Tommy Thayer has shot down Ace Frehley's claim that KISS couldn't sell out New York City's Madison Square Garden during the first leg of the band's "End Of The Road" farewell tour. In a recent interview with Oklahoma's KATT Rock 100.5 radio station, Frehley said that it was "a sad commentary" that KISS "didn't sell out Madison Square Garden" when it played at the iconic venue in late March. "When I was in the band, we used to do three nights [at Madison Square Garden]," Ace added. Speaking to 4Sound at this week's Sweden Rock Festival, Thayer didn't mention Frehley by name but made it a point to say that KISS had no problems selling tickets in Big Apple. "This tour, the 'End Of The Road' world tour that we're doing, we just did 45 shows in North America [to] over half a million fans," Tommy said (see video below). "Most of all of 'em were sold out, including Madison Square Garden was actually sold out. But it's been a great tour." According to Billboard, KISS's March 27 concert at Madison Square Garden grossed $1.947 million and sold 13,359 tickets. The same venue still holds the record for the band's highest-grossing engagement ever, when they earned $3.3 million over four shows from July 25-28, 1996 during the "Alive/Worldwide" tour (this was the band's first tour since 1979's "Dynasty" tour with Frehley and drummer Peter Criss). Thayer first joined KISS as a producer, songwriter and business manager before becoming the group lead guitarist in February 2003, during which time he and his bandmates have performed more than 650 times.
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