Gene Simmons' Wife and Kids Share Special Tributes as KISS Retires From Touring
They highlighted photos of the family together after Kiss' final performance.
Last weekend, Kiss played their final show at Madison Square Garden in New York City, capping a five-decade career. Reflecting on the band's last-ever live gig, the family of bassist Gene Simmons posted tributes to the iconic band on their respective Instagram accounts.
Simmons' son, Nick, uploaded a photo of his father in full Kiss regalia, surrounded by him, his mother, Shannon Tweed-Simmons, and his sister, Sophie, backstage."we've always been your biggest fans, pops. congratulations on your final shows at MSG," he wrote in the caption.
His daughter Sophie posted the same picture in back and white, leaving a simple black heart emoji as the caption. For wife Shannon, she had a different photo of the family together, smiling at the camera, except for Simmons, who was showing off his famous tongue. Alongside the image, Shannon wrote, "It happens."
Following the penultimate performance, Kiss guitarist Tommy Thayer described the evening as a "fantastic" celebration for the band's founding members, Simmons and Paul Stanley. During a post-show interview with PPV.com, Thayer said, per Blabbermouth, "I thought it was a fantastic night. I felt really good about it."
"This is a celebration," he adds. "But most importantly, this is Gene and Paul's night. This has been their baby for 50 years, and I think everybody was really feeling that. I mean, it's Kiss and everything too, of course, but this is about Gene and Paul tonight. This is their encore and their night."
Having been with the band since 2002, the guitarist described the night as "emotional" and "saw a lot of people out there with tears in their eyes." "Gosh, Sebastian Bach [former Skid Row frontman], I saw him about ten rows out [in the audience]. He was bawling his eyes out. But it's an emotional night. I mean, Kiss has been such a big part of everybody's lives for almost 50 years now. It is very emotional, very meaningful."
After Kiss' two-hour and fifteen-minute farewell show at Madison Square Garden on Dec. 2, a message that read: "A new era of KISS begins now" was broadcast on the video screens at the end of the set-closing "Rock And Roll All Nite." As soon as the digital avatars of Kiss appeared, they played the band's anthem, "God Gave Rock And Roll To You," signaling the torch's passing to the band members' digital successors.
The band discussed the decision during a video special. "We want to go out on top with people talking about it in mythical, legendary terms," said frontman Paul Stanley. "What we've accomplished has been amazing, but it's not enough. The band deserves to live on because the band is bigger than we are… It's exciting for us to go the next step and see Kiss immortalized."
Simmons added, "We can be forever young and forever iconic by taking us to places we've never dreamed of before. The technology is going to make Paul jump higher than he's ever done before."
The avatars were created by Pophouse Entertainment, a Swedish company behind the hugely successful ABBA Voyage show, with the help of Hollywood special effects giants Industrial Light & Magic. Kiss has also become the first US rock band to go entirely virtual and stage their own avatar show.