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Behind the scenes of the KISS farewell tour

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Somewhere in the skies above San Diego, the God of Thunder is eating a sugar cookie. Gene Simmons of KISS is snacking, out of costume, and looking relaxed in the front rows of his band’s private jet, but he’s begun to notice the hills coming awfully close outside his window.

Less than an hour ago, this Gulfstream jet took off like a rocket from Van Nuys Airport, with a former F-14 fighter pilot in the cockpit and a flight attendant named Kate in a black KISS uniform. Their destination is now just minutes away, and the entire band is onboard, ready for the night’s two hours of vintage rock hits and fireballs shaped like mushroom clouds.

It will be the fifth stop on the KISS End of the Road tour , near the very beginning of a two-year victory lap for the flamboyant hard rock quartet, which emerged 47 years ago as pop culture champions in platform boots and kabuki makeup. But right now, this plane is stuck circling San Diego, as flight controllers keep the air clear for a military jet pilot who lost his canopy.

“Wow. He’s OK, right?” asks Simmons, dressed entirely in black, wearing a cap with his personal moneybags logo. He’s the singer-bassist-co-founder of KISS , known to fans as the Demon, the God of Thunder and Dr. Love, notorious for decades of spitting (fake) blood and (real) fire at concerts.

A capacity crowd of 10,489 awaits them at Viejas Arena, and most of the shows are expected to be sell-outs. (The tour lands Saturday at the Forum.)

“What is that thing that connects to the fans and the band? It’s not just songs,” says Simmons, who turns 70 this summer. “It’s sort of a gathering of the tribes, because it is culture. There’s no reason to put KISS tattoos on your body and to name your children after our songs. There’s this other much bigger idea that hovers above the band and the fans. There’s some connection to your life.”

In back of the jet is singer-guitarist Paul Stanley, his partner in the music and business of KISS, chatting with actor-comic George Lopez, close friend and leading contender for the title of Super-fan No. 1. Stanley wears a stylish flat-brim cowboy hat given to him by Lopez, who will be on the jet for many dates before this tour is done.

“About 25 years ago when we first were approached with the idea of having a plane, we were totally against it because we thought that it was excessive and symptomatic of everything we didn’t want to do or be,” says Stanley, 67, a surprising statement, perhaps, from someone who will soon be flying above an arena crowd on a zip-line. “But it allows you to do more shows; you actually work harder, but the grind is easier.”

The tour is booked through the year across the U.S., Europe and Australia, with more dates to be added, including the first-ever KISS concert in Israel, where Simmons was born.

Drummer Eric Singer, 60, on the plane with an octopus medallion over his chest, says: “I want to enjoy every show, every gig, every day that we do. I want to enjoy all of these moments as they happen. Because when it’s over, it’s over.”

Simmons holds up his cell phone to show a full screen of outgoing messages about the show’s effects, sound, timing. A few days ago, lead guitarist Tommy Thayer suggested they switch out the shock bombs for fiery mushroom-shaped plumages during the opening moments of “Deuce.”

“At the first show we had some problems onstage,” Simmons says. “The fans didn’t know anything. They just went, ‘Wow!’ ”

Production manager for the tour is Robert Long, who began as Stanley’s guitar roadie in the mid-’90s. Now 47, he’s been with KISS since, one of only two crew members who have been with the band a quarter century. His company also designed the stage production, shaping the lighting and effects for each tune: creating “a Fourth of July party” of flash for “Rock and Roll All Nite,” an explosion of flames for the darker “War Machine.”

While the band travels by jet, the End of the Road tour rolls on 17 trucks, about 40 percent larger than past arena tours. It also dwarfs anything built during the legendary KISS extravaganzas of the 1970s, as Long discovered in 1999 when resurrecting the old stage and special effects for the period film “Detroit Rock City.”

“We recreated a ’77 stage from scratch at the same measurements and put it in an arena, and it was the smallest thing,” recalls Long, who has also worked with Mötley Crüe. “It was comical by comparison. Everything was smaller back then. Everybody was discovering what you could do in this business.”

During the show, Long will be on the headset helping to call cues for lighting, pyro and hydraulics, along with the stage manager. Other crew members have been with KISS for 10 years or more, but none are peers from the band’s fabulous first decade.

“Let’s be frank about it: The idea of being a 70-year-old member of a road crew for most people is not what they would aspire to,” says Stanley. “I’m still in touch with people who have moved on to different times in their life. That’s a choice you make and a smart one. I can’t imagine somebody 40 years later still wanting to be tuning my guitars or climbing that scaffolding.”

To be Superman with a guitar doesn’t suck.

— KISS guitarist Paul Stanley

The singer has weathered his own physical abuse through years of touring and multiple surgical repairs to his rotator cuffs and both knees as well as a hip replacement. At the concert tonight, Stanley will fly along a zip-line above the crowd during “Love Gun,” shouting “I’m comin’ to see ya!” In concert, he says, the stunt is easy. Rehearsal is different.

“I’m not really fond of it,” he says of being airborne in an empty arena. “With an audience it has an air of invincibility, and that’s exhilarating. To be Superman with a guitar doesn’t suck.”

In the background, as always for the last 17 years, is a nostalgic contingent of fans, bloggers and radio hosts who call for a reunion of the original quartet that conquered the ’70s, including guitarist Ace Frehley and drummer Peter Criss. In recent years, Frehley, who quit in 2002, had seemingly reconciled with Simmons and Stanley, who guested on some of his recent solo albums.

In 2000, KISS embarked on a farewell tour, four years after the original quartet reunited and returned to wearing their iconic makeup to renewed success. That long goodbye kept getting extended, and by 2003, both Criss and Frehley were gone. KISS chose to continue with new members wearing the face paint. “We thought we couldn’t exist without Ace and Peter,” says Simmons, “and were wrong .”

After the latest farewell tour was announced, Frehley very publicly lobbied to return as a full member. Stanley now says that door was never open. When Simmons remarked that Frehley’s past problems with drugs and alcohol remained an issue, the guitarist fired back that questioning his 12 years of sobriety was personally damaging. “The gloves are off!” he wrote online, charging Simmons with groping his wife at an event at Capitol Records.

“I’m not gonna say anything in print other than I love Ace and Peter and I thank them forever — they’re every bit as important as Paul and myself for launching the band,” Simmons says. “I’m not going to make any guesses of why the emotions are so volatile, but it’s happened before.”

At 57, Thayer is the youngest member of KISS. As a kid growing up in Portland, Ore., Thayer first saw KISS in 1975 at the Paramount Theatre. His lasting memories from the show are of flames surrounding the band.

“KISS back then was considered to be a little more dangerous. It was a band that parents didn’t like,” Thayer remembers with a grin. “They felt that it might be a little satanic and were out there in leather and spitting up blood. As a 14-year-old kid, it was like, this is ... cool!”

On this final world tour, Thayer says, “There’s kind of an emotion to it. Even though we say every time this is the biggest and baddest tour, the preparation and the rehearsing is beyond anything I’ve done since I’ve been in KISS. It’s a cut above.”

Backstage at Viejas Arena, Lopez is in the hospitality room, waiting for his four rock star friends to complete the two-hour ritual of putting on makeup and costumes. His relationship with KISS goes back to his childhood in San Fernando, where he battled regularly with his grandfather over the KISS posters on his bedroom walls.

“At some point the saddest day is when you got to take them down,” Lopez recalls. “You realize you’re trying to bring a woman home, and you’re like 21 or 22, and you got KISS posters in your room? ‘Yeah, this is my little brother’s room.’ ”

By the ’90s, Lopez was a hardcore fan again, and eventually became close to the band, as he is to Eddie Van Halen and Carlos Santana. “I’m a frustrated guitar player,” admits Lopez, 57. “I don’t have the patience to learn a song all the way through, but I can play the beginnings of four good songs and make you think I can really play.”

When Simmons, Stanley, Singer and Thayer reemerge, they’re transformed into imposing alien beasts of black, white and silver and stand several inches taller than before. Their first stop is an intimate gathering of a half-dozen fans, each of whom paid $7,000 for the “Ultimate VIP Experience.”

Among the handful gathered are three adult brothers in matching black T-shirts displaying the 1982 album “Creatures of the Night.” Simmons hooks an arm around the neck of one, and Stanley begins polishing the shaved head of Lawrence Ray, 35, of Fort Worth, Texas, saying: “I see, I see — hair follicles!”

Singer taps out a beat against the back of Russell Ray, 36, of Washington, D.C. Eldest brother Jay Johnson, 46, invited the others to the San Diego concert, and his wife gifted them with the pricey VIP passes, including a private tour of the stage before the show. “Being with my brothers is worth it,” says Johnson, who’ll be watching the show from the pit with them. “We don’t get together that often, so this is awesome for that.”

The band steps into the next room and a less expensive meet-and-greet with a larger crowd of fans in line to take photos. A young man in Demon makeup rolls up in a wheelchair, poses with horns held high beside the band and gets a round of applause.

A woman in blue, Tracy Cullen, 55, a legal secretary from San Diego, throws her arms around Stanley and doesn’t let go. She’s carried around the room with Stanley’s every step. “That’s my mom,” says her son, Michael Cullen, 26, who notes later that she’s done this before.

The two-hour performance in San Diego is unrelenting sound and fury — 20 hits and fan-favorites, beginning with “Detroit Rock City,” with Simmons, Stanley and Thayer descending from the ceiling, charging through its ancient, exhilarating riff. They rock out and blow fire and interact with the crowd: “Let me hear ya!”

