Kiss Manager Says Former Members May Play At Final Show

Kiss' final show in 2021 may see a reunion of the other living members of the band. As it stands, Kiss will play its last concert on July 17th, 2021 at a still-to-be-announced venue in New York City. Kiss' longtime manager, Doc McGhee hinted that past band members might be involved in the big finale. There are currently four living members of Kiss not in the band — co-founders Ace Frehley and Peter Criss, Frehley's replacement Vinnie Vincent, and latter-day guitarist Bruce Kulick.

While talking to Pollstar, McGhee touched on the final Kiss show explaining, “It’s going to be great. It’s going to be worthy of the end of the road. It will be worthy to the 45 years of Kiss, the last month for sure. We want to celebrate everybody and we might bring out all the former members. We’d like to. Nobody says we hate this guy; we hate that guy; we want everybody who wants to come out.”

When pressed as to how Kiss came to decide on David Lee Roth as the band's opening act for the current North American leg, McGhee said, “I thought that was really cool. We like Dave a lot. Listen, David Lee Roth in the ‘70s and ‘80s was the greatest front man there was. There wasn’t anybody better than that cat. It’s going to be fun. I haven’t seen him outside of Van Halen except for that brief 'Sam & Dave' thing (with Sammy Hagar), but I think when he gets out there and does his hits and some Van Halen hits, it’s gonna be cool!”

McGhee was asked how Kiss differs from the previous acts he's managed — including Bon Jovi, Motley Crue, and Poison, among others: “I managed, arguably, some of the biggest bands in the world for a long time and I’ve never seen this many people tattooing themselves with Kiss. It’s a huge way of life. We’ve done nine Kiss Kruises and I’ve been exposed to a full week with 3,500 Kiss fans from 33 countries so when you see what that means to them, it’s crazy. It’s not anything that I can fathom or can understand.”

Paul Stanley told us that these days, he tends to look at the big picture when considering Kiss' career: “When you think of Muhammad Ali, you think of him as the champ. You don't think of the times he lost — and he did. I'd rather think of us in those terms. Nobody stays on top all the time, but who's been champ longest?”

Gene Simmons admitted that he knows some people only consider Kiss valid with all four original members, but says that the concept is inaccurate: “There's no question that there's a core of fans — five-to-10 percent, my sense is — who believe in original members. And yet, when you look at original members, the Beatles are not original members — Ringo (Starr) is not an original member; the Stones — barely. Y'know, they've had so many members come and go, but it's the Stones, and AC/DC's aren't original members, and Van Halen, and Journey. . . you go down the list of every — almost every band you can think of.”