Last weekend, KISS returned to the live stage for the first time since 2023 at the KISS Kruise: Landlocked In Vegas event. The band played two shows sans makeup, one acoustic and one electric, at a 3-day celebration of all things KISS.
Sadly, the band’s original guitarist Ace Frehley passed away last month. Diehard KISS fans had hoped to see all four original members on stage in some form again, but it’s sadly no longer possible. It wasn’t without trying, however, according to both KISS bassist Gene Simmons and longtime manager Doc McGhee.
McGhee took part in a Q&A session with fans in Vegas, and he spoke about why a proposed original lineup reunion, even for just a few songs in Vegas, didn’t happen. “They didn’t play together for 17 years… If you have a glass of milk that’s sour and put it in the refrigerator for 17 years and expect it to taste any better, I’m not sure that’s what’s going to happen,” McGhee said. “But they really hung in there for a while (for their first reunion in 1996) before their emotions got to them and all the old feelings came out. It’s sad when that happens, but that’s life. It’s like a marriage or a relationship. Seventy percent of all marriages fail, so why wouldn’t a rock band fail? They’re with each other every day of their lives, and they all have different cheerleaders in their families and friends, and ‘I’m more important than him,’ and ‘This guy’s getting more than I’m getting’…”
McGhee continued: “You’re getting all these things that interfere, and sometimes people can’t get past those things. They can’t let things go, and the past kills the future. History repeats itself — it was about six years before they started to fall apart to begin with, and when I put them back together again, it was six years when we started falling apart again.”
McGhee then said that prior to Frehley’s passing, he tried to convince the original four to reunite for last weekend’s event. “That whole concept of, ‘You have to stay together’? We wanted everybody to come and play this. I talked to all of them and couldn’t get it done. It’s just, sh*t happens, and there’s not much you can do about it.”