As fans exit, Long walks the stage to survey the damage: splashes of stage blood, guitar picks, drool. He notes a light fixture was singed by a fireball. The crew hurries to pack up for the next tour date, less than 24 hours away.

For the most intense fans, it’s an emotional time. After San Diego, Lopez sees them again in Anaheim and at the tiny Whisky on the Sunset Strip. Lopez hasn’t worn KISS makeup since he was a teenager on Halloween 1976 but knows he’ll have to put it on at least one more time before the tour is over.

“I’m going to do it and take a picture,” says Lopez, who hasn’t decided which character he’ll go out as. “Maybe I’ll go half-half. Just putting that on, I’ll be 14 years old again.”

♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦

When : 7:30 p.m. Saturday

Where: The Forum, 3900 W. Manchester Blvd., Inglewood

Tickets: $104.50-$470

Info: msg.com/the-forum

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Steve Appleford was a features editor for Times Community News and a contributor to the Los Angeles Times Calendar section.

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Kiss: private planes, accidental hashcakes, and one final spin around the globe

Kiss are on their farewell tour, so we joined the Gods Of Thunder on their private jet to look back over an explosive career

Iggy Pop claimed that he killed the 60s, but it turned out it was four semi-normal guys right off the streets of New York who really drove the final stake through heart of the peace-and-love decade nearly 46 years ago. 

Gene Simmons , a former elementary school teacher; Paul Stanley , a cab driver with a heart-shaped face; Peter Criss, a sometime butcher and itinerant drummer who studied under the mighty Gene Krupa; and Ace Frehley, a gang member-cum-liquor delivery man. They stormed out of a $40-a-month fourth-floor walk-up in New York’s Chinatown in their six-inch platforms and sweaty black leather looking like four beasts disgorged from the underworld, and unleashed an unholy and entirely masculine creed of sex, braggadocio, innuendo and conquest, all delivered at a screeching 110 decibels and addressing every young man’s fantasies. 

While the band’s message has changed over the years (they’ve become more family-friendly and forswear any cursing during the show), they still attract legions of foot soldiers into the Kiss Army – even now, when they’re calling it quits in one final tour they’ve dubbed the End Of The Road. (They’ve attempted to trademark the term with the US Patent office to prevent any other retiring bands from using it. Good luck with that.) So far, 44 shows have been played in North America, with another 25-date run beginning in August. The European leg begins next week, and there are plans to extend the tour until, probably, mid-2020. 

Back at the beginning, the band were fuelled by high ambition, an unrelenting will, a prodigious work ethic and only the most rudimentary of musical talents. But they not only changed the face of musical history by painting it in Stein’s Clown White, they also kicked off their own brand of revolution, putting music back in the hands of the ordinary people and turning it back into a populist manifesto, picking up where Grand Funk Railroad left off by knocking rock music off of its lofty perch, stripping it of its perfect hair, wrecked cool and tight velvet stovepipe pants.

Prior to Kiss, rock stars seemed to exist in some distant Valhalla, breathing saffron-scented air, buying and wrecking Aston Martins, imbibing rare substances worth a king’s ransom and rarely consorting with mere mortals unless they looked like supermodels or Beatle wives. In short, rock stars were not like the rest of us. 

But the members of Kiss were. They were a little unfinished. Outsiders, really, not the captains of the football team with a blonde cheerleader on their arm. Instead they more resembled the guy who sat next to you in Advanced Mathematics class. Meaning they were smart guys. Smart enough to know their history, and figuring out it was just about time for a sea change. 

“It was the mid-seventies, and people had had enough of the hippie, political thing and just wanted to have a good time,” Gene Simmons explained a few years ago. In the early days, Paul Stanley was fond of saying: “We are our fans.” While not exactly true, it was an appealing notion. These days he’s altered it a little, saying: “Our fans may not look like us but they can feel like us. I think that in our own way we’ve motivated people to, in their own way, be Kiss. Whether it’s to become a writer, whether it’s to become a country singer, whether it’s to become an attorney, you name it.”

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Maybe at the heart of it was that Kiss has always been more than just a band. It was a state of mind; a place where feeling alienated was venerated, where boys were men, girls were groupies and nobody ever had to turn down the volume. But there’s something compelling about the egalitarian ideal that anyone could do what Kiss did. Kiss weren’t obviously handsome, rich, cultured, preternaturally talented, advantaged or even art-school dropouts like their British counterparts, but the implied message was that, given the right circumstances and drive, anyone could become a rock star. 

But to be accurate, self-empowerment wasn’t really their early mission. That was to be bigger than the New York Dolls ! 

“Yes, that’s true,” says Simmons. “I remember Paul and I went to see the Dolls play at a local thing in New York City. It was right at the beginning; they came about six months before us. Paul and I were in the back of the hall, and we had our big hair, trying to look cool, but nobody knew us. 

“The Dolls came on stage and we said: ‘Wow, they look like real rock stars.’ Then they started playing, and we looked at each other and, so help me God, I might’ve said it to him or he might’ve said it to me: ‘We’ll kill ’em.’ You could see the lust and the blood running from our mouths as we vowed: ‘We’ll fucking destroy them.’ 

“They had the swagger and everything else, but they just couldn’t play or sing; no harmony, the guitar playing was deficient. But boy they looked good. So Kiss was designed consciously as: let’s put together the band we never saw on stage.” 

By doing that, they created a band that no one else had seen on stage either. If you don’t count mid-career Alice Cooper . 

“They’re a good band. All these guys need is a gimmick,” Cooper commented dryly about Kiss in 1974. 

Kiss apparently took that comment to heart, and added more pyro, flash pots, fire-breathing and gushing blood. Frehley had a guitar that shot flames, and Stanley was one of the first artists to hurl himself into the audience – and damn the greasy face-paint slathering over everyone, which became a badge of honour for fans. 

Audiences got them, but critics rarely did. Rolling Stone named them the Hype Of The Year in 1975, and legions of reviewers complained that they were “derivative”, “prosaic”, “simplistic” and mostly a joke, a band that catered to the lowest common denominator. It wasn’t until 2014 that Kiss made it to the Rock And Roll Hall of Fame , and then only after fans were allowed to vote.

They were always geniuses at self-promotion. Simmons had quite a bit of practice at self-invention, having emigrated from Israel to New York as Chaim Witz at the age of eight. He became Gene Klein, and began the task of turning himself into an American kid. So fraught with psychic landmines was he that turning himself into the God Of Thunder wasn’t even a stretch. 

As for Stanley, he had no less gargantuan a task. “I was a fat, chubby, unpopular kid who disguised himself as a good-looking, cocky frontman in a band, and somehow turned into it,” says Stanley, who at 67 looks 20 years younger. “Hopefully we all find who we are and we become it.” 

That self-actualisation, inspirational stuff came later – probably about the time he wrote his book, A Life Exposed , in 2017 – but there was a flicker of it around the time the Kiss Army started swelling in 1979. An incipient fan club, it started as a grass-roots affair in January 1975 by two Kiss fans. They would identify themselves as the President and Field Marshal of the Kiss Army when they called their local radio station to request Kiss records. By the end of 1978, membership in the Kiss Army topped six figures, with merchandise revenues of $100 million a year. 

“We definitely tapped into something. And a lot of times we weren’t even aware of it, but we just kind of went with it,” Frehley admitted in 2014. “I always used to say when we were in our peak I felt like I was riding this roller-coaster and I was holding on for dear life. A lot of the things I did were just on instinct, whether it be my songwriting or how I dressed or things I did. Luckily I have good instincts.” 

But that wasn’t really true of Stanley and Simmons. They always had a plan for domination – world and otherwise – and stuck to it. Which is exactly why they are winging their way on a private jet to Glendale, Arizona, for the tenth stop on this final tour – and Frehley and Criss are not.

While a Kiss admirer, I wasn’t there at the beginning. And when I did come face to face with these nightmarish figures in wobbly platform heels, abundant chest hair and aggressive face paint, it was by sheer happenstance. 

After covering a David Essex record-release bash on the heels of his hit Rock On, I found myself in New York with a free night. Renowned Bowie photographer Leee Black Childers had invited me to a panel he was shooting for NARAS (the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences) and promised dinner afterwards. I said yes, although it wasn’t because I was intrigued that the panel was titled Superstar Or Superstud. It was just the free dinner. I was hoping for the Russian Tea Room. 

I was one of the first to arrive at Columbia Records’ Studio B. There were just a handful of people sitting on folded chairs in a small room that couldn’t have held more than 30 people comfortably, but most of the psychic space was already taken up by four looming creatures in fetish wear, looking like warlords from the underworld.

Criss wore a leather vest without anything under it, shivering in the windowless studio. Stanley was stripped to the waist, his chest hair curling menacingly, with a studded dog collar around his neck. Sitting next to him was Simmons, in more elaborate attire: a black leather jacket and pants with strategic holes cut out, and again a bare chest. Frehley was the only one fully covered up, in his futuristic spacesuit, his hair ratted out to there. 

At the time, it was impossible to know who was who; they had all switched their nameplates, except for Criss, who didn’t have one at all – a metaphor that would play out over the course of his tenure in the band. But on that chilly October night, Paul Stanley was Ace Frehley, Gene Simmons was Paul Stanley and Ace Frehley, impersonated Simmons with aplomb, aided no doubt by the large gin and tonic in a clear plastic cup before him, something Simmons, a lifetime tee-totaler, would never partake of.

