After 16 years of estrangement and passive-aggressive media sledges, KISS founders Gene Simmons and Ace Frehley have casually reunited for a milestone performance, and all it took to bring them together was a deadly natural disaster.
The OG Painted Ones took the stage together for a Hurricane Harvey benefit show in St. Paul, marking their first onstage appearance since 2001.
The significance of this event won’t be lost on KISS fans, especially in light of the big stink around their 2014 Rock and Roll Hall Of Fame induction, when the Knights In Satan’s Service shit-canned their performance due to an alleged spat between Spaceman and The Demon.
“I just did four shows on the East Coast, and I looked at my calendar and I noticed I was off today,” Frehley tells The Star Tribune. “I had to head back to San Diego eventually where I live, so I figured I could make a pit stop here. I called Gene, and he was really excited about me being involved, and it’s that simple.”
Space Ace also reckons he’s playing in Simmons’ new solo band, and that the pair recently collaborated on two new songs for Ace’s new solo record.
“He came to my show when I performed in Los Angeles about six months ago,” The Spaceman says. “Whenever I get together with Gene — or last year I got together and did a video with Paul [Stanley] — it’s just a lot of fun.”
Hmmm….. things could be looking up for an OG KISS reunion?
For now, you can catch Ace & Gene’s landmark reunion performance of four songs — ‘Parasite’, ‘Cold Gin’, ‘Shock Me’, and ‘Rock And Roll All Nite’ — below.
