Watch: GENE SIMMONS And His Solo Band Play Fundraising Concert In North Tonawanda, New York

On Monday, August 19, Gene Simmons and his solo band played a headlining concert at the historic West Herr Riviera Theatre in North Tonawanda, New York. The performance was part of a fundraising event to benefit the venue’s new lobby expansion project.The day before the show, North Tonawanda mayor Austin Tylec said: “As many of you know, there’s an ongoing expansion there, and Gene and his entire band is going to put on a fantastic show, bring in a lot of people, a lot of money that will go towards our future expansion there. So, from North Tonawanda, we want to say thank you for coming here to our community and helping our local arts and further expansion of our community.”The current lineup of Simmons’s solo band features guitarists Brent Woods (SEBASTIAN BACH, VINCE NEIL) and Jason Walker plus drummer Brian Tichy (WHITESNAKE, FOREIGNER).The group’s setlist typically includes a number of KISS classics alongside covers of MOTÖRHEAD’s “Ace Of Spades” and LED ZEPPELIN’s “Communication Breakdown”.In late April, the GENE SIMMONS BAND performed at the grand opening of the Rock & Brews restaurant at the Ilani dining and entertainment destination in Ridgefield, Washington. It marked the KISS bassist/vocalist’s first live appearance since the legendary rock act concluded its “End Of The Road” farewell tour at New York’s Madison Square Garden in December.Back in 2017 and 2018, the GENE SIMMONS BAND played a number of shows with a lineup that consisted of Simmons alongside guitarist/bassist Jeremy Asbrock, guitarist Ryan Cook, guitarist Phil Shouse and drummer Brent Fitz.Six years ago, Simmons stated about his solo shows: “Doing these smaller concert halls, which hold a thousand to three thousand people, means they get filled up by real diehard fans. They don’t want to hear the ‘same old, same old.’ They want to hear nuggets, as they say. It’s a hoot for me because I’ve never really had a chance to do this stuff live. It’s been a lot of fun.” Gene told the Chicago Sun-Times: “By the end, I get the chance to bring as many people from the audience as we can fit on the stage to sing with me.”Regarding how the idea for a solo tour came about, Simmons told Australia’s Advertiser in a 2018 interview: “The GENE SIMMONS BAND was not a plan or anything. About a year ago, a corporate event asked me to be keynote speaker … then they said, ‘Won’t you get up and sing a few tunes?’ I explained that you can’t just do that, you’ve got to have a band and rehearse and all that. They said, ‘Well, we’ll pay you X dollars more,’ and I said, ‘I like you!’ “So I put together a band from Nashville — these guys back up Kid Rock and lots of other people — and without a single rehearsal, I just told them which songs I wanted to do and they learned them. It just sounded natural — there is such a thing called chemistry. They don’t teach that anywhere — I mean, they do teach ‘chemistry’ but not the kind I’m talking about. It felt right and as soon as the videos went on YouTube and such, people were calling. This little GENE SIMMONS BAND never tried to be KISS… It was just a little bit of fun and stuff. Now all of a sudden, we’re headlining festivals in the Czech Republic, Canada, Germany… It’s crazy.”KISS played the final concert of its “End Of The Road” farewell tour on December 2, 2023 at Madison Square Garden in New York City.[embedded content][embedded content]On Sale Today at 10:00am! 🎸🔥Posted by West Herr Riviera Theatre on Friday, April 19, 2024