Other participants on this forward-looking panel about sex and gender in rock included Danny Fields, a zeitgeist spotter who had discovered Iggy And The Stooges , signed The MC5 to Elektra Records and would go on to manage The Ramones ; Wayne/Jayne County, the first transgender rock artist, and part of the Warhol crowd; Jerry Brandt, manager of rock’s second transgender figure, the disturbing Jobriath; industry publicist Connie De Nave; and Richard Robinson, husband of celebrity wag Lisa Robinson and notable at the time for producing Lou Reed’s first solo album. 

What struck me that night wasn’t the all-industry star-power gathered in a small room, but that each time the panel mediator, DJ Alison Steele, asked something of the members of Kiss, their reply was: “It’s only rock and roll, but I like it,” no matter what the question. Every single time. They had the sheer bad-boy audacity to not only not do what was expected of them, but also to flaunt it in the faces of what was then the music-industry glitterati. It was chilling how they never broke character once, no matter how awkward and non-sequitur their canned answer was. These were monsters who oozed out a collective nightmare, and they were hell-bent on staying that way for the entire duration of the hourlong panel. 

Somewhere around the 20-minute mark, I knew I had to get them into the pages of Creem magazine, where I was a senior editor. I thought they fitted right into our rebellious, there-wasn’t-a-rule-we’d-obey, fuck-you-if-you-can’t-take-a-joke aesthetic.

It appeared I was the only one who thought that way. “They’re New York Dolls clones,” my fellow editor Lester Bangs said dismissively. “Comic-book trash,” spat Dave Marsh. “If you want those clowns in Creem , you’re the one who’ll have to write it,” warned features editor Ben Edmonds. “And it better be fucking good.” 

No matter the derision from my colleagues, I knew I was on to something. Recalling that old saw from Victor Hugo written 121 years before Kiss had ever picked up their first tube of lipstick – “There is nothing more powerful than an idea whose time has come” – I was sure that idea had arrived, and that it was wearing black leather.

That’s how I found myself a month later with a craft knife in my hand, sitting in front of a pile of photographs of Kiss in make-up and civilian clothes. In out-takes from the Dressed To Kill album cover, the band members were posed hiding their faces behind newspapers, piling into a phone booth in their suits and ties and then coming out in full regalia, emerging from a subway with fists flourished, performing Herculean tasks in which these four not-so-superheroes saved the world from bland music by sabotaging a John Denver concert. I not unexpectedly titled it ‘Kiss KOMIX’. With that knife, I carved out a dubious niche for myself as the unofficial Kiss Editor. 

Over the decades I have continued to monitor that long-standing beat, although I have to say that when I look back I find I miss the era when Kiss were dangerous, inscrutable, inappropriate and just badass. 

There was a mystique about the band in those days. Stanley used to say: “I think we get so many groupies because everyone wants to fuck their fantasy or their nightmare. Someone in leather and make-up fucking you must be pretty strange.” It makes one wonder how many times the band members engaged in coitus while suited up. 

“It was God Of Thunder , from Destroyer , that turned me on to rock’n’roll, because Gene Simmons sang it,” remembers Babes In Toyland’s Kat Bjelland. “It sounded heavy, mean and evil. Like his soul was being ripped out of his chest. It gave me the shivers.”

Those were the days when Kiss were never photographed out of make-up, and kept bandanas in their pockets to quickly cover their faces in case lurking photographers actually figured out who they were. 

In 1975 I slapped on my own Stein’s Clown White make-up, studded cuffs, black leotard, plastic-encased spider-belt buckle and seven-inch stilettoes, and strapped on a red Fender to perform with the band during Rock And Roll All Night in front of 5,000 fans and the members of Rush. Never mind that my guitar wasn’t plugged in, I still got to feel what it was like to be a member of Kiss – or, as I noted at the time, that I was one-fifth of a sadistic cheerleading squad (although Stanley swore I looked like Minnie Mouse!). I called the piece I Dreamed I Was On Stage With Kiss In My Maidenform Bra, after a long-running print ad that depicted women in their underwear waking up in unusual places. But certainly none were more unusual than on stage in Johnstown, Pennsylvania, with Paul, Gene, Ace and Peter. 

The next morning after the show, we all said our goodbyes and Simmons offhandedly said to me as I walked out: “Whenever you feel like putting on the make-up again, give us a call.”

Which is how I found myself 44 years later in their G-4 Gulfstream private plane on a late afternoon in February, the day before Valentine’s Day, sitting across from the God Of Thunder. 

“You still wearing your Maidenform bra?” Simmons greets me as I walk down the narrow carpeted aisle of the plane. He’s much more understated than years past, his face unlined, wearing a pair of black track pants, a long-sleeved denim shirt with three buttons undone, his trademark black wrap-around sunglasses that he wears day or night, a black oversized hoody, his immovable hair tied back and tucked up under a black baseball hat emblazoned with the money bag logo – which he holds the trademark for, along with his signature where the two ‘S’s in his name are money signs. Simmons has applied for more than 182 trademarks including ‘Nude Car Wash’, ‘Trophy Wife’, ‘Sextacy’ and simply ‘?enis’. Of all of the ones he’s tried to register, he’s succeeded 44 times. And yes, he did score ?enis! 

Even in a #MeToo era, Gene Simmons will always be Gene Simmons. Although recently he has had to pay the price, because the times are different and he realises that he needs to move with them. There are few public incidents, like the one in 2001 when he appeared on Terry Gross’s PBS Fresh Air radio show, telling the august radio host: “If you want to welcome me with open arms, I’m afraid you’re also going to have to welcome me with open legs.”

But in 2018 Simmons settled a lawsuit with a DJ in San Bernardino, California, who accused him of sexual misconduct during a November 2017 interview promoting Rock & Brews (a chain of restaurants Simmons and Stanley co-own), claiming he took her hand and kept depositing it on his knee, and peppered his answers with sexual innuendo. 

That came only weeks after Simmons was reportedly banished from appearing on Fox News owing to “inappropriate and sexist antics” during an office visit. In response to the ban, he issued the following statement: “While I believe that what is being reported is highly exaggerated and misleading, I am sincerely sorry that I unintentionally offended members of the Fox team during my visit.” 

“Yeah, these days I don’t even order room service if I’m by myself. I always need a witness,” reveals Simmons, shaking his head and appearing genuinely hurt. But not especially contrite. “ 

"I cleaned your pillowcase for you, Gene,” coos a leggy flight attendant named Kate who is poured into her tight black shirtwaist dress embellished with her name and a very subtle Kiss logo. “I couldn’t get the stain out,” she pouts. 

“Oh, that’s okay. We’re men,” replies Simmons, puffing out his chest a little. “He likes to be dirty. In more ways than one,” says Eric Singer, who overhears the flight attendant as he walks into the plane, settling in his seat. Drummer Singer has been the Cat Man in the band since 1991, after Peter Criss’s replacement, Eric Carr, died of cancer.

The innuendo about Simmons isn’t as pertinent as it used to be. A rock Lothario who claimed to have had sex with 4,987 women (and had the Polaroid photographs to prove it), Simmons has been married to Canadian actress Shannon Tweed since 2011 and has given up all that.

“My schmeckle has been in a jar on the mantle for the past eight years,” he jokes. “Seriously, not one other woman since I’ve been married,” he says, emphasising each word. 

Although it doesn’t prevent him from looking. 

“I like girls,” he says ruefully. Later, when a stunning blonde named Shana sidles up to him backstage at the venue, he shakes his head with exaggerated remorse, pointing to his wedding band and saying: “Too late.” 

“Is there anything I can get for you?” the fetching Kate asks Simmons as she reappears, balancing a small tray with an array of pastries and chocolate confections. 

“I think I’ll have the chocolate coffee cake,” he says. “I’ve always been a sucker for chocolate.” 

“I remember,” I add. “But that one time you got more than you bargained for,” referring to the time when I accompanied Simmons to a post-Kiss show bash the promoter had thrown for the band in ’74, after they broke attendance records previously held by Elvis Presley at Cobo Hall in Detroit. 

“You were there with him?” asks latter-day guitarist Tommy Thayer, who began with the Kiss organisation after his Portland-based band Black N Blue disbanded in 1995. “We’d heard that story a hundred times, but we never knew that there was a witness to the first time Gene got high!” 

“We weren’t even sure it was true!” adds Singer. 

“So what was it like?” demands Thayer. 

“‘Dazed and confused’ doesn’t even begin to cover it!” I say, laughing. 

“What does?” asks Singer, urging for more, like a kid pleading for a bedtime story. 

It was the promoter’s birthday as well as a party for Kiss, so there was a giant birthday cake. But after it was cut, waitresses made the rounds with plates of chocolate brownies. 

“Don’t even think of having any of those,” I cautioned Simmons. 

“Why not? I love brownies,” he replied, a little querulously. 

“I know you love brownies. But just don’t. They’re hash brownies.” 

“Hash brownies?” He looked bewildered, as if trying to figure out why anyone would want to defile chocolate with drugs.

Deciding to disregard anything I had to say, he took a fistful of the brownies and devoured them. Three big fat ones, dusted with powdered sugar. 

“It was six brownies,” Simmons chimes in. 

“It was three,” I replied. “One would have put you over the top.” 

And that’s where he remained. Once the THC reached his bloodstream, it was like being with ET tentatively discovering the wonders of planet Earth, complete with long fingers outstretched to touch ordinary objects. 

“Are my feet as big as I think they are?” “Does my head look funny? Is it really small?”“ Why are my hands so big?” “Are my teeth shiny?” he worried, running a black chipped nail up and down over his front teeth. 

