Gene Simmons is proud KISS 'did it our way' as band preps final two shows ever in New York

Gene Simmons remembers the first time KISS played Madison Square Garden.

It was 1977 and he arrived at 33rd Street in a cab, fully aware of the significance of finally playing the world’s most storied musical temple a mere 10 blocks from where KISS originated four years earlier.

He walked through the empty New York arena, strolled down aisles that would soon be teeming with frenzied fans and headed backstage to apply the makeup that transformed him from Israeli-born Chaim Witz to Gene Simmons, aka “The Demon.”

That guy – the one with the suggestively elongated tongue, loads of studded leather and makeup designed as part cartoon superhero, part fiend – was as much a music fan as a music icon.

Fifty years and with The End of the Road not just a tour name but a reality for KISS, Simmons, 74, is still a fan.

“I couldn’t have imagined anything more fun," he tells USA TODAY. "We owe it all to the fans.”

The final outing for bassist Simmons, singer/guitarist Paul Stanley, guitarist Tommy Thayer and drummer Eric Singer began before the pandemic shelved touring for most of 2020 and resumed in August 2021. They’ve circled the world to say goodbye at more than 250 shows.

But on Dec. 1 and Dec. 2, the Rock & Roll Hall of Famers who commanded fans to “Shout it Out Loud” and “Rock and Roll All Nite” while “Calling Dr. Love” and offering a valentine to “Beth” will take their final bows in the same venue that symbolized their success.

The Madison Square Garden finale will be broadcast live on pay-per-view at ppv.com.

Simmons is adamant that the band famous for goodbye tours – their first came in 2000 – is genuinely ready to hang up the platform boots. He explained why, as well as shared his astute and humorous reflections about five decades of KISStory, in a phone chat from a tour stop in Canada.

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Question: I heard that you’ve put your hand on the Bible to swear that this really is truly the last KISS tour and Dec. 2 is the last KISS show. So we should believe it?

Gene Simmons: It’s important to put my hand on the largest-selling book of all time that my people gave the rest of the world and say yes, this is it. Now, KISS will not end. There is a KISS World museum in Las Vegas, there are going to be different projects, movies, possibly a TV series, toys, games, all the accouterments. But the touring band that is KISS with the makeup and the dragon boots and fire-breathing, that has to stop and that has to do with Mother Nature and Father Time. If we were a blues band or I was blessed to be Keith Richards in the Rolling Stones, I’d show up in my comfy sneakers and T-shirt and stand still and play. But we’re different bands.

So it’s the physical aspect that determined this is the end?

Physically, we are the hardest-working band on the stage. We idolize (Mick) Jagger and Bono and the great showmen, but if you put those guys in my outfit they would pass out in half an hour. It’s 40 pounds of armor and studs and 7-inch dragon boots that are about the weight of a female bowling ball. So you’ve got 20 pounds on your feet and then you’ve got to spit fire, fly through the air and the entire band is doing that for two-plus hours. If you have any love for the fans, get off the stage before it’s too late. How many boxers have stayed too long in the ring? We’re doing the right thing.

What can you share about any special plans for the last show?

We’ve put in what is approaching multiple seven figures to have film crews and amazing stuff. You’re not going to be able to step into a cab or walk down any street in New York and not be inundated by KISS. The Empire State Building – you’ll see. There’s going to be one effect that we’re doing only in New York. It’s a separate technology we’re debuting, but I can’t say too much about it.

As the clock ticks toward those final shows, and after all of the months you’ve been on the road with this show, how are you feeling?

It’s complex. I can sit here in my hotel room and wax poetic about all of this stuff, but those are matters of the mind, the semantics emanating out of my oral passage. You can talk about something but until you’re there, the matters of the heart don’t kick in. There is an enormous sense of pride the band has, including Tommy (Thayer) and Eric (Singer), who have been with us more than 20 years. We’re enormously proud of what we did. If you go see (Paul) McCartney or WWE, you will see pyro. That didn’t come from the 1910 Fruitgum Company singing “Yummy, yummy, yummy I got love in my tummy.” That came from a band that wanted to combine all of the fun things about Fourth of July – fireworks, outfits and personas – and bring it onstage with some loud guitars. We decided to march to the beat of our own drummer. Through punk, new romantic, thrash, this and that, we were KISS. We stayed true. It’s been such an amazing journey, and the proudest part of it all is, we did it our way.

As with any final show, there are always rumblings about guests or opening acts.

Other bands called and said, "Please let us open the last show." You would recognize all of them, and it’s very humbling, but the answer is no. Will there be any special guests? No. If The Beatles reformed, I would not want to see anyone else on that stage. I want to see my band.

I’m sure there are fans hoping for a reunion with (original guitarist and drummer) Ace Frehley and Peter Criss.

Ace and Peter had been in and out of band three times. We love and cherish them and they will always be part of the KISS family and we’ve had many differences about unprofessional behavior. KISS has always been a machine. We show up on time and we tried on three occasions over three decades to bring them back into the band and it always wound up the same. And what do you do with Tommy and Eric who have been loyal and professional and never turned their back on the band? Now, I do know, KISS would not have happened without Ace and Peter. There’s no question of the chemistry. But I don’t think KISS would have survived with Ace and Peter. Not everyone has the DNA. It’s hard damn work to stick through it for 50 years.

As you and Paul have.

Paul is the brother I never had. I disagree with him on all sorts of things, but I wouldn’t be here without him and vice versa. We’re literally two different sides of the same coin.

You’ve seen a lot from the stage during your career. How do you feel about looking into a sea of phones?

I’m not a fan of cellphones. If I had my druthers I’d take them all away. I risk my life every time I get on that stage. There is no net. Paul flies out all the way to the back of the arena and the entire band extends from the ceiling 80 feet high and there are no nets. During the show I see people texting, taking videos and we spend a lot of time, effort and money. You’re coming there for the show and we’d like you to watch it, but it’s tough to turn back time. It’s the new culture, and there’s an addiction part of that technology.

Will you take some time off after the last show for a vacation?

I’ve never really taken a vacation in my life. KISS has been the best vacation I could imagine: 50 years of going on the road. The day after the last show, I will be at Electric Lady Studio (in New York) where Paul and I first started recording. For four days we’re holding a fan event where fans get a chance to record with me at the first place we recorded. We all want to do that full-circle thing. If the only thing we did was raise the expectations of people who spend their hard-earned money and expect more from a band than not looking down at their shoes, we’ve done our job.

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This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Gene Simmons swears KISS is really saying goodbye: 'Hard damn work'