Gene Simmons and his solo band performed last night (Wednesday, July 3) at Rock & Brews restaurant at Potawatomi Casino Hotel in Milwaukee. The concert was open to the public with first-come-first-served seating.
According to Setlist.fm, the setlist was as follows:
01. Deuce (KISS song)
02. Shout It Out Loud (KISS song)
03. I Love It Loud (KISS song)
04. Are You Ready (Gene Simmons song)
05. Communication Breakdown (LED ZEPPELIN cover)
06. House Of Pain (VAN HALEN cover) (Gene Simmons Demo Version [1976])
07. Parasite (KISS song)
08. Weapons Of Mass Destruction (Gene Simmons song)
09. War Machine (KISS song)
10. Ace Of Spades (MOTÖRHEAD cover)
11. Calling Dr. Love (KISS song)
12. Cold Gin (KISS song)
13. Rock And Roll All Nite (KISS song)
Fan-filmed video of the show can be seen below (courtesy of YouTube user gappvembe).
Simmons produced VAN HALEN‘s original 1976 recording of “House Of Pain”, a song that would eventually end up on the band’s sixth studio album, “1984”.
Gene later said about the 1976 recording of “House Of Pain”: “The original version is like a locomotive that doesn’t stop. Your jaw would drop.”
A day earlier, Simmons was in attendance at the ribbon-cutting ceremony for the Rock & Brews restaurant at the Potawatomi Casino Hotel in Carter.
This is the second Rock & Brews location in Wisconsin. Last August, the first opened at the Potawatomi Casino Hotel in Milwaukee.
The 3,000-square foot Rock & Brews restaurant is equipped with a stage to allow for performances from local bands. It also features an art installation honoring the Forest County Potawatomi Community.
The rock music-themed restaurant was founded by Simmons and fellow KISS founder Paul Stanley.
The GENE SIMMONS BAND played its second concert of 2024 on April 26 at the Summer Breeze festival at Memorial Da América Latina in São Paulo, Brazil. The setlist included a number of KISS classics alongside covers of MOTÖRHEAD‘s “Ace Of Spades” and LED ZEPPELIN‘s “Communication Breakdown”.
Three days earlier, the GENE SIMMONS BAND performed at the grand opening of the Rock & Brews restaurant at the Ilani dining and entertainment destination in Ridgefield, Washington. It marked the KISS bassist/vocalist’s first live appearance since the legendary rock act concluded its “End Of The Road” farewell tour at New York’s Madison Square Garden in December.
GENE SIMMONS BAND will next launch a European tour on July 27 in Kuopio, Finland.
Back in 2017 and 2018, the GENE SIMMONS BAND played a number of shows with a lineup that consisted of Simmons alongside guitarist/bassist Jeremy Asbrock, guitarist Ryan Cook, guitarist Phil Shouse and drummer Brent Fitz.
Six years ago, Simmons stated about his solo shows: “Doing these smaller concert halls, which hold a thousand to three thousand people, means they get filled up by real diehard fans. They don’t want to hear the ‘same old, same old.’ They want to hear nuggets, as they say. It’s a hoot for me because I’ve never really had a chance to do this stuff live. It’s been a lot of fun.” Gene told the Chicago Sun-Times: “By the end, I get the chance to bring as many people from the audience as we can fit on the stage to sing with me.”
Regarding how the idea for a solo tour came about, Simmons told Australia’s Advertiser in a 2018 interview: “The GENE SIMMONS BAND was not a plan or anything. About a year ago, a corporate event asked me to be keynote speaker … then they said, ‘Won’t you get up and sing a few tunes?’ I explained that you can’t just do that, you’ve got to have a band and rehearse and all that. They said, ‘Well, we’ll pay you X dollars more,’ and I said, ‘I like you!’ “So I put together a band from Nashville — these guys back up Kid Rock and lots of other people — and without a single rehearsal, I just told them which songs I wanted to do and they learned them. It just sounded natural — there is such a thing called chemistry. They don’t teach that anywhere — I mean, they do teach ‘chemistry’ but not the kind I’m talking about. It felt right and as soon as the videos went on YouTube and such, people were calling. This little GENE SIMMONS BAND never tried to be KISS… It was just a little bit of fun and stuff. Now all of a sudden, we’re headlining festivals in the Czech Republic, Canada, Germany… It’s crazy.”
KISS played the final concert of its “End Of The Road” farewell tour on December 2, 2023 at Madison Square Garden in New York City.