The band is back in action after their farewell plans were put on hold for over a year
Last night at Etess Arena inside the Hard Rock Hotel & Casino in Atlantic City, KISS brought their recently resumed End of the Road Tour to a packed house. A play on the seminal hit they opened with, KISS turned the iconic entertainment town into Atlantic Rock City.
After a long break and a ton of cancelled shows, KISS are finally back on the road making up for lost time. As the true end of the road begins to appear on the horizon, fans are still packing arenas and stadiums to see the legendary band one more time before they wipe off their makeup and put away their pumped-up boots.
The 2020 U.S. leg of KISS’s final tour kicked off on February 1, but was quickly halted after only a few shows due to the start of the COVID-19 pandemic.
“A year and a half of our lives gone,” frontman Paul Stanley lamented. “But, we’re back now and doing this thing!”
After a long break and a ton of cancelled shows, KISS are finally back on the road making up for lost time. As the true end of the road begins to appear on the horizon, fans are still packing arenas and stadiums to see the legendary band one more time before they wipe off their makeup and put away their pumped-up boots.
As soon as Led Zeppelin’s “Rock and Roll” finished blasting from the speakers, the stage was set a blaze while bassist Gene Simmons, frontman Paul Stanley and guitarist Tommy Thayer descended from the rafters. They tore into into menacing opening riff of their heavy metal hit “Detroit Rock City.“ Frontman Paul Stanley cried, “Get down, everybody’s gonna leave their seat,” but the capacity crows was already way ahead of him. After using more pyro than most bands do in an entire set, KISS seamlessly swung right into another seminal classic “Shout It Out Loud.”
A textbook arena anthem, the track truly set the tone for the evening.
Other highlights included “Deuce,” “War Machine,” “Calling Dr. Love,” the rare gem “Psycho Circus,” and “Love Gun” and “I Was Made for Lovin’ You” which saw Paul Stanley sing from the crowd on a remote stage. “Cold Gin,” “Say Yea,” and “I Love It Loud” also made the capacity crowd roar.
After a hefty 20-song set, the band returned to the stage for a three-song encore that started with their hit ballad “Beth.” Then they dusted off “Do You Love Me” from their 1976 outing Destroyer. Finally, the closed out the evening with a song that surprised no one – their seminal classic “Rock and Roll All Nite.”
While the show was over, fans certainly wished they could have rocked all night long with one of the most iconic rock bands of all time.
“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 before the launch of the tour. “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.”
KISS are one of the most successful acts in music history, having sold over 100 million albums worldwide. The band broke into the mainstream in 1974 with their self-titled debut album. In 1977, the band won the People’s Choice Award for Best New Song for “Beth.” KISS were nominated for a Grammy Award in 1999 for Best Hard Rock Performance.
From 1996-2000, the band garnered 16 Metal Edge Reader’s Choice Awards. KISS were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame on April 10, 2015 at the Barclays Center in New York. The band was featured on the cover of Rolling Stone in April 2014 for the first time in their career in light of their induction into the Hall of Fame.
This leg of the band’s End of the Road Tour runs through October 9 at the MIDFLORIDA Credit Union Ampitheatre in Tampa, FL.