After leaving the party, on the way to the car he came out with a steady stream of questions, the border between what he was thinking and saying out all but demolished. 

“I need milk!” he suddenly bellowed, I’m sure louder than he meant. The driver seemed alarmed, but pulled into the only store that was open in Detroit’s inner city. Which by no means made it safe. More than a little seedy, it was inhabited by winos, late-shift workers and ladies of the night. When we entered the place, Simmons said in a carefully articulated but booming voice: “May I have a glass of milk, please?” I remember the man behind the counter as if it were yesterday. “We don’t sell glasses of milk, son.” 

“I don’t remember that,” says Simmons. “Mostly what I remember was how proud I was of the size of my… er, manhood.” “Funny, I don’t recall that at all. But then I didn’t have any brownies.”

“I ’m not sure it’s hit me yet that this is the end,” Thayer says, after the plane is airborne. “After it all winds down, I bet that’s when fans will finally accept me,” he says laughing. “Or maybe miss me.” 

A genuinely nice man, Thayer is the bridge between the rock gods and mortal men. He started out a Kiss fan, cutting out photos of the band from rock magazines when he was 14, a skill that served him well when, after his previous band Black N Blue broke up, Simmons and Stanley asked him if he would consider being the photo editor for their 440-page, eight-and-a-half-pound behemoth photo book KissTORY , which was published in 1995. 

“The first time I ever saw Kiss was in the back pages of Circus magazine in 1974, and I thought they looked amazing,” he recalls. “I’d sit around with my friends and draw pictures of Kiss.” 

After KissTORY came out, the band kept Thayer on, promoting him to tour manager when the one they had quit. 

He re-taught Frehley and Criss their parts when the original band re-formed for the first reunion tour in 1996, and was on hand when the 2001 reunion tour fell apart. It was then that Simmons and Stanley asked him to become a permanent member of the band, much to his surprise. 

“When I’m on stage being the lead guitarist in Kiss, it’s a special place to be, because this is what every kid in the world dreams about doing and I’m the one that’s up there doing it,” says Thayer, at 57 the youngest member of Kiss.

"Tommy is so nice it reeks,” Eric Singer says, laughing. “Paul and Gene call him Switzerland, because he usually just takes the middle ground on things.” 

“That is what they call me,” Thayer says when I look sceptical. “Paul usually sits in the back of the plane and Gene sits in the front, and I’m always in the middle, and I’m the intermediary. Sometimes I think I’m the glue that holds things together.” He stops suddenly, as if he’d said too much. 

While Simmons and Stanley insist that they have never been on better terms, they still ride in separate SUVs en route from the plane to the venue, and when they line up for photos at the meet-and-greets with fans the two never stand next to each other. 

“I think Gene and I feel much closer now,” insists Stanley. “Well we weren’t always, of course. You know, ‘old too quick, wise too late.’ But there’s really very little that’s worth fighting about any more. There’s a whole lot to be happy about. If there ever was a war at times… ” he pauses a beat too long. “The war is over. Everything’s good. We won.” 

“When Paul and I met we recognised certain things that we had in common and other things that we didn’t,” Simmons says later. “He’s the brother I never had, and all those sorts of sound bites, but it’s kinda true. And I know it’s the same for him. What’s most different is we have slightly different points of views about stuff. I think I’m more infatuated with myself than Paul is,” he adds with a show of candour.

Stanley clip-clops out of his dressing room in his war paint, costume, heavy linked silver choker, truly magnificent mane of black hair and his heavy platform boots, picking his way around the tables of food to meet with David Butuk, Yvette Butuk and Ron Johnson, tonight’s Ultimate Fans from nearby Phoenix. For upwards of $6,500, fans can buy passes to meet their heroes, try on their regalia and chit-chat backstage with them. And now there’s a bittersweet aspect to the Ultimate Fan Experience, because this will be the final time Kiss will be in their city. 

Stanley walks up to the trio; at six-foot-eight in his platform boots he looms over them. “Without you, there’s no us,” he says, with such sincerity and conviction it’s hard to believe he’s said the same thing probably 10,000 times. Yet still it’s affecting. 

They pose for photos, Stanley wrapping a comradely arm around them, holding it there longer than he has to. He moves from that group to visit with a man whose son went to school with his son Evan, and then talks to a little girl who is eating a bowl of grapes and asks her for one. She complies, stretching a tentative hand towards Stanley’s scarlet mouth. 

“Where’s everybody else?” Stanley asks after a while, looking around for his bandmates. 

“Well, the first is the best!” he chortles, in a moment of transformation when you hear his indoor voice beginning to merge with his higher-pitched stage voice. “You got the meal, next you get the salad,” he says, and one immediately knows he’s talking about Simmons – primarily because none of the Ultimate Fans ever ask to try on Thayer or Singer’s boots or have personal photos taken with them. 

Simmons finally emerges from his dressing room in the bowels of the venue a much more harrowing presence than the other three. His costumes are more elaborate and nightmarish, the mammoth boots seemingly pulled from some Chinese warlord’s tomb, but his trademark topknot is not his own. 

“That is a tremendous-looking ponytail. It can’t be your own hair,” I say before I think better of it. 

“The answer is that the top half is an extension,” Simmons answers unabashedly. “The bottom half is me. And the reason for that is because I sweat like a pig. If it was just my hair, then it gets wet and falls down. It’s hair-sprayed a lot so it stands up. But about forty per cent of the topknot is fake.” 

“Just out of pure unabashed curiosity, since you answered that, when you meet someone can you tell they’re a Paul person, a Gene person, an Eric person or a Tommy person?” I ask Simmons after he’s posed with the three Ultimate Fans backstage. While not as touchy-feely or sincere as Stanley, he does make sure the Ultimate Fans have a memorable experience. 

“When I meet fans? Yes. They’re a certain body type and personality type. I’ll answer, but it’s horribly sexist: male or female?” 

“Both, of course.” I answer. 

“The big guys like me. The sort of guys who are more in touch with their feminine side, more stylish and so on, like Paul. It’s difficult to get a big football player who goes for Paul. I’ve noticed over the years they react to my sort of overtly heterosexual blah-blah-blah. In the past, people have thought that Paul was gay. And he’s okay with that. But don’t kid yourself, Paul isn’t gay. But he’s clearly comfortable wearing red lipstick and prancing around the stage or smacking his butt and all that. I’m not. Eric and Tommy get Kiss fans who appreciate them being in the band, but it’s less about personality. 

“As for females, the very pretty, model-y, attractive, thin, stylish women really like Paul. The very large-breasted, rounder ones love me. Some thinner ones, too, but mostly it’s the healthier women.”

“By the way, don’t I owe you one of my paintings?” Stanley says to me as he passes me in the hall. I wrote a piece on Stanley for Classic Rock in May 2017 , and he told me if he liked the story he’d send me a painting of his that I’d admired on the wall of his Beverly Hills home. I just thought he didn’t like the story. 

“I promise I’ll send it when we get back home. It was the Jester, right?” 

“Yes, the Jester. Do you have to like this story too before you send it?” I ask unnecessarily – since I already know the answer. 

“Yes.” 

An accomplished artist whose paintings sell for $10,000 or more, he’s currently finishing a self-portrait and paintings of his band members in make-up. He shows me a recent photo of one he’s finishing of Jimmy Page in the famous white satin zodiac suit he wore on stage during Led Zeppelin ’s 1975 tour. While he’s sent Page a few of his paintings over the years, beginning with a haunting portrait of Robert Johnson titled ‘Crossroads’, it’s unclear whether this one of Page will remain with Stanley or not. It’s impressionistic, yet captures the dark fire and even darker secrets in Page’s angular face. Stanley has an uncanny ability to paint the inner person, with an almost supernatural insight, elevating his paintings from mere portraits. Is it too simplistic to think that that comes from wearing all that make-up and those elaborate costumes for the past 45 years? 

“You do know we don’t call them costumes,” Thayer tells me with a short laugh, when I ask him about a blue stone embedded in the breastplate of his regalia. 

“Oh, sorry.” 

“Maybe they used to call them costumes,” he continues, warming to the subject. “But now we call them outfits. It feels more genuine that way or something. 

“The new outfit was a conglomeration of several people. I think it really makes a statement, almost like an Iron Man kind of look, especially during the guitar solo – all of a sudden there’s a beam of light coming out of the chest, a real superhero kind of vibe.” 

Which begs the question:, when did Kiss actually get that promotion, elevating them from antiheroes and sex villains to superheroes? 

“We’ve been able pretty much consistently to keep going for about forty-five years,” says Stanley. “The longer you can continue and the longer you can remain seemingly ageless, the more omnipotent you become. You take on the aura of superhero because you don’t age, and you continue to maintain the same point of view. When I go out in the crowd on that zip-line, there’s this sense of being invincible. And that feels good. And in the end, to be Superman with a guitar isn’t nothing.”

"You wanted the best! You got the best! The hottest band in the world!” booms the familiar introduction that’s begun every Kiss show since 1975. The sound reverberates through the thick concrete walls of the Gila River Arena, 43 years and 24 miles from the first time Kiss fired up their first flash-pot on an Arizona stage back in 1976. Nearly 19,000 of the Kiss faithful are gathered here as four metal discs that look more than a little like flying saucers are lowered from 150-foot rafters, depositing the quartet on their elaborate stage like invaders from a distant planet. Which in most ways they are. 

A Kiss show has been a spectacle since early days, but on this final run the pyro is bigger, the blood more excessive (these days it’s a mix of raw eggs, yogurt and food colouring), the effects more mind-boggling (it takes 17 trucks to haul the gear from city to city) the hydraulics more sophisticated. But through all the changes of equipment as well as band members, there is something reliably predictable about a Kiss show that transcends time, tastes and epochs, tapping into something almost religious, something taboo and tribal. 

