There was some makeup left in the Kiss boys’ pharmacy and for the second time in four years, a farewell tour of one of rock’s most emblematic groups is coming to Quebec. Here are four things you should know before you listen again Rock and roll all night long this weekend at the Bell Center and the Videotron Center.
Fucking spit, it’s the end
Nobody takes a rock band seriously anymore when it announces a farewell tour. When we last saw Kiss in 2019 the tour was called “End of the Road” and yet guess who is back in town? But this time it’s true, swears Gene Simmons. When a Rolling Stone journalist recently asked him this question, he responded by placing his hand on the Bible. “It has nothing to do with ticket sales, it’s just nature,” he said, explaining that carrying gear that weighs 40 pounds for two hours every night in addition to breathing fire wears down his rock star.
Really the end?
Kiss, is it over? Maybe not. While Simmons and Paul Stanley no longer plan to tour under the Kiss colors, they aren’t closing the door on a new, younger group of musicians taking the helm. “Other people could take the torch and contribute something to philosophy, concerts and music. It would be Kiss, not Kiss 2.0,” said Paul Stanley in an interview with Blabbermouth.
All achievements
With Kiss there are never any unpleasant surprises when it comes to song selection. If we rely on current concerts in Canada, we will hear the same 20 hits as in 2019, with one exception (Makin’ Love replaces Let Me Go, Rock ‘n’ Roll) and almost in the same order. Get ready, it starts with Detroit Rock City and we can jam to I Was Made For Lovin’ You, Lick It Up and all the classics, which of course we sing by heart.
The end of an era
Some claim that the stone is dead, others counter that it is alive and well, but that young groups are once again on the sidelines. No more amphitheaters for the young generation of rockers? In an interview with Le Journal a few years ago, Gene Simmons said that the Internet had killed new rock artists. “The last band that was worth it was the Foo Fighters,” he argued. Kiss didn’t give up and offered its first games in Canada to the Ontario duo Crown Lands. “They’re fantastic,” he insisted to Rolling Stone, “but they’ll never be as lucky as we are.”
- Kiss will be at the Bell Center in Montreal on Saturday night and the Videotron Center in Quebec the next day.