Though Mick Jagger is only six years older than 72-year-old Gene Simmons, the KISS rocker believes Jagger “wouldn’t last half an hour” in his stage outfit.

“Jagger’s in amazing shape, but he wouldn’t last half an hour in my outfit. I’m 72 and still in great shape. You’ve got to spit fire, fly through the air and all that stuff. And you do it for two hours,” Simmons told The Sun.

Simmons elaborated, saying that he wasn’t sure if he would still be able to perform the way he currently does in three years from now.

“Am I going to be convincing doing this at 75? No. Because I still have to wear these dragon boots proudly. Each of them weigh almost as much as a bowling ball, on their own.”

“Plus I wear about forty pounds of armour and studs and guitars that I’m carrying around on eight-inch platform heels. The physicality of what we do is just crazy.”

“At some point, you’ve got to have some dignity and pride and quit while the gettin’s good.”

KISS are currently on their long-delayed End Of The Road world tour, set to be their final ever tour. The hard rockers will arrive for the Australian leg in August, with dates in Melbourne, Sydney, Adelaide, Perth, Brisbane, and Townsville.

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Simmons recently invited former lead guitarist and co-founding member of KISS Ace Frehley to join them on the tour.

“Happy birthday Ace. And many more…” Simmons tweeted on April 27th. “The invitations still stand. Jump up on stage with us for encores. The fans would love it.”

The invitation comes as a surprise to dedicated fans, who have watched a tennis match of insults play out between the two musicians. Back in 2019, Simmons insisted Frehley could only return to the KISS lineup to make guest appearances. “Ace and Peter Criss have gotten three chances,” he said. “They were in and out of the band – fired – three times. For drugs, alcohol, bad behaviour, being unprofessional. So the only reason Ace and Peter were let go the first time, and then the second time and then the third time, is that they weren’t carrying their load.

Would we welcome Ace or Peter to jump up onstage for a song or two? Of course. Could we depend on either Ace or Peter to do a full set night after night? Not on your fucking life.”

That prompted a fiery response from Frehley. “Gene, your memory is really incorrect!…I was NEVER FIRED from KISS, I quit twice (not 3-times) of my own free will, because you and Paul are control freaks, untrustworthy and were too difficult to work with!” he scolded on social media. He also labelled Simmons an “asshole and a sex addict” in the now-deleted Facebook post.

For more on this topic, follow the Classic Rock Observer.

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