KISS adds Memphis farewell tour date
Gene Simmons will unfurl his prodigious tongue and Paul Stanley inflate his leathery lungs for perhaps the last time on a Memphis stage when the rock band KISS brings its "End of the Road" tour to FedExForum on Feb. 23.
Tickets to the general public went on sale Nov. 2 at the FedExForum box office or via Ticketmaster (ticketmaster.com, or call 1-800-745-3000). Ticket prices range from $26 to more than $1,000 each, with fees.
The tour is expected to last three years, beginning with 44 North American dates. This first leg starts Jan. 31 in Vancouver and ends April 13 in Birmingham.
Although KISS has not played in Memphis since an Aug. 6, 2004, show at the Pyramid, the band was a mainstay of the city's rock 'n' roll heyday. Introduced to Memphis with two dates at Lafayette's in Overton Square in 1974, KISS next played at Ellis Auditorium, and then performed eight times at the MidSouth Coliseum between 1976 and 1990. The band visited the Pyramid three times, from 1996 to 2004.
Singer and bass player Simmons, 69, known as the blood-drooling "Demon," and vocalist and rhythm guitarist Stanley, 66, "The Starchild," are the only remaining original members of the band, which formed in 1973 in New York and quickly became a top arena rock act thanks to the blunt impact of its music, the glam comic-book extremism of its costuming and to the grand guignol shock effects and fiery pyrotechnics of its live performances. Joining Simmons and Stanley on the "End of the Road" tour will be lead guitarist Tommy Thayer and drummer Eric Singer, who have been with KISS off and on for close to three decades.
A press release from the band describes this as the "final" KISS tour. "This will be the ultimate celebration for those who've seen us and a last chance for those who haven't," the press release states. However, veterans of the "KISS Army," as the band's fans are known, may recall that KISS in 2000 embarked on what was dubbed the band's "Farewell Tour," which arguably was no misnomer: That was the final tour, to date, in which Simmons and Stanely were joined by the other group's other original members, guitarist Ace "Space Ace" Frehley and drummer Peter "Catman" Criss.
In a season of goodbye tours, KISS will beat another outlandishly outfitted Rock and Roll Hall of Fame act to Memphis by eight months. As previously announced, Elton John will bring his "Farewell Yellow Brick Road" tour to FedExForum on Oct. 30.