KISS Members Ditch Iconic Face Paint for Group Outing Ahead of Final Show
Gene Simmons from KISS
KISS is known for their white and black face paint with bright red (or black) lips—but recently, the rock band stepped out sans makeup for a public outing.
On Thursday, Nov. 30, Eric Singer, Gene Simmons, Paul Stanley and Tommy Thayer posed together at the Empire State Building in honor of the band's final show on Dec. 2 at Madison Square Garden. The concert marks the end of the Kiss End of the Road Tour and quite possibly the last time band members will appear together while wearing their famous face paint.
To mark the milestone event, the Empire State Building held a special lighting display on Thursday from dusk until 2 a.m. The lights were set to KISS' 1975 hit song "Rock and Roll All Nite." (iHeartMedia New York's Q104.3's broadcast synchronized with the lights.)
The event was a full-circle moment for KISS, who in 1976, iconically posed near the edge of the Empire State Building during a photoshoot.
"It's pretty awesome to be up there," Stanley, an original band member along with Simmons, told Blabbermouth.net. "We climbed the ladder in those boots. It was a pretty interesting time."
Simmons agreed, recalling: "We were nuts! We would do anything you could imagine. Let's go on top of the Empire State Building and hang over the side for a photo. That'll look cool. Let's go!"
Although the KISS band members weren't wearing face paint for photos this time, they posed together while holding commemorative Empire State Building plaques ahead of their last show.
Roy Rochlin/Getty Images for Empire State Realty Trust
During a Rolling Stone interview published on Nov. 15, Simmons swore that KISS' Dec. 2 concert would be the band's final performance.
“My hand on the Bible,” he told the publication. "And I should know because my people wrote that book. In fact, my people also wrote the follow-up book, the New Testament. And so I’ll say right here, right now, my hand on the Bible, it will be the final Kiss-in-makeup appearance.”
It seems the photo above is about to be the rule rather than the exception for KISS band members—which for fans, will take some getting used to!
Next: Gene Simmons, 74, Feels 'Immortal' Thanks to His 'Schmeckle'
