On this day (3/11) in 2000, KISS kicked off their first farewell tour, with original members Ace Frehley and Peter Criss, in Phoenix, Arizona.
Asked about the difference between that tour and the current End of the Road outing, Paul Stanley quipped “19 years” and then got serious.
“When we did that farewell tour it was a bit shortsighted. Look, at that point, two of the members really were making life fairly difficult and it was really drudgery and we kind of thought, ‘Let’s put the horse down,’ instead of, ‘Let’s heal it.’ So, rather than getting rid of members, we thought, ‘Well, I guess we have to end this.’ And quickly, as soon as the tour ended, we had people going, ‘When you going back out on tour?’ So it was clear that nobody wanted it to end, including us.”
Stanley, Gene Simmons, guitarist Tommy Thayer and drummer Eric Singer have been KISS since 2004, but late last year it was decided that this tour would definitely be the band’s final victory lap.
“Arguably, this has been not only the most consistent, but the best line-up of the band. The shows have been bombastic. We’re not doing the End of the Road tour because we hate each other. We’re not doing the End of the Road tour because we stink. We’re doing the End of the Road tour because everything is great and we want to do the greatest show we’ve ever done, the most bombastic, the most explosive, the most comprehensive. We want to celebrate. We want to do a victory lap with the people who have made this happen for the last four-and-a-half decades. So that’s really what it’s about. It’s a vast, vast difference.”
The current farewell tour is scheduled to last at least 3 years.
Photo Credit: Daniel Locke / PR Photos