“How ya all doin’?” Stanley asks in his stage voice, pitched half an octave above his normal speaking one. He minces across the stage, a swashbuckler in black, a beautiful creature with sinewy arms and only the smallest hint of a stomach under his cut-out glitter-and-fringe vest. He dives into the first familiar chords of Detroit Rock City , beginning a two-hour, 20-song victory lap through the band’s signature anthems, including such fan favourites as Shout It Out Loud , Deuce and Cold Gin . 

“We’re gonna play all kinds of stuff for you!” screeches Stanley. And he’s right. Little is ignored as the band careens and mugs through the 70s and 80s with Psycho Circus, War Machine, Lick It Up and the disco-tastic I Was Made For Loving You . They even sneak in the little-played but stellar Say Yeah from their nineteenth album, 2009’s Sonic Boom . 

Three-quarters of the way through the set, Stanley asks: “How about I come out and see ya?” He leads both sides of the auditorium in a bidding war to see where he should go, before snapping on a harness and zip-lining to a platform behind the sound desk to perform two songs facing the front of the stage. “This is a cool place to be,” he enthuses after the song finishes. “Because I can see Kiss!” 

What he could also see, if he looked more closely into the faces of the audience waving, pointing and jumping up and down to get his attention, are the tears streaking many of the made-up faces. Even if Stanley claims that this last run isn’t bittersweet, only sweet, most of these fan-faithful would disagree.

“Everything in life is a cycle,” says Eric Singer, on the plane back to Los Angeles after the show. “Naturally, you have to complete the circle. I remember Gene and I were sitting in Las Vegas looking at the stage set-up. Gene looked at me in a moment of reflection and said: ‘You know, it really is time.’ And he’s right. It’s a lot of hard work to be in Kiss. It takes a lot out of you. I’ll be sixty-one this year, Gene will be seventy, Paul is sixty-seven. Tommy will be fifty-eight. We’re not kids. All I can tell you right now is I won’t miss anything. Not at all.” 

“What will people miss when Kiss is gone?” Simmons asks rhetorically. “If you take it in the context of life as we know it on earth, there’s not a whole lot that’s important. You have brave men and women who put on uniforms and go to fight wars to protect freedom and die on the battlefield, and that’s a real thing. So in that context we’re not very important. Kiss is sort of like sugar. On one hand, sugar is fun, tastes good, and makes you happy. When you stop sugar, you’ll miss it. Maybe that’s what it is,” he says quietly. 

“But I do know we raised the bar in terms of what you can expect now from bands. I don’t care if you’re McCartney or the Stones, you’ll have fireworks at your shows. And that’s because of Kiss, not Air Supply. That’s our contribution. When that’s gone, that’s gone.”

After the final confetti has been shaken loose and all the make-up has been sponged off, and all the equipment and hydraulics have been put back into their cases and hauled out to the waiting trucks, we file through the cavernous door of the Arena to a convoy of cars waiting to take us back to the private airstrip where we’ll board the plane for the trip back to Los Angeles. By now it’s after midnight and officially St Valentine’s Day – a rather Kiss-tastic holiday. 

Taking advantage of the theme, the crew have decorated the cabin of the plane appropriately; small trays have been ornately set up with pristine white china plates, crystal goblets and snowy white tablecloths. An array of treats are scattered artfully over the tables: foil-wrapped chocolate truffles, little sugar hearts, a single red rose. Containers with the dinner we all ordered are now set in the middle of each tray. Additional rose petals are strewn across the trays, but in the turbulence during the flight some of them have fallen on to the plane’s carpeted floor. 

About to open up my container, I see Paul Stanley making his way toward the front of the plane. I figure he’s coming to sit down at one of the tables. But it turns out that’s not on his mind. 

“Pick up those petals!” he admonishes, frowning as he looks down at the rather tasteful grey flooring. “They’ll stain the carpet.” 

Taken aback, I think he’s kidding, and start to giggle, but clearly he is not. So I bend down to gather up the errant petals and catch Tommy Thayer’s eye and try very hard not to let the hint of a laugh escape. While Stanley’s demand is a little obsessive, like Captain Queeg and the strawberry incident from Caine’s Mutiny , it’s also very telling. 

“We’ve got this plane for a long time, why not keep it looking good,” he says. 

Which is pretty much what he has done with Kiss for the past 45 years, finally bringing them down for a landing sometime in 2020. 

“I think Paul is the driver of the car,” explains Tommy Thayer, strapped back in his seat after all the petals are picked up. 

“It’s like you all have to be in the same car. You all have to be going to the same destination. That’s how bands work if you’re going to maintain some level of sanity and success. But there’s only one steering wheel, and I don’t care if you’ve got a fucking eighteen-wheeler or however many people in your band, only one guy can drive the car. And that guy that mans that wheel has to really not only know how to drive that vehicle, he’s also got to know the road that he’s navigating. 

“Gene is the engine. Or maybe the gasoline,” Thayer continues. “No, I think Gene’s more the fuel,” he decides. “Gene is the fuel that helps drive that engine.” 

“Gas?”I offer, with a laugh. 

“I did not say that,” Thayer counters, a little tartly. “But the thing is, both of them got us where we are now. The only sad thing, now, when it’s almost over, is that people have stopped thinking of me as the new guy…” he says, staring out of the window into the darkness over the Arizona landscape 30,000 feet below…

The European leg of Kiss's farewell tour starts on May 27. Tickets are on sale now . This Classic Rock Kiss special is out now  

One of the first women to work in rock journalism, Jaan Uhelszki got her start alongside Lester Bangs, Ben Edmonds and Dave Marsh — considered the “dream team” of rock writing at Creem Magazine in the mid-1970s. Currently an Editor at Large at Relix, Uhelszki has published articles in NME, Mojo, Rolling Stone, USA Today, Classic Rock, Uncut and the San Francisco Chronicle. Her awards include Online Journalist of the Year and the National Feature Writer Award from the Music Journalist’s Association, and three Deems Taylor Awards. She is listed in Flavorwire’s 33 Women Music Critics You Need to Read and holds the dubious honour of being the only rock journalist who has ever performed in full costume and makeup with Kiss.

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Behind the scenes of the KISS farewell tour

By STEVE APPLEFORD /  LATIMES.com

Somewhere in the skies above San Diego, the God of Thunder is eating a sugar cookie. Gene Simmons of KISS is snacking, out of costume, and looking relaxed in the front rows of his band’s private jet, but he’s begun to notice the hills coming awfully close outside his window.

Less than an hour ago, this Gulfstream jet took off like a rocket from Van Nuys Airport, with a former F-14 fighter pilot in the cockpit and a flight attendant named Kate in a black KISS uniform. Their destination is now just minutes away, and the entire band is onboard, ready for the night’s two hours of vintage rock hits and fireballs shaped like mushroom clouds.

It will be the fifth stop on the KISS End of the Road tour, near the very beginning of a two-year victory lap for the flamboyant hard rock quartet, which emerged 47 years ago as pop culture champions in platform boots and kabuki makeup. But right now, this plane is stuck circling San Diego, as flight controllers keep the air clear for a military jet pilot who lost his canopy.

“Wow. He’s OK, right?” asks Simmons, dressed entirely in black, wearing a cap with his personal moneybags logo. He’s the singer-bassist-co-founder of KISS, known to fans as the Demon, the God of Thunder and Dr. Love, notorious for decades of spitting (fake) blood and (real) fire at concerts.

A capacity crowd of 10,489 awaits them at Viejas Arena, and most of the shows are expected to be sell-outs. (The tour lands Saturday at the Forum.)

“What is that thing that connects to the fans and the band? It’s not just songs,” says Simmons, who turns 70 this summer. “It’s sort of a gathering of the tribes, because it is culture. There’s no reason to put KISS tattoos on your body and to name your children after our songs. There’s this other much bigger idea that hovers above the band and the fans. There’s some connection to your life.”

In back of the jet is singer-guitarist Paul Stanley, his partner in the music and business of KISS, chatting with actor-comic George Lopez, close friend and leading contender for the title of Super-fan No. 1. Stanley wears a stylish flat-brim cowboy hat given to him by Lopez, who will be on the jet for many dates before this tour is done.

“About 25 years ago when we first were approached with the idea of having a plane, we were totally against it because we thought that it was excessive and symptomatic of everything we didn’t want to do or be,” says Stanley, 67, a surprising statement, perhaps, from someone who will soon be flying above an arena crowd on a zip-line. “But it allows you to do more shows; you actually work harder, but the grind is easier.”

The tour is booked through the year across the U.S., Europe and Australia, with more dates to be added, including the first-ever KISS concert in Israel, where Simmons was born.

Drummer Eric Singer, 60, on the plane with an octopus medallion over his chest, says: “I want to enjoy every show, every gig, every day that we do. I want to enjoy all of these moments as they happen. Because when it’s over, it’s over.”

Simmons holds up his cell phone to show a full screen of outgoing messages about the show’s effects, sound, timing. A few days ago, lead guitarist Tommy Thayer suggested they switch out the shock bombs for fiery mushroom-shaped plumages during the opening moments of “Deuce.”

