It’s been 18 years since KISS first embarked upon their famous “Farewell Tour”, but now, it looks like the end may be nigh once again for the hard rock legends, with rumours that a new final tour is in the works.
Back in 2000, KISS began what was supposed to be their final tour before they would break up, with the tour serving as a way to “put KISS out of its misery”. Following 142 shows over the course of 13 months, the band played their last show in Canberra in March of 2001, before announcing in 2002 that they weren’t actually retiring.
Since then, there have been rumours about KISS potentially packing it in and calling it quits, but nothing has been set in stone. Now though, it seems like we’ve got some pretty solid evidence that the end may indeed be near.
While we’ve spoken before about bassist Gene Simmons’ penchant for trademarking almost every thought he has, Blabbermouth reports that the band have supposedly filed an application for the phrase ‘The End Of The Road’.
According to the application, which was filed with the United States Patent and Trademark Office on February 8th, the trademark would be used for “entertainment services, namely, live performances by a musical band.”
Of course, with the group applying for a phrase such as this, fans have begun speculating that maybe KISS are about to announce some big news soon.
Back in 2017, Gene Simmons did note that the group could be set to retire within a couple of years. “So we’re not gonna be able to do it into our 70s, and I’m 67 now,” the KISS bassist said. “We’ll do it for a few more years, and then when we think it’s time to go, we’ll go, and we’ll do it the right way, with a big party.
“I’d like to think that we would do something that rocks the planet – something big and worldwide and maybe free.”
However, only a matter of days ago, vocalist Paul Stanley hinted at the idea of KISS continuing even after the current members have left.
“We’ve built something that’s so iconic, and I think it transcends any of the members so I can certainly see me not being there, seriously,” he said. “There was a time where people said it had to be the four of us [Stanley, Simmons, Ace Frehley and Peter Criss] and those people are already 50% wrong. So I’m betting [another absence] could be overcome, too.”
“We don’t fall into the limitations of other bands, because we’re not other bands. So, yeah, at some point, I’d love to see somebody in the band in my place, and it’s because I love the band.”
So while the band are yet to make any sort of statement as to yet another farewell tour, all this talk of calling it quits soon seems to indicate that the band have definitely thought about the end, and maybe it’ll be here sooner than we think.
Check out KISS’ classic track ‘Detroit Rock City’:
