Ace Frehley got an unexpectedly lovely birthday gift this week when former KISS bandmate Gene Simmons invited him to join the band on tour. 

Frehley turned 71 on Wednesday, April 27th, and received an enticing offer from Simmons on social media. “Happy birthday Ace. And many more…” he tweeted (see below). “The invitations still stand. Jump up on stage with us for encores. The fans would love it.”

The fans certainly would love it indeed. 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.

Simmons’ tweet is the latest in a series of teasing messages between the pair. 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.

So Simmons’ new tweet is definitely a step in the right direction. We’ll keep you posted with any new developments.

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