The Gene Simmons Band performed this past weekend in California, and KISS is gearing up for a return to the live stage for the first time since the conclusion of their “End of the Road” farewell tour. The band will perform sans makeup at this weekend’s KISS Kruise: Landlocked in Vegas event.
While performing in Castaic, California, Simmons (whose band for the show also included guest appearances by KISS drummer Eric Singer and guitarist Tommy Thayer) told the crowd: “ I wanna take a moment just to tell you that somebody I’ve known for many decades who started the band with us, a guy named Ace Frehley…” Simmons paused as fans began chanting Ace’s name.
“Very sad,” he continued. “Paul and myself and Peter Criss, we went to Ace’s funeral. He sadly passed. And the saddest part of all, besides the pain and suffering to his friends, family, his daughter, his wife, his whole family, is that Ace didn’t live long enough to be with us on December 6 when the president and everybody’s gonna get up there and honor KISS in entering the Kennedy Center Honors. And the first person who’s gonna walk out there and talk about how KISS changed his life is Garth Brooks, who’s gonna host a little bit. Then he’s gonna play ‘Shout It Out Loud’ and knock it out of the park. And in Ace’s memory, we’re gonna make sure one of the four chairs is empty with Ace’s name, because he deserves to be there in spirit, even if he can’t be there physically. So, one day Ace walked in. The very first song he ever wrote we’re gonna do now. It’s called ‘Cold Gin’.”
Frehley sadly passed away last month after suffering a bad fall at his home studio. TMZ confirmed that the official cause of his death came as result of a blunt trauma to his head. TMZ wrote: “According to the Morris County, New Jersey Medical Examiner’s report … Ace suffered a fracture to the back of his skull, a subdural hematoma — a collection of blood formed between the brain’s protective outer layer and the brain itself — and a stroke. His manner of death was ruled an accident.”
The full set of The Gene Simmons Band and Simmons’ tribute to Ace can be viewed below.
