Tommy Thayer: Kiss farewell tour is not a gimmick

(Image credit: Jen Rosenstein)

Earlier this year, Kiss announced they'd head out on tour across the world one final time.

The mammoth End Of The Road tour will kick off at the end of January, with close to 70 shows already booked across North America, Europe, the UK and Russia, with more expected to be announced in due course.

Many bands have headed out on their ‘final’ tours in the past, only to scrap those plans and keep going. But Kiss guitarist Tommy Thayer insists this it definitely the last chance fans will have to see the band.

The guitarist tells Russian website Tass.com: “Gene Simmons, Paul Stanley, Eric Singer and myself, we decided that while the band is still very good and we are doing the best shows in the history of the band, that we wanted to go out when we’re in top form and do a final tour. 

“It is not a gimmick, it is legitimate. This will be the final tour of Kiss. The shows in Moscow and St. Petersburg will be the last Kiss is going to play there.”

When Kiss announced their intentions to rock the world one last time, they issued a statement saying: “All that we have built and all that we have conquered over the past four decades could never have happened without the millions of people worldwide who've filled clubs, arenas and stadiums over those years. 

“This will be the ultimate celebration for those who've seen us and a last chance for those who haven't. 

"Kiss Army, we're saying goodbye on our final tour with our biggest show yet and we'll go out the same way we came in... unapologetic and unstoppable."

Find a list of all confirmed End Of The Road dates below.

Kiss End Of The Road 2019 North American tour dates
Jan 31: Vancouver Rogers Arena, BC
Feb 01: Portland Rose Garden Moda Center, OR
Feb 02: Tacoma Dome, WA
Feb 04: Spokane Arena, WA
Feb 07: San Diego Viejas Arena, CA
Feb 08: Fresno Save Mart Center, CA
Feb 09: Sacramento Golden 1 Center, CA
Feb 12: Anaheim Honda Center, CA
Feb 13: Glendale Gila River Arena, AZ
Feb 15: Las Vegas T-Mobile Arena, NV
Feb 16: Los Angeles The Forum, CA
Feb 19: Corpus Christi American Bank Center, TX
Feb 20: Dallas American Airlines Centre, TX
Feb 22: New Orleans Smoothie King Centre, LA
Feb 23: Memphis FedEx Forum, TN
Feb 26: Oklahoma City Chesapeake Energy Arena, OK
Feb 27: Kansas City Sprint Center, MO
Mar 01: Milwaukee Fiserv Forum, WI
Mar 02: Chicago United Centre, IL
Mar 04: Minneapolis Target Center, MN
Mar 06: Sioux Falls Denny Sanford Premier Center, SD
Mar 07: Omaha CenturyLink Center, NE
Mar 09: Grand Rapids Van Andel Arena, MI
Mar 10: Moline mark Of The Quad Cities, IL
Mar 12: Louisville KFC Yum! Center, KY
Mar 13: Detroit Little Caesars Arena, MI
Mar 16: Columbus Nationwide Arena, OH
Mar 17: Cleveland Quicken Loans Arena, OH
Mar 19: Montreal Bell Centre, QC
Mar 20: Toronto Scotiabank Arena, ON
Mar 22: Uniondale Nassau Veterans Memorial Coliseum, NY
Mar 23: Uncasville Mohegan Sun Arena, CT
Mar 26: Boston TD Garden, MA
Mar 27: New York Madison Square Garden, NY
Mar 29: Philadelphia Wells Fargo Center, PA
Mar 30: Pittsburgh PPG Paints Arena, PA
Apr 02: Quebec City Videotron Centre, QC
Apr 03: Ottawa Canadian Tire Centre, ON
Apr 06: Raleigh PNV Arena, NC
Apr 07: Atlanta Philips Arena, GA
Apr 09: Nashville Bridgestone Arena, TN
Apr 11: Tampa Amalie Arena, FL
Apr 12: Jacksonville Veterans Memorial Arena, FL
Apr 13: Birmingham BJCC, AL
Aug 06: Sunrise BB&T Center, FL
Aug 08: Charleston North Charleston Coliseum, NC
Aug 10: Charlotte PNC Music Pavilion, NC
Aug 11: Bristow Jiffy Lube Live, VA
Aug 13: Virginia Beach Veterans United Home Loans Amphitheater, VA
Aug 14: Newark Prudential Center, NJ
Aug16: Montreal Bell Centre, QC
Aug 17: Toronto Scotiabank Arena, ON 
Aug 20: Brooklyn Barclays Center, NY
Aug 21: HersheyPark Stadium, PA
Aug 23: Darien Center Darien Lake Amphitheater, NY 
Aug 24: Saratoga Springs Saratoga Performing Arts Center, NY 
Aug 27: Syracuse St. Joseph’s Health Amphitheater at Lakeview, NY
Aug 29: Cincinnati Riverbend Music Center, OH
Aug 31: Indianapolis Ruoff Home Mortgage Music Center, IN 
Sep 01: St. Louis Hollywood Casino Amphitheatre, MO
Sep 03: Des Moines Wells Fargo Arena, IA
Sep 05: Little Rock Verizon Arena, IN
Sep 07: Bossier City CenturyLink Center, LA
Sep 08: San Antonio AT&T Center, TX
Sep 09: Houston Toyota Center, TX
Sep 11: Albuquerque Isleta Amphitheater, NM
Sep 12: Denver Pepsi Center, CO 
Sep 14: Salt Lake City USANA Amphitheatre, UT 
Sep 16: Oakland Oracle Arena, CA

Kiss End Of The Road 2019 UK, European & Russian tour dates
May 27: Leipzig Messe, Germany
May 29: Vienna Stadthalle, Austria
May 31: Munich Konigsplatz, Germany
Jun 02: Essen Georg-Melches Stadium, Germany
Jun 04: Berlin Waldbuehne, Germany
Jun 05: Hannover Expo-Plaza, Germany
Jun 07: Solvesborg Sweden Rock Festival, Sweden
Jun 11: St Petersburg Ice Arena, Russia
Jun 13: Moscow Dynamo Stadium, Russia
Jun 16: Kiev NSA Olympic Stadium, Ukraine
Jun 18: Krakov Tauron Arena, Poland
Jun 25: Amsterdam Ziggo Dome, Netherlands
Jun 27: Oslo Tons Of Rock Festival, Norway
Jun 28: Trondheim Rocks Festival, Norway
Jul 02: Milan Ippodromo San Siro, Italy
Jul 04: Zurich Hallenstadion, Switzerland
Jul 06: Iffezheim Rennbahn, Germany
Jul 09: Birmingham Resorts World Arena, UK
Jul 11: London The O2, UK
Jul 12: Manchester Arena, UK
Jul 14: Newcastle Metro Radio Arena, UK
Jul 16: Glasgow SSE Hydro, UK

Scott Munro
Louder e-commerce editor

Scott has spent more than 30 years in newspapers, magazines and online as an editor, production editor, sub-editor, designer, writer and reviewer. Scott joined our news desk in the summer of 2014 before moving to the e-commerce team in 2020. Scott maintains Louder’s buyer’s guides, scouts out the best deals for music fans and reviews headphones, speakers, books and more. He's written more than 11,000 articles across Louder, Classic Rock, Metal Hammer and Prog and has previous written for publications including IGN, the Sunday Mirror, Daily Record and The Herald, covering everything from daily news and weekly features, to video games, travel and whisky. Scott's favourite bands are Fields Of The Nephilim, The Cure, New Model Army, All About Eve, The Mission, Cocteau Twins, Drab Majesty, Marillion and Rush.