Band that rewrote the book on arena rock returns to Rupp for the first time in two decades

Leave it to Kiss to throw a homecoming in the middle of a very long goodbye.

As the band that rewrote the book on arena rock to its own specifications nears the halfway point of a two-and-a-half year finale tour, it returns to Rupp Arena for the first time in nearly two decades. Sure, the title of Kiss’ grand concert exit is The End of the Road World Tour. But the big news around these parts is that the big adieu is finally bringing Kiss back to the home of Big Blue.

“Yeah, Rupp Arena,” remarked Kiss co-vocalist, co-guitarist, co-frontman and co-founder Paul Stanley, 68. “We’ve missed Rupp Arena, so to get a chance to come back and reclaim it is an awesome thing.”

Rupp was Kiss’ Central Kentucky performance home during the late 1970s – a period when the band rivaled any chart-topping, pop-metal enterprise on the charts with mammoth-selling albums like “Destroyer,” “Rock and Roll Over” and “Love Gun.” But as Kiss was in the midst of carnival-scale tours that brought the glammed out personas of its costumed, face painted members to life, Rupp was just opening its doors. Kiss would play Rupp three times during its first four years of operation. Its Feb. 13 return will mark, despite the almost 20 year gap, the band’s ninth concert at the venue.

“We put together this show so it would be the culmination of everything we’ve done,” Stanley said. “It’s two-plus hours. It’s state of the art technology. It’s bombast and fire and everything that you’ve come to expect. Everybody gets a chance to, in a sense, reminisce about our connection together. By that, I mean us and the fans. It doesn’t matter whether you have been with us 45 years or 45 days. There’s an intense connection and the show really validates the reasons why. Nobody leaves disappointed.

“Lots of bands at this point can spend money and put on a Kiss show, but they can’t be Kiss, so it’s a terrific, terrific time. Too often, we find ourselves losing someone or something in our lives and going, ‘If I had only known, I would have done something different.’ In this case, this is it and we all get a chance to enjoy what we’ve done together.”

Stanley, along with bassist, vocalist and overall rock ‘n’ roll entrepreneur Gene Simmons, constitute the original Kiss contingency. Along with Ace Frehley and Peter Criss, they formed the band in early 1973 in New York City, releasing their self-titled debut album a year later. By the end of the decade, the lineup began to splinter. While it reunited in the late ‘90s, Kiss proceeded into the 21st century with an initial eye to retirement via a much publicized farewell tour. But Stanley and Simmons stayed the course, eventually picking up guitarist Tommy Thayer and drummer Eric Singer to form the roster that will officially close out Kiss’s concert career. The End of the Road World Tour is slated to conclude in New York in July 2021.

“I always find myself saying that we never could have created this without the original lineup and never could have continued it with the original lineup,” Stanley said. “Kiss has evolved but it has always been built on the accomplishments from the past. A solid foundation has allowed us to build a monument, but we couldn’t have done it without Tommy and Eric. Eric has been in the band for 20 years. Tommy has with us 17 or 18 years. That’s far beyond the lifespan of most bands, so I can’t say enough about those guys. When I’m up onstage, I go, ‘This is the band I always hoped for.’”

So what happens once Kiss really does reach the end of the road? How will Stanley look back on the legacy forged by the band he and Simmons have devoted their entire adult lives to? Well, for starters, there won’t be tears.

“I have to say there is nothing morose or sad about any of this,” Stanley said. “All of us in the band are deeply moved, but in a jubilant way, by our history, by the turnout and by what we’re doing on this tour. If we needed vindication or validation, this is it. This is a victory lap. This is the last tour that we will do, and it’s everything we hoped it would be.”

Kiss/David Lee Roth

When: 7:30 p.m. Feb. 13

Where: Rupp Arena, 430 W. Vine

Tickets: $44.50-$997.00

Call: 859-233-3535, 800-745-3000 online: rupparena.com, ticketmaster.com, kissonline.com.

This story was originally published February 11, 2020 at 6:00 AM.