Although the final date of KISS's "End Of The Road" tour has yet to be announced, Paul Stanley has an idea of when and where it will be. "We can't be running around for that much longer in 40 pounds of gear," he tells Rolling Stone. "There's nothing maudlin about it. It's a celebration with our fans around the world. "We wanted to raise the bar again as to what a band can do live," he adds. "That's really what we've always done: we've always wanted to be the band we never saw. There are a lot of shows out there that have KISS DNA in them because they really weren't shows of any magnitude before us." This past spring, Stanley told Australia's "Sunday Night" that "Rock And Roll All Nite" "has to be" the song that KISS performs as the last encore at the final concert of the "End Of The Road" tour. "That is the rock anthem that connects the world," he explained. "It was the start of other people coming up with anthems. They really didn't exist, per se. So, 'Rock And Roll All Nite And Party Every Day', that's a song that just connects with people on all different levels." KISS bassist/vocalist Gene Simmons concurred, telling BUILD Series: "How do you not end with 'Rock And Roll All Nite'? We will have played that song, probably without exception, more than any other song we've ever been involved with. You might say, 'Aren't you sick and tired of hearing that?' But I will tell you the roar of the crowd, the smell of the grease paint, there ain't nothing like it. When you hear everybody getting jazzed about that and you get off the stage... [it's] like the fire in the belly. You're dog-tired; you've just done a big show; and you get up on that stage, when you see the joy in everybody's face... We've seen it all. We've been around for generations, but when you see a little 5-year-old kid in KISS makeup on his dad's shoulders who's wearing KISS makeup, next to his father... we're badass kind of guys — nothing affects us much — but that stuff will put a lump in your throat. You have to turn around for a second. It gets me. Yes, it's music, but it's generational, and it brings families together instead of separates [sic] them." "End Of The Road" kicked off on January 31 in Vancouver and will resume on November 16 in Perth, Australia. KISS's current lineup consists of original members Simmons and Stanley, 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 lead guitarist Ace Frehley, KISS staged its first "farewell" tour in 2000, the last to feature the group's original lineup.
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