Thanks to a mounting pile of high-profile mistakes, it is now obvious and indisputable that Kiss has a lot of prerecorded help on the End of the Road tour.
(They’re lip-syncing.)
It’s far beyond backing rhythm tracks, or synth, or anything of the sort. They’re flat-out faking it.
There are huge swaths of current Kiss concerts that are not live music.
Incredibly, there are ostensible fans who are defending this practice. Oh, Gene and Paul are knocking on 70, they say. Lots of bands do it, they say.
Well, Kiss has never been “lots of bands.” That’s the point. Moreover:
“I have a problem when you charge $100 to see a live show and the artist uses backing tracks. It’s like the ingredients in food. If the first ingredient on the label is sugar, that’s at least honest. It should be on every ticket—you’re paying $100, 30 to 50 per cent of the show is [on] backing tracks, and they’ll sing sometimes, sometimes they’ll lip sync. At least be honest. It’s not about backing tracks; it’s about dishonesty.” – Gene Simmons, 2015
There is absolutely no shame in not being able to pull off the Kiss live experience anymore. We all get older. There are things we could do in our youth that we can’t do forever. But to charge a fan $100 to watch you pretend to is unconscionable. If you can’t do it, then you shouldn’t tour. That’s the way that works.
Gene and Paul, you were once the undisputed kings of live rock ‘n’ roll. No one could touch you. Now, you fully embody what you have previously claimed to despise.
It makes me so sad that Kiss is going out with such a humiliating and degrading whimper. Shame on you. Shame on you both for denigrating the fine name of your band with this spectacle of hypocrisy and greed.
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I couldn’t agree more. But their descent into shame started in 1996….
I was a lot more excited in 1996 than you were. And then, I left it all on the floor when I saw the “farewell” tour on April 14, 2000.
Then I bumped along. I did enjoy Sonic Boom and Monster. Both are good rock ‘n’ roll records. And then, we had a chance to get our sons a reasonable simulacrum of the experience, so we saw the Kiss/Def Leppard tour in 2014. We had a good family time, but I knew immediately that it was the last time I’d ever pay to see Kiss.
And now this.
To not be able to do this, yet smile, take people’s money, and pretend you can, is unforgivable.