In the past few years, we’ve seen some of the biggest bands and artists in rock and metal music come back for another round of touring. This also came in form of repeated “farewell” tours. While Ozzy Osbourne has embraced the joke and named his run “No More Tours 2,” some other bands are finding ways to justify what to fans seems like a blatant cash grab.
And speaking of cash grabs, one cannot simply ignore Kiss. To be fair, Gene Simmons has always been pretty open about his “sellout” practice. Which is fair, so we’ll let that one slide. However, it seems that Gene is very open to the idea of Kiss continuing on after the final tour, in one form or another.
Speaking to Dean Delray recently, Gene Simmons was asked about where the final show of their current farewell tour (yes, it sounds weird) is going to take place. He replied (transcript via Blabbermouth):
“We don’t know if it’s [going to be in] New York. I have good reasons why it should be, but the important thing is when it’s the last show, it’ll be the last show. Kiss the touring band will stop. But the touring band. Kiss will continue in other ways. I have no problems with four deserving 20-year-olds sticking the makeup back on and hiding their identity.”
Discussing the whole thing further, Gene also added that Kiss could continue in a different form, something that would be a combination of original band members and other masked performers. He explains:
“Kiss will continue in ways that even I haven’t thought of. But I can conceive of… You know, the ‘Blue Man Group’ and ‘Phantom Of The Opera’ tours around the world with different personnel.“
“There could and should be a Kiss show, kind of live on stage with effects and everything else, but also semi-autobiographical thing about four knuckleheads off the streets of New York that ends with the last third as a full-blown celebration, a full-on performance. Not with us. Although not a problem stepping in every once in a while.”
Photo: Tilly Antoine (Gene Simmons (Kiss) au Hellfest 2019)
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