Gene Simmons to make solo concert appearance at Arcada
By Kathy Cichon / The Beacon-News
Gene Simmons is not the type of guy who goes on holiday.
“I don’t understand vacations,” he said. “While they’re alive people take time off from living? Doing stuff? I don’t know what happens. So I don’t do vacation. You have lots of time for vacation when you die.”
So while KISS’s tour schedule has a lull until July, the rock band’s bass player and co-lead singer decided to hit the road on his own. Formed in early 2017, Gene Simmons Band will perform at 7:30 p.m. May 3 at the Arcada Theatre in St. Charles.
“What I want to do is what KISS doesn’t do and can’t do. Which is really to have fun and not worry about it all. In a big band like KISS, which has been around a long time, the blessing is the curse,” Simmons said. “Most of the people that come hear the band want to hear the hits … KISS is like that. You want to please as many people as possible by giving them ‘Love Gun’ and ‘Shout It Out Loud’ and ‘Rock and Roll All Nite.’”
With the Gene Simmons Band, the goal is to reach out to the fanatics in the audience who want to hear obscure stuff, he said.
“And that’s exactly what we’re going to do. We’ll give you ‘Rock and Roll All Night.’ We’ll give you that. But I can play stuff off of my solo record or do Little Richard’s ‘Long Tall Sally’ or do Beatles songs,” Simmons said. “But don’t kid yourself. This is not a cover band. We’re going to be doing ‘She’s So European’ off of the ‘Unmasked’ record. We had an ’82 album called ‘The Elder.’ My solo album from ’78. The songs are going to go deep into the vaults and bring out stuff that maybe the fans haven’t heard before, and some KISS has never done.”
Along with hearing some of those rarely played songs, some fans might just get the chance to jam with the band.
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Gene Simmons Band with guest Teeze.
When: 7:30 p.m. May 3
Where: The Arcada Theatre, 105 E. Main St., St. Charles
Tickets: $69-$175
Information: 630-962-7000; www.arcadalive.com
