kiss
17:30 Wednesday, 1 March 2023
As promised, Kiss will return to New York City for their final two shows. Kiss will play Madison Square Garden on December 1 and 2 to close out their End Of The Road tour, and their touring career overall. Both shows were announced earlier this morning during an interview on The Howard Stern Show.
So is this really the end of Kiss? Eh, probably not. Kiss manager Doc McGhee said in an interview with Podcast Rock City that the end of this tour is only the "end of Kiss as we know it." McGhee mentions that he doesn't see the band getting out there in makeup ever again, but that there are plenty of other "opportunities" for the band.
"One thing about Kiss, we've always been that band that went to places where most bands didn't go. So we play everybody's town… You name it, we've played there. So we always go where the people are anyways. The reason why we're continuing doing this last [run] is because obviously the pandemic has stopped us from finishing. And the fact that people just wanted to see us. But we had to end it at some time, which will be this year.
"There's a lot of talk about everything. And nobody knows what's gonna happen in the future. So what we've kind of put in our minds is let's go through this like this is the end of Kiss as we know it. And whatever comes our way, with technology and everything else, we'll look at it. Will be Gene and Paul out there in makeup? No. I can tell you that. They're hanging their hats up after the [final] show, which is gonna be very, very difficult and very emotional for them after 50 years of doing this. And they love it."
Of course we all knew that the "end" of Kiss was hardly the end of Kiss. Frontman Gene Simmons famously said back in August that he has "no problems with four deserving 20-year-olds sticking the makeup back on and hiding their identity," and that there could be other "Kiss" touring entities throughout the world.
Then there was guitarist Paul Stanley, who said when asked if these were truly the last Kiss shows, "I really can't say. But it is the last of any kind of regular shows or touring." Stanley later put it as bluntly as possible in other interview when he said "in one form or another, we're never gonna go."
