Wait a Minute, Did Gene Simmons Just Suggest KISS Will Still Perform After Final Show?

KISS' alleged last-ever show is set for Dec. 2 at Madison Square Garden in New York, but some specific language Gene Simmons used in a recent interview with Rolling Stone suggests it may not be the last time KISS play together onstage.

The 74-year-old bassist and co-vocalist looks ahead to the big finale, to which he says KISS have added an extra $1 million in production to, ensuring the show will be even more bombastic than it already is.

“My hand on the Bible,” Simmons tells Rolling Stone when asked if this is really it for KISS, musing, “And I should know because my people wrote that book. In fact, my people also wrote the follow-up book, the New Testament. And so I’ll say right here, right now, my hand on the Bible, it will be the final KISS-in-makeup appearance.”

That last part — the final "in-makeup appearance" — opens up the possibility that KISS will perform together as a band, perhaps without the big budget production, signature costumes and all of their high-flying antics, from Simmons' blood-spitting high-wire stunt to Paul Stanley zip-lining to a platform far off the stage and amid the crowd.

Later on in the interview, Simmons attests to the rigors of maintaining such a physical performance and acknowledges that now is the time for KISS to hang it up. Or, at least in regards to the "in-makeup appearance" remark, retire from performing in the fashion KISS are most known for.

READ MORE: Gene Simmons Recalls Giving Geddy Lee a Bass Lesson After Learning He Didn't Know a Blues Scale

"It has nothing to do with ticket sales or anything. It has to do with Mother Nature," Simmons says, "And at a certain point, you have to understand that it’s going to be a point of diminishing returns because of the kind of band we are. I wear seven-inch platform dragon boots, each weighs as much as a light bowling ball, armor, studs, leather, all that stuff, and that weighs about 40 pounds in total. And I got to spit fire, and fly through the air, and all that, and you got to do it for two hours."

Fans will still likely see KISS' members on the road in various capacities as well.

"Paul has his Soul Station band. I’m sure he’d love to play some shows. I’ve got the Gene Simmons Band. At some point, I may want to jump up onstage and do some tunes," he expresses, "But the physicality of being in KISS says that this is the right thing, at the right place, at the right time. Because B.B. King played until his late 80s. He was sitting onstage. We can’t do that. We don’t sit down."

While the Dec. 2 show, advertised as the true finale for KISS, will be a historic moment, it will also be twinged with the idea of what could have been. Simmons recently lamented that classic members Ace Frehley and Peter Criss will not be there to perform alongside the group and that their absence makes him "sad and angry."

If you can't be at Madison Square Garden for the last show, you'll still be able to watch via Pay-Per-View. Get those details here.