A proper KISS goodbye
By ALAN K. STOUTMUSIC ON THE MENUNovember 1, 2023
Exactly one month from today, KISS will play the first of the final two shows of its epic “End of The Road” tour, which began almost four years ago, in January of 2019. If it wasn’t for the pandemic, the tour would have ended long ago, but KISS wanted to say a proper farewell to every city and every country that had shown the band some love over the past 50 years, and so the tour – as originally planned – has circled the entire globe. The reviews have been amazing. The shows have been sold out. And KISS will pack it in as a touring unit while still sitting on the top of the world of rock. Which is exactly how it should be for the Rock and Roll Hall of Famers. They’ve earned it. And though it’s a bittersweet feeling to think that this is really it for the powerhouse band, I hope that when they step off the stage at Madison Square Garden on December 2, it is indeed their final show.
Since the December 2 show in New York is the final show of the final tour, you’d think that would be a given. But - because the wording that was first used to promote the show was, “The final show of the final tour,” there seemed to be a little wiggle room for more shows to come afterwards. Yes, I do believe that KISS is never going to tour the globe again, or even just the United States. And, over the past few years, when the band said it would be its last time playing in each city, I believed it to be true. They won’t be back to London, or Sydney, or Philly, or anywhere else. But still, I kept coming back to those words - “The final show of the final tour” – and I kept thinking, “Well, it is going to be the 'final show of the final tour.' But that doesn’t mean they still can’t do an occasional show without a tour.” Other fans picked up on this as well, suggesting that despite it being the "End of The Road," they could still do occasional one-off shows. And there was also some internet chat of the band possibly doing a residency in Las Vegas. That’s not a tour. Some have also called for KISS to do a show at the new Sphere in Vegas. KISS is perhaps the most visual live band of all-time, and some would like to see what they could do in a new state-of-the art venue designed for visuals. That, also, would not be a tour.
Please everyone, stop it.
The last KISS show, ever, should be on December 2, 2023, at Madison Square Garden. And there are a few reasons why …
First, that show has already become a destination concert for KISS fans from around the entire world. Diehard fans are emptying their bank accounts to get on airplanes, book hotels and pay steep prices for tickets, just so they can be there for what should be the band’s final concert. And if you’re KISS, isn’t that who you want to play your final concert for? Don’t you want to do your final show in your hometown, at the most iconic arena in the world, before not only some of your most diehard fans from your original homebase, but also people that traveled from all over the globe just to be there? The Hard Rock Café in New York is already promoting a big KISS party at their venue on December 1 and have indicated that people are coming from 20 different countries. Isn’t that who you'd want to play your final show for, not a bunch of high-rollers in Vegas who don’t know anything about the band but scored free tickets from a casino just because they spend way too much time and money on blackjack?
It's absurd.
Another reason KISS should never play live again after December 2 is because when they walk off that stage that night, it will be their decision and it will be on their own terms. How many great artists never got that opportunity? The last time artists such as Elvis Presley, Michael Jackson, John Lennon, Tom Petty, David Bowie, Eddie Van Halen and Prince walked off the stage, they probably all assumed they’d be back. But they weren’t. No one ever really knows what tomorrow will bring. It is not guaranteed to anyone. Glenn Frey never did an announced final show with The Eagles. Freddie Mercury never did an announced final show with Queen. Aerosmith had just begun its final tour when it was totally derailed, and it now looks like the band might never play live again. There probably won’t be final show at the Boston Garden, which both the band and its fans deserve. KISS is being given that opportunity on December 2 at Madison Square Garden. And they should take it. When Paul Stanley, Gene Simmons, Tommy Thayer and Eric Singer walk off the stage that night, they should know it’s for the last time. Stanley and Simmons, who have held the band together for five decades, have said they may shed a few tears that night. Let them flow, gentlemen. You have given your audience 100% at every single show for 50 years. And your fans have been fiercely loyal to you. There should be a lot of emotion in the arena that night both on stage and in the audience. It will be very special. To do any type of show afterwards would diminish it.
I’ve seen KISS in concert 37
times. I haven’t missed a tour in 40 years. I’ve already caught three shows on
the “End of The Road” tour (Philadelphia, Hershey and Allentown) and I have a
ticket for December 2 in New York. And I am incredibly grateful that the band’s
touring days didn’t end in 2001, with the first “Farewell Tour,” and with some
show that no one ever talks about or even remembers. Sure, it was great to see
Ace Frehley and Peter Criss back with the band from 1996-2001, but the fact is
there was nothing significant about the final show of that final tour with the original lineup. And the tours
that the band has done since that time with Tommy Thayer and Eric Singer have been fabulous. And if weren’t for those tours, my two kids would have
never seen the band. I’m grateful, as a fan, that they marched on for 22 more years. But for all of
the reasons I’ve stated here, I am also OK with December 2 being the true and final end of the road.
End it at home, in front of diehard, globetrotting fans. And do it on your own terms.
Thankfully, KISS – despite that original wording – seems to be leaning that way. When Stanley was recently asked about the possibility of doing shows at Sphere, he said he really can’t see it happening. And the band has changed the wordage in recent months when describing the December 2 show. The group’s official website is now simply calling it the “Final Show.”
As it should be.
And, as we all know, it will be utterly spectacular.
Blow the roof of the joint, guys. And then take a very well-deserved final bow.
(Alan K. Stout has written about rock and pop music in Northeastern Pennsylvania since 1992. His weekly radio show, "Music On The Menu," airs every Sunday from 9-10 p.m. on 105 The River in Wilkes-Barre, Scranton, Hazleton, Bloomsburg.)
To read some of Alan’s other KISS-related articles, click the links:
KISS “End of The Road” tour a victory for the music:
https://musiconthemenu.blogspot.com/2019/03/kiss-end-of-roadtour-victory-for-music.html
KISS and the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame:
https://musiconthemenu.blogspot.com/2014/02/kiss-and-rock-and-roll-hall-of-fame-by.html
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