Paul Stanley says KISS’ legacy will live on beyond their last tour date — if that day ever comes, that is.
Page Six exclusively caught up with the 70-year-old frontman, who is in the midst of the band’s End of the Road World Tour, to discuss the looming end of the band’s nearly 50-year reign.
“At this point, it really comes down to what’s possible at certain ages,” Stanley told us.
“If we were wearing sneakers and T-shirts and jeans, we could do this into our 90s. But we’re carrying around 30, 40, 50 pounds of gear on stage, and making it look easy. And at some point, you realize that you can’t do that indefinitely.”
KISS originally consisted of Stanley, Gene Simmons, Ace Frehley and Peter Criss. However, the latter two were part of the band on and off throughout the years before finally quitting in the early 2000s.
Since January 2019, Stanley and Simmons have been on tour alongside Eric Thayer and Tommy Singer — and they haven’t shown any signs of stopping.
“As far as a tour going on forever, we have to acknowledge that two years were lost with COVID,” he said. “So from the time the tour was announced, we lost two years.”
“But that being said, last week we played to 80,000 people in Mexico City and the week before we were close to 40,000 in Tokyo.”
As for the future of the rock group without its original members, Stanley sees the band “continuing” to be part of American culture even after they’re gone.
“I see KISS continuing — in what form that manifests itself is really something that will develop over time. I don’t know exactly what that means. But quite honestly, we couldn’t kill KISS if we wanted to. It’s a part of Americana.”
He continued, “It’s part of world consciousness, and even if we stop, the band continues, in essence. But should it diversify and spread in terms of what KISS is? Sure, the idea, the limitations of other bands, that’s their problem. We’re not those bands.”
While neither Simmons nor Stanley has revealed the last stop on their tour — which fans have hilariously dubbed the “never-ending world tour” — the former told us last month that they know when things will come to an end.
“I know where and when, but I’m not [revealing yet],” Simmons told us. “I do know the last day and date. But you don’t want to find out what you’re getting for Christmas as a present in July, right?”
“We love the fans, and we don’t want to stay on stage too long, but we’re having the time of our lives,” he continued.
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21 Responses
– “we don’t want to stay on stage too long,” um, Gene, that opportunity passed 20 years ago! Nevermind the whole Spaceman/Catman bullsh-t, the moment Paul started losing his voice KI⚡⚡ should’ve packed it in and stop being an embarrassment and trying to pretend that the band was better than ever, what a joke! As I’ve said a million times on this site, I’ll always be KI⚡⚡ fan and celebrate the band, but as far as I’m concerned the band ended in 2001.
Have already stayed too long and have been doing a good job of trying to kill the band since the early 2000s.
Everyone in the pic has their own unique hand gesture.
Really….. making it look easy …gene millie looks old fat and tired, and paul Vanilli just poses as he shamelessly lipsyncs the same tired playlist , my God enough already ~
Yes we can hate Kiss all day but like other posts I feel the same that they ended a few years back.
Paul looks great for his age! At this point I want to see a deluxe version of every release with a concert from that tour and for a good price. Creatures of the Night deluxe is just to high price for what they are giving fans. I am starting to collect the soundstage releases.
Hi George. You can buy the super deluxe Creatures box set on Amazon for significantly less than kissonline. I own the cd version and it’s pretty awesome.
Thanks Mr. Stanley, I did look that up! Its almost a concert with the remastered version. 7 live songs. I wonder how this new remaster compares to my 1997 remaster Creatures. to me it is all about the sound. The sound of the band. Priest f@#$in nails it with every deluxe release. Rush nails it! Nothing from Aerosmith yet witch is killing me. haha!
Well I just looked on Amazon again today and now it’s $276 for the 5 cd super deluxe version. It was $202 for a while. Gene must have caught wind of that. So I’m wondering if you were looking at a different version because the super deluxe version has much more than 7 live songs on it. It also has a ton of unreleased material and a bunch of goodies. The sound quality is only as good as the sound system you play it through. If you have great speakers and a killer amp like me then it will sound amazing!
I was looking up the 2 cd version on Amazon. It had demos and stuff besides the 7 live tracks for $20. I agree about having a good system but the remastering does make a difference. An example is Led Zeppelin the deluxe, 2 cd version of Physical Graffiti. Totally different feel, clearness just a pleasure to listen to compared to the original unmastered version which feels like a trip back to the 70s. Led Zeppelin 2 deluxe version brings out Robert Plant like I have never heard him before. Just amazing. If its done right it will feel like a new piece of music that you have played hundreds of times before.