“At the first show we had some problems onstage,” Simmons says. “The fans didn’t know anything. They just went, ‘Wow!’ ”

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KISS To Donate Two Seats To Join Band On Their Private Jet On 'End Of The Road' U.S. Tour

Legendary Rock And Roll Hall Of Famers KISS are donating a trip with the band onboard their private jet along with an experience at one of their final shows of the "End Of The Road" U.S. tour. Proceeds will benefit Children Of The Rainforest and its mission to protect our pristine natural lands and indigenous cultures. All fans that contribute to the cause will be automatically entered into a sweepstakes for a chance to win.

As KISS embarks on their final tour ever, the iconic quartet has partnered with digital fundraising platform Fandiem to award a lucky fan with the chance to join the band on their legendary private jet as they fly from their Indianapolis, Indiana date to their next show in Chicago, Illinois. The winners will be personally hosted by the band's renowned manager Doc McGhee .

These lucky fans will attend KISS 's last show ever in Indianapolis, Indiana on Saturday, November 25, 2023, where they'll enjoy the full VIP experience, including backstage access for a tour of the final stage setup, the opportunity to watch the show and pre-show soundcheck from the Pit area, take a photo with the band, and more.

After the show, the winner's party will continue as they join KISS and go wheels up aboard the band's private jet to Chicago for their concert on Monday, November 27, 2023.

And as bonus prizes for entering, anyone who donates $100 or more will receive a KISS "Shock Me" t-shirt. And every donation entry automatically receives 250 bonus entries on Fandiem towards the digital platform's next KISS fundraising sweepstakes — a KISS signed setlist from their final show at the Hollywood Bowl in Los Angeles, California and a surprise KISS -signed special item.

The fan-sourcing fundraising sweepstakes is running until November 15, 2023 exclusively on Fandiem and fans can "Donate To Win" at www.fandiem.com/kiss .

For as little as $25, participants can "Donate To Win" this prize, which includes:

* A private jet flight for two (2) with KISS on the legendary KISS private jet * Hang with KISS band members onboard their jet while you fly from their show in Indianapolis, Indiana to their Chicago, Illinois stop on the "End Of The Road" world tour * You and your guest will be personally hosted by KISS 's legendary manager Doc McGhee * Photo with KISS before they go on stage * Two (2) KISS Ultimate VIP Packages for the KISS : "End Of The Road" world tour at the Gainbridge Fieldhouse in Indianapolis, Indiana on Saturday, November 25, 2023, including: * Watch the KISS set from the Ultimate location...the Pit! You'll be in the crew area directly in front of the stage * You'll also be in the Pit for KISS 's four-song pre-show soundcheck and Q&A * Exclusive access to the final KISS stage with an opportunity to take photos with Gene Simmons , Paul Stanley , Tommy Thayer and Eric Singer 's instruments * One (1) signed, limited-edition KISS 2023 tour poster shipped directly to your house * Invitation to the KISS Army Captain's Lounge and more

The more fans donate the more chances they have to win – and the more they support the Children Of The Rainforest nonprofit.

About Fandiem : Fandiem is a digital contest fundraising platform that harnesses the power of the fan community to do good in the world. With their donation to a selected nonprofit, fans are entered to win once-in-a-lifetime experiences with their favorite artists, festivals, athletes, and creators. These are the opportunities that were previously available only to a select few but through Fandiem are awarded to the everyday fan at the heart of the community.

The Fandiem Foundation is a project of The Giving Back Fund , a national 501c3 organization that encourages and facilitates charitable giving. The Giving Back Fund grants donation proceeds to each campaign's partner nonprofit.

About Children Of The Rainforest : Children Of The Rainforest ( COTR ) is led by Isku Kua Yawanawa , the chief of New Hope Village in the Amazon Rainforest. COTR is on a mission to help Yawanawa save their language and protect 500,000 acres of pristine rainforest. COTR believes the most effective way to protect the Amazon is to strengthen Indigenous guardians who care for it. COTR funds and maximizes the impact of Isku Vakehuhu, a school dedicated to cultural reclamation and rainforest preservation. Because, we are all Children Of The Rainforest .

Win TWO seats on our PRIVATE KISS JET and join us as we travel to one of our fianl shows on the KISS: End of the Road World Tour! You and a guest could be flying on our private jet where you'll be personally hosted by the our manager Doc McGhee PLUS you'll get two Ultimate VIP package tickets to see us play one of our FINAL shows in Indianapolis on Nov. 25. Donate now to support @ChildrenoftheRainforestFB and indigenous communities in the Amazon rainforest. Donate To Win at: fandiem.com/kiss @winwithfandiem Posted by KISS on Monday, October 23, 2023

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Monday, May 10, 2010

• Kiss Tour Jet

3 comments:

Nice. I've seen it sitting round at Luton (UK) airport as of May, 12th. I only was dumb enough not to take a photo :( What I am asking myself is: Are they actually allowed to land this in Germany? That form of the band logo has been banned in Germany since the end of the 70s/beginning 80s, because the lightning double 'S' have too much of a similarity with a known Nazi logo ;) Cheers, WickedOne

That's a good point you have there. It might actually be a problem for them to use this in Germany. Interesting.

Hi In the photo here http://www.kissonfire.net/2009/04/kiss-and-private-jet-in-peru.html - who is the guy with the grey hair and beard 5 in from the left. I have seen him at a few gigs- and wondered who he was and what he did for kiss? Cheers Stu

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KISS' Tour Jet; Photos Available

May 10, 2010, 13 years ago

news rock hard kiss

KISSOnline reports:

Click image at left to enlarge photos.

The following is an excerpt from News Of The World's UK edition covering KISS' first gig in Scotland in almost 20 years. Tim Barr reporting:

He's in no imminent danger. A-Listed is a shade over 6ft but, even without his platform boots, America's most legendary rocker is a good few inches taller. And standing side by side with his towering presence, you get the distinct impression that, if anyone's going to be molested, it won't be him.

A hand the size of a bear's paw, and just as heavy, drops on A-Listed's shoulder. Suddenly, in the space of a stalled heartbeat, it snakes from shoulder to throat as he grabs A-Listed in a playful stranglehold.

"I'm 230lbs. I could never have joined The Rolling Stones," he grins. "They're HALF my size." The God Of Thunder, it turns out, has a wicked sense of humour.

A-Listed is backstage with Kiss as their brilliant Sonic Boom Tour rolls into Europe. Around us, the greatest rock'n'roll show of all-time is being assembled. More than a dozen massive artic trucks have disgorged tons of equipment as 44 permanent crew members - plus a squad of hired-in locals - rig the stage with hundreds of lights, pyrotechnics and special effects.

Zip-wires, hydraulics and a state-of-the- art video-screen system sit alongside amps, guitars and recording kit (so gig- goers can buy an instant record of the show on USB as they leave) because Kiss don't do things on the cheap. And they're determined that when the Sonic Boom Tour arrives at Glasgow's SECC tonight, on their first visit to Scotland in nearly two decades, the fans get their money's worth... and then some.

Go to this location for the complete article. Fan-filmed footage from the Glasgow show is available below.

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PODCAST | NOTABLE RELEASES | NEWS | REVIEWS | FEATURES

Kiss to donate two seats to join band on private jet during final tour.

Posted by Buddy Iahn | Oct 25, 2023

The experience will include a backstage photo with the band and upfront pit access for one of their final shows

Legendary band and Rock and Roll Hall of Famers Kiss are donating a trip with the band onboard their private jet along with an experience at one of their final shows of the End of the Road US Tour . Proceeds will benefit Children of the Rainforest and its mission to protect our pristine natural lands and indigenous cultures. All fans who contribute to the cause will be automatically entered into a sweepstakes for a chance to win.

As Kiss embarks on their final tour ever, the iconic quartet has partnered with digital fundraising platform Fandiem to award a lucky fan with the chance to join the band on their legendary private jet as they fly from their Indianapolis, Indiana date to their next show in Chicago, Illinois. The winners will be personally hosted by the band’s renowned manager Doc McGhee.

These lucky fans will attend Kiss’ last show ever in Indianapolis on Saturday, November 25th, where they’ll enjoy the full VIP experience, including backstage access for a tour of the final stage setup, the opportunity to watch the show and pre-show soundcheck from the Pit area, take a photo with the band, and more.

After the show, the winner’s party will continue as they join the band and go wheels up aboard their private jet to Chicago for their concert on Monday, November 27th.

As a bonus prize for entering, anyone who donates $100 or more will receive a Kiss “Shock Me” t-shirt. Every donation entry automatically receives 250 bonus entries on Fandiem towards the digital platform’s next Kiss fundraising sweepstakes – A Kiss-signed setlist from their final show at the Hollywood Bowl in Los Angeles, CA and a surprise Kiss-signed special item.

The fan-sourcing fundraising sweepstakes is running until November 15th, exclusively on Fandiem and fans can “Donate To Win” at Fandiem .

About The Author

Buddy Iahn founded The Music Universe when he decided to juxtapose his love of web design and music. As a lifelong drummer, he decided to take a hiatus from playing music to report it. The website began as a fun project in 2013 to one of the top independent news sites. Email: [email protected]

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KISS announces a final extension to its ‘End of the Road’ farewell tour

The legendary rock band Kiss has announced its final tour dates, taking a spin across North America and ending with a final bow in New York City’s Madison Square Garden. 

The “End of the Road Tour" lists 19 shows, kicking off Oct. 29 in Austin, Texas; hitting stops in California, Washington, Illinois and Canada; and closing with two final shows in New York City on Dec. 1 and 2. 

The iconic rockers, who kicked off their career in New York City, said ending the tour in Manhattan will bring their careers full circle. 

