Ever since KISS announced that they were wrapping up their final tour with two shows at New York City’s Madison Square Garden, there has been speculation of founding members Ace Frehley and Peter Criss joining the band onstage for a reunion.
In a new interview with Linea Rock (see below), Gene Simmons said that he’s extended multiple invitations to Frehley and Criss, who have both turned down the invites to play with KISS during the final shows. This comes after a long and tiresome feud between the former members and the current KISS faction — particularly founding members Simmons and Paul Stanley.
“For the fans — the older, older fans — the ones who’ve been around for 50 years, they’re old, and some of them wanna see Ace and Peter,” Simmons said [as transcribed by Blabbermouth]. “The newer fans never saw them and they don’t know. But the older fans wonder about Ace and Peter. Well, I asked both Ace and Peter a few times: ‘Do you wanna come out for the encores? Do you wanna do some shows?’ And they both said ‘no.’ So, I don’t know what to say about that… But it’s always welcome.”
Regarding the possibility of other special guests taking the stage, Simmons added: “But there are many other big stars, superstars, who wanna jump up onstage and play a song. But we’re not sure about that. Maybe the best thing to do is to end the way we started: four guys with guitars. No keyboards, no synthesizers — nothing. Just playing.”
Gene’s comments come off as dubious considering the recent back-and-forth saga between Frehley and Stanley. The latter insinuated that a reunion with Frehley and Criss would make KISS sound more like “PISS,” which led to Frehley demanding an apology from Stanley. That never happened, yet Frehley then insisted that he would still play at the two final MSG shows if asked.
Previously, Frehley had stated that money would be the primary factor in his decision to rejoin his former bandmates onstage.
“It all depends on money,” he told Eddie Trunk back in April. “If I get a formal invitation with a check, I’ll be there. But they’ve gotta have deep pockets… If they don’t wanna pay me, I won’t be there, ladies and gentleman.”
KISS are embarking on the final leg of their farewell tour this fall with a North American leg that wraps up with a two-night stand at Madison Square Garden on December 1st and 2nd. Get tickets here.