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“This is Gene and Paul’s night”: Tommy Thayer reflects on final Kiss gig
“This has been their baby for 50 years.”
Image: Kevin Mazur / Getty Images
Last weekend, Kiss brought the curtain down on their five-decade career with an epic final show at New York City’s Madison Square Garden. Reflecting on the band’s last-ever live gig, guitarist Tommy Thayer calls the evening a “fantastic” one belonging to Kiss founders Gene Simmons and Paul Stanley.
Thayer makes the comments in a post-show interview for PPV.com, where he says [per Blabbermouth]: “I thought it was a fantastic night. I felt really good about it.”
“This is a celebration,” he adds. “But most importantly, this is Gene and Paul’s night. This has been their baby for 50 years, and I think everybody was really feeling that. I mean, it’s Kiss and everything too, of course, but this is about Gene and Paul tonight. This is their encore and their night.”
Describing the night as “emotional”, the guitarist – who’s been with the band since 2002 – says he “saw a lot of people out there with tears in their eyes.”
“Gosh, Sebastian Bach [former Skid Row frontman], I saw him about ten rows out [in the audience]. He was bawling his eyes out. But it’s an emotional night. I mean, Kiss has been such a big part of everybody’s lives for almost 50 years now. It is very emotional, very meaningful.”
Kiss said farewell to 20,000 fans with a two hour and 15 minute show at Madison Square Garden last Saturday (2 December). After the set-closing Rock And Roll All Nite, a message blasted on the video screens that read: “A new KISS era starts now”. Digital avatars of the band soon appeared, playing their anthem God Gave Rock And Roll To You — a move that signalled the handing of the Kiss torch to the members’ digital successors.
The avatars were created by Pophouse Entertainment – the Swedish company behind the wildly successful ABBA Voyage show – with help from Hollywood special effects icons Industrial Light & Magic. Kiss are also the first US rock band to go fully virtual and stage its own avatar show.