KISS's final show of the End of the Road tour: Madison Square Garden, New York, December 2, 2023

About the artist

KISS formed in New York City in January 1973^[1]. Paul Stanley (guitar, vocals) and Gene Simmons (bass, vocals) recruited drummer Peter Criss and guitarist Ace Frehley through ads^[1]. Each member played a character in full makeup, and the shows came with fire-breathing and fake blood^[2][3]. Their first album came out in February 1974. The live album Alive! (1975) made the Top 10, and its single "Rock and Roll All Nite" reached No. 12^[1]. Destroyer (1976) became their first platinum album, and Criss's "Beth" their first Top 10 single^[1]. They first toured Japan in 1977, playing the Nippon Budokan among other halls^[4][5]. KISS dropped the makeup for Lick It Up in 1983, and the original four reunited in full makeup for a world tour in 1996^[1]. They were inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in 2014^[6].

Why this was thought to be the end

KISS announced the End of the Road World Tour in September 2018, and it opened in Vancouver on January 31, 2019^[7][8]. It was their second farewell tour; the first, in 2000, had featured the original four^[2]. This time the band was founders Stanley and Simmons with lead guitarist Tommy Thayer and drummer Eric Singer^[2][9]. In an interview with Ultimate Classic Rock, quoted by NPR, Stanley said the decision had nothing to do with personalities or musical differences: it was a matter of time, and the clock eventually wins^[3]. On Australia's The Project, he put it more simply: "we can't continue doing this"^[7].

The tour was meant to finish in New York on July 17, 2021, but the pandemic halted it in 2020 and pushed the end to late 2023^[7]. In Japan, the band played five venues in December 2019, then came back for a one-night "encore" at the Tokyo Dome on November 30, 2022^[5][8], which Stars and Stripes reported as the last KISS performance in Japan^[9].

On March 1, 2023, on The Howard Stern Show, KISS named the finish line: two nights at Madison Square Garden, December 1 and 2, at the end of a 19-date North American leg that would open in Texas in October^[10]. Stanley called them "the last two shows of the band" and said the touring days were over, though he would not rule out a one-off^[10]. Simmons pointed out that KISS was born on 23rd Street and would end ten blocks away, on 33rd^[10]. As the shows approached, he put it another way: this was the end of the road for the band, "not the brand"^[11].

What is known about the day

On November 30, the night before the first show, the Empire State Building was lit in the band's colors, with a light show set to "Rock and Roll All Nite"^[11]. December 2, 2023, was a Saturday, the second of the two nights^[2]. The Garden was sold out^[12], with about 20,000 fans, according to Blabbermouth^[13]. As AP noted, the band that started out in the clubs of Queens had first played the Garden in February 1977^[2]. The show went out live around the world on pay-per-view, through PPV.COM and U.S. and Canadian cable and satellite providers^[7][12].

The setlist opened with "Detroit Rock City" and ran to 20 songs: 17 in the main set and three in the encore^[14][15]. Four of them, "Deuce," "Cold Gin," "100,000 Years" and "Black Diamond," had been on Alive!^[14][16]. Simmons breathed fire and spat blood^[2]. Stanley rode a harness over the crowd to a small stage in the middle of the arena and sang "Love Gun" and "I Was Made for Lovin' You" there^[2][15]. In the encore, Singer sang "Beth" from a grand piano raised above the stage^[14]. After "Do You Love Me" came "Rock and Roll All Nite," the last song the band played that night^[17][14], with confetti falling and Stanley smashing his guitar^[2]. The show ran about two hours and 15 minutes^[13]. Original members Criss and Frehley did not appear^[2]. Thayer told PPV.COM's Allison Hagendorf that the night belonged to Simmons and Stanley, "their encore and their night," and that he saw many fans in tears^[13].

Then the screens announced a new era, and digital avatars of the four members appeared^[2][13]. They were made by Industrial Light & Magic, the effects company George Lucas founded, with Pophouse Entertainment, the Swedish company behind ABBA's digital concerts^[17][14]. The avatar video was set to the band's 1991 recording of "God Gave Rock 'N' Roll to You II"^[17][14]. "The end of the road is the beginning of another road!" Stanley told the crowd, adding that fans would see KISS in different forms^[2].

What the show left behind

In April 2024, KISS sold their catalog, name and intellectual property to Pophouse, the company co-founded by ABBA's Björn Ulvaeus^[18]. Simmons called it a collaboration rather than an acquisition and said the band would not tour as KISS again^[18]. At the time, Pophouse said an avatar show would open in North America in the second half of 2027^[18]. A five-part documentary about the tour is in the works^[19], but as of November 2025 it had no release date^[20]. As of October 2024, the tour had produced no live album or home video^[19]. Ace Frehley died on October 16, 2025, at 74^[21].

The next month, KISS were back on a stage. At KISS Kruise: Landlocked In Vegas, a fan event at Virgin Hotels Las Vegas first announced as KISS Army Storms Vegas^[22][23], they played an unmasked acoustic set on November 14, 2025, and an unmasked electric set the next night^[24][25]. It was the same four who had played the Garden, and their first performance as KISS since that night^[24][26][22]. On the 15th, Bruce Kulick, who had joined as lead guitarist in 1984, sat in for the last two songs, and the night again ended with "Rock And Roll All Nite"^[25][1]. Because KISS played again under their own name, this site files the Garden show under "Not the end after all." In April 2026, two more unmasked shows were announced for the 2026 edition of the event, November 13 to 15^[27].

Before the final show, Simmons had said that the second night at the Garden would be the last appearance of KISS in makeup. In Las Vegas, the four kept that promise and played with their faces bare^[23][24].