Kiss are kissing the road goodbye once again, but not before embarking on one more tour. The rockers announced their final trek after a 45-year career during their appearance on NBC’s America’s Got Talent on Wednesday.
The group performed their hit “Detroit Rock City” to launch AGT‘s season finale episode before announcing the news. “This is going to be our last tour,” they announced onstage. “It will be the most explosive, biggest show we’ve ever done. People who love us, come to see us. If you’ve never seen us, this is the time. This will be the show.” The band has not yet revealed tour dates, but they said in a statement that their final shows will be part of a multi-year ‘End of the Road’ world tour and that they’d announce updates on their official website in the coming weeks.
This isn’t the first time Kiss has called it quits. In 2000, Gene Simmons said, “There just aren’t any more mountains to climb. We want to go out in style with the people that put us here, the fans.” It did, however, turn out to be their final tour featuring all four original members – Simmons, Paul Stanley, Ace Frehley and Peter Criss.
But just two years later they were back at it. “People change their minds, and in this case that goes along with being a living, thinking person. What one says one day with total commitment may at another time turn out not to be so,” Stanley said in 2002. “Am I doing this for the money or the fans? Both, and let’s not forget I’m doing this for me.”
In 2014, the four original members congenially appeared together, though they didn’t perform, for their induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Last September, Simmons and Frehley performed together for the first time in more than 16 years for a Hurricane Harvey benefit. The current lineup comprises original members Stanley and Simmons, plus Tommy Thayer and Eric Singer.
“All that we have built and all that we have conquered over the past four decades could never have happened without the millions of people worldwide who’ve filled clubs, arenas and stadiums over those years,” Kiss said in a statement. “This will be the ultimate celebration for those who’ve seen us and a last chance for those who haven’t. KISS Army, we’re saying goodbye on our final tour with our biggest show yet and we’ll go out the same way we came in… Unapologetic and Unstoppable.”