“KISS was born in New York City. On 23rd Street. Half a century ago. It will be a privilege and honor to finish touring at Madison Square Garden, 10 blocks and 50 years from where we first started,” the band said. 

The band’s lineup includes two original members, Paul Stanley and Gene Simmons, along with drummer Eric Singer and guitarist Tommy Thayer. Some of the band's biggest hits are “I Was Made for Lovin’ You,” “Rock and Roll All Nite,” “Detroit Rock City” and “Heaven’s on Fire”

Tickets go on presale March 6.

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KISS Donate Two Seats to Join the Band on their Private Jet on the End of the Road U.S. Tour for Charity

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Join KISS' Private Jet On ‘End Of The Road’ Tour

Rock and Roll Hall of Famers KISS are donating a trip with the band onboard their private jet along with an experience at one of their final shows of the “End of the Road” U.S. Tour.  Proceeds will benefit Children of the Rainforest and its mission to protect our pristine natural lands and indigenous cultures. All fans that contribute to the cause will be automatically entered into a sweepstakes for a chance to win.

As KISS embarks on their final tour ever, the iconic quartet has partnered with digital fundraising platform  Fandiem  to award a lucky fan with the chance to join the band on their legendary private jet as they fly from their Indianapolis, IN date to their next show in Chicago, IL. The winners will be personally hosted by the band’s renowned manager Doc McGhee.

These lucky fans will attend KISS’ last show ever in Indianapolis, IN on Saturday, November 25, 2023, where they’ll enjoy the full VIP experience, including backstage access for a tour of the final stage setup, the opportunity to watch the show and pre-show soundcheck from the Pit area, take a photo with the band, and more.

After the show, the winner’s party will continue as they join KISS and go wheels up  aboard the band’s private jet to Chicago for their concert on Monday, November 27, 2023.

And as bonus prizes for entering, anyone who donates $100 or more will receive a KISS “Shock Me” t-shirt. And every donation entry automatically receives 250 bonus entries on  Fandiem  towards the digital platform’s next KISS fundraising sweepstakes – A KISS signed setlist from their final show at the Hollywood Bowl in Los Angeles, CA and a surprise KISS-signed special item.

The fan-sourcing fundraising sweepstakes is running until November 15, 2023 exclusively on  Fandiem  and fans can “Donate To Win” at  fandiem.com/kiss .

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Published since 1977, Music Connection magazine is a monthly music trade publication catering to musicians, industry pro’s, and support services. Music Connection exists to serve artists and music people, to offer connections to the unconnected and to provide exclusive information that can help our readers take their music to the next level.

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KISS Offering Chance To Ride On Private Plane During Farewell Tour

Iconic rock band KISS are offering fans a chance to ride on their private jet, along with a backstage experience during their farewell tour.

Proceeds will benefit Children of the Rainforest and its mission to protect pristine natural lands and indigenous cultures. Fans can contribute $25 to the cause and will automatically enter into a sweepstakes that offers a chance to ride with the band. Fans can enter as many times as they like.

The winners will fly with the band to their show in Indianapolis, Indiana, on Saturday, November 25. They'll experience the soundcheck and the concert from the pit. Then after the show, the winners will get back on the jet with KISS to fly to the next show in Chicago. The winners will be personally hosted by the band's renowned manager Doc McGhee .

As a bonus prize for entering, anyone who donates $100 or more will receive a KISS "Shock Me" t-shirt.

For comments and feedback contact: editorial@rttnews.com

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By 97.1FM The Drive | October 25, 2023

Kiss charity sweepstakes includes ride on private jet with the band.

KISS  is getting closer to saying goodbye to the road, and if you haven’t already snagged tickets to one of their End of the Road tour shows, now’s your chance. 

The Rock & Roll Hall of Famers have just launched a new charity sweepstakes in which the winner and a guest will win a VIP experience to KISS’ Indianapolis concert on Saturday, November 25. The prize comes with access to the crew pit, where they’ll watch the show; a preshow soundcheck; and a Q&A. After the show, the winner will get to hang with the band as they fly on their legendary KISS private jet to their next show.

The winner will also be the personal guest of the band’s manager,  Doc McGhee , and get a photo with the band before they take the stage. They’ll also be able to take photos with the rockers’ instruments, get a signed KISS 2023 tour poster and have the opportunity to hang at the KISS Army Captain’s Lounge. 

To enter the contest, fans need to make a donation at fandiem.com; proceeds from the sweepstakes benefit Children of the Rainforest. More info can be found at  fandiem.com .

KISS’ End of the Road tour hits St. Louis, Missouri, on Wednesday, October 25. They say goodbye to the road for good with shows at New York’s Madison Square Garden, December 1 and 2. A complete list of dates can be found at  kissonline.com .

Copyright © 2023, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

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Kiss End of the Road World Tour

In 2019, legendary rockers Kiss set out to cap off their 45 year career with one final, spectacular world tour, lasting until 2021. The group turned to Lightwave’s team of expert laser designers to create laser visuals worthy of this historical moment in rock history.

“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,” Kiss said in a statement. “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.”

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Entertainment | Taylor Swift’s two private jets flew 178,000…

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Entertainment | father, two children identified as victims in fiery fatal pleasanton car crash, entertainment, entertainment | taylor swift’s two private jets flew 178,000 miles in 2023, her plane ‘stalker’ estimates, ‘jet lag is a choice,’ swift famously quipped after she did a quick round trip from the united states to japan and back, for the sole purpose of watching boyfriend travis kelce play in the super bowl.

Four months after Taylor Swift shrugged off concerns about the environmental harm caused by her private-plane use with the quip, “Jet lag is a choice,” she’s being called out again by one of her least favorite people for the some 178,000 miles her two jets flew in 2023 and the massive amount of CO2 they emitted in the process.

Jack Sweeney, the University of Florida college junior who’s become known as Swift’s plane “stalker,” has presented a video that visually shows how the pop star’s planes criss-crossed the United States and the globe an estimated 170 times in 2023, amassing a number of miles that is equivalent of flying around the earth seven times. Her planes also emitted 1,200 tons of CO2 in the process, 83 times the average American, according to Jack Sweeney.

Certainly, some of this travel was due to Swift traveling for her Eras Tour but, according to published accounts, she also took a number of plane trips for pleasure, including to see her NFL star boyfriend, Travis Kelce, play in games in different U.S. cities.

Sweeney’s video also quoted Swift as saying, “Jet lag is a choice.” That’s a comment she made after leaving her tour in Japan in February to make a quick trip to Las Vegas for the sole purpose of watching boyfriend Kelce and his Kansas City Chiefs defeat the San Francisco 49ers in the Super Bowl.

The fact that Sweeney posted the video shows that he hasn’t been deterred by a cease-and-desist letter sent by Swift’s lawyer earlier this year, threatening to “pursue any and all legal remedies” if he didn’t stop using his social media accounts to track the travels of the mega-star’s jets.

Before Sweeney’s run-in with Swift, he had become known for running accounts that post information about the takeoffs and landings of jet planes and helicopters owned by celebrities and billionaires, such as Swift and Elon Musk, as well as politicians, Russian oligarchs and other public figures, the Washington Post reported. His posts also have shared estimates of the carbon dioxide that these aircraft are emitting into the environment. The accounts use publicly available data from the Federal Aviation Administration, while volunteer hobbyists track the aircraft via the signals they broadcast, the Post also said.

Swift’s attorney alleged that Sweeney’s posts about the trips her jets make constituted “stalking and harassing behavior,” as the Washington Post reported.

“While this may be a game to you, or an avenue that you hope will earn you wealth or fame, it is a life-or-death matter for our client,” the letter read.

“Ms. Swift has dealt with stalkers and other individuals who wish her harm since she was a teenager,” the letter continued. “The reality has forced our Client to live her life in a constant state of fear for her personal safety.”

The Sun reported that Swift’s spokesperson went so far as to say that an Instagram account Sweeney dedicated to Swift’s jet travel had a “connection” to a man being arrested in January outside her townhouse in Manhattan.

But Sweeney told The Sun that he has not heard from Swift’s lawyers since their cease-and-desist letter to him went public.

“Nothing (has happened),” Sweeney said, according to The Sun. “I’m not really surprised.”

“It’s pretty much like with Elon, you know, they’ll say something to intimidate the smaller person,” Sweeney also said.

Sweeney is referring to his run-in with the Tesla CEO in 2002, sparking a debate about free speech and the public’s right to certain information on X, Musk’s own social media platform. Musk publicly slammed Sweeney for tracking his jet on X, accused him of publishing his “assassination coordinates” and offered Sweeney $5,000 to stop, but Sweeney refused, The Sun reported.

In an interview with the Post about his accounts tracking Swift, Sweeney also they offered “an incomplete sketch” of cities Swift might be visiting, similar to publicly available schedules for her concerts or NFL games she might attend. The accounts moreover don’t say whether Swift is actually traveling on an aircraft being tracked, or where she or other passengers go once the planes land.

Sweeney also isn’t the first person to call the “Anti-Hero” singer out for her excessive private-jet use. A 2022 report by Yard, a U.K.-based digital media marketing company, estimated that she was one of “the top 10 celebrity CO2 offenders.”

Even in 2022, when Swift was not on tour, she racked up a total of 170 flights between January and July of that year, Yard found. She spent an estimated 22,923 minutes in the air — or 15.9 days — with her total emissions amounting to 1,185 times more than the average person’s total annual emissions.

