Criss’ 1976 megahit ‘Beth’.
Where once Kiss songs were all about hypercharged guitar riffs and flying around arena stages with sparks shooting out of your nipples, now, Kiss could be classy. This expanded the kind of songs that could go on a Kiss album, and when bandmate Gene Simmons and producer Eddie Kramer heard the song, they insisted that Stanley keep it for the band’s new album, 1976’s Destroyer. The finishing touch came from Criss himself.
In singing lead on ‘Beth’, the drummer showed his own singing voice, which had the same sandpaper quality as Stewart’s. So, when he heard Stanley’s demo for ‘Hard Luck Woman’, he kindly requested that he himself have a go instead. Or, as written in the band’s 2005 biography Kiss: Behind The Mask, he said “Hey fuck-o, how about me? Fuck Rod Stewart, I’ll sing the shit out of it.”
When Kiss lumbered on to the scene in 1974 with their self-titled debut album, no one could’ve predicted how much a part of popular culture their bat-winged, fire-breathing, blood-drooling totem, Gene Simmons, would become. When Simmons – born Chaim Witz in Israel, the son of Hungarian Jews – relocated to New York at a young age he immediately embraced the American dream. As Kiss’s career exploded – quite literally – the bassist/vocalist proved he was no shock-rock novelty act, masterminding an extensive merchandising range and helping transform the band into a global business.
Simmons’s larger-than-life personality helped him inveigle his way into rarefied social circles, and he enjoyed unlikely love affairs with a couple of the world’s top female singers. In 2010, Gene looked back on several of the (non-sexual) encounters he’d had with the great and good of rock’n’roll, Hollywood and even the White House.
