Gene Simmons Urges Ace Frehley to rejoin KISS during their farewell tour
The bassist took to social media to extend the invite, insisting that “the fans would love it”.
Image: Kevin Mazur/Getty
In a birthday message yesterday (27 April), KISS bassist Gene Simmons encouraged the band’s former guitarist to return for encores as the members undertake their last ever global tour.
Shared on Simmons’ Twitter page yesterday, the musician once again extended an invite out to ex-bandmate Ace Frehley, asking him to take part in the band’s final tour and insisting that “the fans would love it”.
The offer comes as no surprise to KISS fans, with both Simmons and the band’s frontman Paul Stanley repeatedly extending the invite to the 71-year-old guitarist, who now hasn’t been an official member of the band for twenty years.
In the tweet, originally intended as a message to wish Frehley a happy birthday, Simmons presents the musician with the opportunity to partake in the band’s current tour, stating that he wouldn’t have to join as a full-time member, but could instead simply “jump on stage with us for encores.”
Following his departure from the band in 2002, Frehley, otherwise known as the ‘Spaceman’, has remained moderately open to the idea of reinstating himself in the band, yet never enough for the event to actually take place.
Happy Birthday Ace @ace_frehley. And many more…The invitations still stand. Jump up on stage with us for encores. The fans would love it.
— Gene Simmons (@genesimmons) April 27, 2022
Speaking to the SiriusXM show Trunk Nation With Eddie Trunk, Ace Frehley stated how he was tempted by the idea of rejoining KISS for a reunion last September, insisting that he “never closed the door on anything”.
“Anything’s possible — I’ve always said that. That’s the first question so many people have asked me over the years: ‘Would you ever consider doing a KISS reunion?’ I said, ‘I never closed the door on anything.’ If the money’s right and it’s presented to me in the right way, anything can happen,” he confirmed. “I’m on good terms with Paul [Stanley] and Gene [Simmons], which is nice because we created something really special in the early ’70s that has outlasted so many other bands.”
However, despite this apparent intrigue to participate in the band once more, Frehley has also admitted to being opposed to playing alongside current guitarist Tommy Thayer, who currently performs in Frehley’s original ‘Spaceman’ attire.
Speaking with Yahoo! Entertainment in 2018, the original guitarist said:
“You know, it’d be one thing if Tommy would have invented his own character, invented his own guitar solos, but unfortunately, he’s copying everything I do, note for note.” He continues, “there’s not much leeway for anybody to say what he’s doing is original. […] I don’t think I could step into a situation and be somebody else. It’s almost like being a robot. Poor Tommy. My heart bleeds for him.”
Despite not yet having a date to mark the end of their final tour, it still looks unlikely that Frehley will be joining KISS onstage anytime soon.
KISS’ farewell tour is currently underway. Find the band’s remaining dates here.