In advance of KISS‘s final live shows at Madison Square Garden on December 1st and December 2nd, several exciting activations are taking place throughout New York City, including a music-to-light show on the world-famous Empire State Building yesterday (November 30th).
For KISS, celebrating alongside the historic Empire State Building ahead of their final two shows is fitting as they took one of their most iconic photos on the building’s 86th floor observation deck almost 50 years ago. Since then, it has become one of the ways KISS has portrayed the band’s deep legacy and history with New York City.
Paul Stanley and Gene Simmons gave their recollections of the 1976 photo shoot to KISS’s official web site.
“It’s pretty awesome to be up there,” Stanley said. “We climbed the ladder in those boots. It was a pretty interesting time.”
Added Simmons, “We were nuts. We would do anything you could imagine. Let’s go on top of the Empire State Building and hang over the side for a photo. That’ll look cool. Let’s go.”
In related KISS news, original guitarist Ace Frehley, told our very own Eddie Trunk on his Sirius/XM show, Trunk Nation With Eddie Trunk, he doesn’t believe the band is retiring from touring.
He said (via blabbermouth.net), “Well, to be honest, I don’t really believe they’re ending their touring career. How many times have they said they were gonna retire? How many times have half a dozen groups said they were gonna retire and still come back? Personally, I don’t know what their plans are.”
When asked if has any emotions about the band coming to an end as a touring entity, the guitarist said, “Not at all. I’m so happy I’m not involved…It’s probably better they retire, and hopefully I won’t have to listen to them put me down anymore.”
When pressed to clarify that he won’t be making a special guest appearance at the Madison Square Garden shows, he said, “Look, if Gene [Simmons, KISS bassist/vocalist] calls me up and offers me a million dollars to come up and play a couple of songs, obviously I’ll show up. But, I really doubt that’s gonna happen because pretty much Paul [Stanley, KISSguitarist/vocalist] runs the band and he’s already made a statement that if me and Peter [Criss, original KISS drummer] got up on the stage, we would mar their performance — ironically.”
KISS launched its farewell trek in January 2019 but was forced to put it on hold in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Frehley will release his new solo album, 10,000 Volts, on February 23rd, 2024. He released the title track, as the first single, on November 28th, and it can be heard here.
6 Responses
Ace may be right, I find it hard to believe they will just stop playing, as long as they can still get up there.
At this point in KISS’s career touring is very profitable, and very low impact (we’re not even sure how much Paul is singing). What else is Gene going to do, work at Home Depot? (I invented the hammer you know;)
It would be really cool though for the original guys to get up there one last time at MSG in the city they started out in.
I’m praying these fools are finally done ~
“offers me a million dollars to come up and play a couple of songs, obviously I’ll show up.”
And therein lies the reason Ace (and possibly Peter) didn’t play with KISS on Friday or Saturday night.
Perhaps the people who bash Gene and Paul for being all about the money and full of crap about “doing it for the fans” should realize that Ace and Peter are no different.
It’s a business.
All good things must come to an end, like KI⚡️⚡️ did 22 years ago!
I think ultimately for ace and pete it’s about respect and yes its a business , even though they have both been clean and sober for years PAUL & GENE continue to bash their character- while using their make up on 2 hired guns paid to imitate them ironically to continue to generate more kiss business, I’d say the kind of money kiss generates a million bucks would be chump change and it would have been a wise business decision to have paid it to have the 4 original members onstage at the end for the fans who they say are everything to them when clearly their wallets are what mean the most , just imagine how much extra merchandise they would sell with ace and pete being a part of this last show the extra 5 grand a pop in meet and greets …. they really failed the fans , and hopefully the kiss greed train is finally derailed and off the tracks –