GENE SIMMONS Dons Robe For KISS Soundcheck In Hartford (Video)

Mike Brunn has uploaded a pre-show soundcheck video of "unmasked" makeup-less members of KISS — including bassist/vocalist Gene Simmons donning a robe — performing a couple of songs and answering fan questions on May 14 at the XFINITY Theatre in Hartford, Connecticut. Check out the clip below.

KISScharges $270 for the "Pre-Show Performance And Q&A Experience" on its current tour. This package does not include a ticket. You must purchase a ticket to the show in order to attend this VIP Experience. The package includes access to a five-song electric soundcheck and a question-and-answer session plus a commemorative KISS "End Of The Road" VIP package laminate.

KISS's "End Of The Road" farewell tour launched in 2019 and is scheduled to end sometime in 2023, 50 years after the band's formation.

In a phone interview, KISS frontman Paul Stanley stated about the band's live shows: "There's nothing really that can compete or come close to the combustive emotional nature of what we do on stage and the connection to the fans. That's something that's irreplaceable. That's something that there's nothing to compare it to."

Regarding KISS's decision to complete one last tour before calling it quits, Stanley said: "This is really a time of joy and for us to be up there and celebrate what we've done together. It's much better than finishing a tour, let's say, and then a year later deciding you don't want to go out and two years later you decide you don't want to go out. In that sense, you've called it quits, but this is so much better for us and better for the fans to go out there with the highest of spirits and the greatest of shows."

Speaking about the "End Of The Road" stage production, Stanley said: "The show this time really is the ultimate KISS show. With that in mind, we wanted to put together something that really raised the bar, not just for us, but as happened over the years, raises the bar for every act out there. That's a good thing because the fans win because of it. This show is more bombastic. There's more pyro. The lights are stunning. The automation involved, the computer synchronization is unlike anything we've ever done, and yet it doesn't lose, we don't wind up with something that's technical and sterile over something that's passionate and gritty. So it's a marvel, I've got to tell you. It left us speechless when we first saw the finished stage. And for us to be silent is a miracle in itself."

KISS was forced to put its farewell trek on hold in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Last October, Stanley said that the final concert of the "End Of The Road" tour will likely happen by early 2023.

"End Of The Road" was originally scheduled to conclude on July 17, 2021 in New York City but has since been extended. The trek was announced in September 2018 following a KISS performance of the band's classic song "Detroit Rock City" on "America's Got Talent".

KISS's current lineup consists of original members Stanley and Simmons, alongside later band additions, guitarist Tommy Thayer (since 2002) and drummer Eric Singer (on and off since 1991).

Formed in 1973 by Stanley, Simmons, drummer Peter Criss and guitarist Ace Frehley, KISS's first "farewell" tour in 2000 was the last to feature the group's original lineup.