The week before Swift flew from Japan to Las Vegas for the Super Bowl, she also had been in Los Angeles for the Grammys. According to the Associated Press, this meant she needed to make a 19,400-mile round trip from the United States to Japan and back in less than a week. Two days after the game, she was back on a plane, flying another 8,000 miles from Las Vegas to Melbourne, Australia for the next stop on her tour.

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KISS-END OF THE ROAD AT CLIMATE PLEDGE ARENA

Rock n roll legends KISS announced the absolute final shows of their final tour, THE END OF THE ROAD TOUR. Produced by Live Nation, these final show dates will kick off this October and culminate in a massive show in the city where it all began for KISS.  Tour lands at Climate Pledge Arena Monday November 6th! Public on Sale Friday March 10th at Ticket Master

PURPLE KISS Announces Dates For 18-City 2024 Tour "BXX"

PURPLE KISS is heading abroad on tour!

On April 25 at midnight KST, PURPLE KISS officially announced their plans for their 2024 tour “BXX.”

This June, the group will kick off their tour in the United States, where they will perform in Oceanside on June 2, Las Vegas on June 5, Salt Lake City on June 7, Sacramento on June 10, San Jose on June 11, Portland on June 13, and Seattle on June 14.

PURPLE KISS will then head to Canada, where they will perform in Vancouver on June 16, Edmonton on June 18, Calgary on June 19, Regina on June 22, Winnipeg on June 24, Toronto on June 27, Montreal on June 29, Quebec City on June 30, and Halifax on July 2.

Finally, PURPLE KISS will return to Asia to perform in Japan, where they will hold concerts in Osaka and Kanagawa on July 17 and July 20 respectively.

Are you excited for PURPLE KISS’s tour?

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PURPLE KISS Reveals Extensive 18-City 2024 Tour ‘BXX’

T hat sounds like an exciting tour for PURPLE KISS! Touring in the United States will give them a chance to connect with international fans and showcase their talent on a global stage. We are sure that their performances will be unforgettable.

PURPLE KISS revealed their 2024 tour “BXX” on April 25 at midnight KST. The United States leg starts in Oceanside on June 2, followed by Las Vegas on June 5, Salt Lake City on June 7, Sacramento on June 10, San Jose on June 11, Portland on June 13, and Seattle on June 14.

After their U.S. tour, PURPLE KISS will continue to Canada, performing in Vancouver on June 16, Edmonton on June 18, Calgary on June 19, Regina on June 22, Winnipeg on June 24, Toronto on June 27, Montreal on June 29, Quebec City on June 30, and Halifax on July 2.

Following their North American leg, they’ll head to Japan for concerts in Osaka on July 17 and Kanagawa on July 20.

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Taylor Swift Has Given Fans a Lot. Is It Finally Too Much?

Swift has been inescapable over the last year. With the release of “The Tortured Poets Department,” her latest (very long) album, some seem to finally be feeling fatigued.

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By Matt Stevens and Shivani Gonzalez

Four new studio albums. Four rerecorded albums, too. A $1 billion oxygen-sucking world tour with a concert movie to match. And, of course, one very high-profile relationship that spilled over into the Super Bowl .

For some, the constant deluge that has peaked in the past year is starting to add up to a new (and previously unthinkable) feeling: Taylor Swift fatigue.

And it is a feeling that has only solidified online in the days following the release of “The Tortured Poets Department,” which morphed from a 16-song album into a 31-song, two-hour epic just hours after its release .

Many critics (including The New York Times’s own) have suggested that the album was overstuffed — simply not her best. And critiques of the music have now opened a sliver of space for a wider round of complaint unlike any Swift has faced over her prolific and world-conquering recent run.

“It’s almost like if you produce too much… too fast… in a brazen attempt to completely saturate and dominate a market rather than having something important or even halfway interesting to say… the art suffers!” Chris Murphy, a staff writer at Vanity Fair, posted on X .

Which is not to say nobody listened to the album; far from it. Spotify said “Poets,” which was released on Friday, became the most-streamed album in a single day with more than 300 million streams .

And of course, many of Swift’s most ardent fans, known as “Swifties,” loved her 11th album or, at least, have decided to air any reservations in private conversations. The first days of the album’s release have been greeted with the usual lyrical dissections for key allusions hidden within the songs, attention to every word that few other artists receive.

But others, including some self-identified Swift fans, have freely admitted frustration. Fans and critics alike have contended that Swift’s lyrics have become a tad verbose and that the tracks on this latest album — many of them breakup songs — sounded a whole lot like others she has already put out . The internet has also provided an almost unlimited supply of jokes about the length of the album .

Some admonished Swift for selling so many versions of “Poets” only to double its size after those orders were in, part of a cynically corporate rollout . (Care for the CD , vinyl or the Phantom Clear vinyl ?) The Daily Mail cobbled together what it deemed “The 10 WORST lyrics in Taylor Swift’s new album — ranked!”

For its part, Reductress , the satirical women’s magazine, offered a post titled “Woman Doing Her Best to Like New Taylor Swift Album Lest She Face the Consequences.”

Those who dare to publicly criticize Swift are acutely aware of the potential for backlash. Murphy, the Vanity Fair writer, made a dark joke about it . At least one X user who posted a lengthy thread eviscerating Swift, the album and its rollout took the post private after it got more than three million views. Paste Magazine opted not to put a byline on its harsh review of Swift’s album, citing safety concerns for the writer.

In an unusual twist, even Swift herself is widely viewed as admonishing her most militant defenders in one particular song on the new album, “But Daddy I Love Him.” Some contingents of Swift’s fanbase strongly disapproved of her brief relationship with Matty Healy of the 1975 and appear to now be bristling at the amount of record real estate Healy consumes on the latest album .

Weird, complicated times in Taylor land.

“It might be a tough few days for the fanbase,” Nathan Hubbard, a co-host of the Ringer podcast, “ Every Single Album ,” wrote in a social media thread about “Poets” on Friday . “They’ll hear some valid criticism they aren’t used to (if the critics dare), and for many they’ll have to reconcile their own truth that this isn’t their favorite, while still rightly celebrating it and supporting her.”

Indeed, grinding through the 31-song double album after midnight had felt like “a hostage situation,” Hubbard wrote.

On a new podcast episode, which was released over the weekend, Hubbard and his co-host, Nora Princiotti, were among those who pointed out that while the album may be imperfect, Swift simply may have needed to purge herself of the songs on “Poets” to process a turbulent time in her life.

Princiotti said she enjoyed much of the album and was careful to stipulate that “Poets” did contain several “special songs.”

But she also allowed for some “tough love.”

“Musically, I do not really hear anything new,” she said, adding that Swift “could have done a little bit more self editing.”

“I don’t think the fact that this is a double-album that is more than two hours in length serves what’s good about it,” Princiotti said. “And I think that for the second album in a row, I’m still sort of left going, ‘OK, where do we go from here?’”

Princiotti ultimately graded “Poets” a “B.” And in the world of her podcast and universe of Taylor Swift, Princiotti acknowledged — that might have been an all-time low.

An earlier version of this article misstated the title of Taylor Swift’s new album. It is “The Tortured Poets Department,” not “The Tortured Poets Society.”

How we handle corrections

Matt Stevens writes about arts and culture news for The Times. More about Matt Stevens

Shivani Gonzalez is a news assistant at The Times who writes a weekly TV column and contributes to a variety of sections. More about Shivani Gonzalez

Inside the World of Taylor Swift

A Triumph at the Grammys: Taylor Swift made history  by winning her fourth album of the year at the 2024 edition of the awards, an event that saw women take many of the top awards .

‘The T ortured Poets Department’: Poets reacted to Swift’s new album name , weighing in on the pertinent question: What do the tortured poets think ?  

In the Public Eye: The budding romance between Swift and the football player Travis Kelce created a monocultural vortex that reached its apex  at the Super Bowl in Las Vegas. Ahead of kickoff, we revisited some key moments in their relationship .

Politics (Taylor’s Version): After months of anticipation, Swift made her first foray into the 2024 election for Super Tuesday with a bipartisan message on Instagram . The singer, who some believe has enough influence  to affect the result of the election , has yet to endorse a presidential candidate.

Conspiracy Theories: In recent months, conspiracy theories about Swift and her relationship with Kelce have proliferated , largely driven by supporters of former President Donald Trump . The pop star's fans are shaking them off .

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David Cameron under fire for hiring £42m luxury jet for central Asia tour

Foreign secretary’s use of Embraer Lineage 1000 follows £348,000 bill for James Cleverly’s eight-day trip in similar plane in 2023

David Cameron has been criticised for hiring a luxury jet worth an estimated £42m for a recent tour of central Asia.

The foreign secretary travelled on the Embraer Lineage 1000 for a five-day visit to Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan, Kazakhstan and Mongolia last week, the Mirror reported.

Union Aviation, the charter firm that operates the jet, said on its website that a sommelier helps pick the onboard wine selection and that it provides a food menu suitable for “the most demanding passengers”.

The plane’s other features include its own dining table, in addition to a separate relaxation zone with extra-long sofas.

The shadow attorney general, Emily Thornberry, posted on X: “I get that David Cameron may need to charter a plane when travelling to multiple countries in one week, but that does not justify spending hundreds of thousands of pounds at taxpayers’ expense to hire one of the most luxurious private jets on the market.”

I get that David Cameron may need to charter a plane when travelling to multiple countries in one week, but that does not justify spending hundreds of thousands of pounds at taxpayers' expense to hire one of the most luxurious private jets on the market. https://t.co/2Snbwhed8w pic.twitter.com/xexZZnjvEe — Emily Thornberry (@EmilyThornberry) April 28, 2024

Prior to Cameron’s tour, the government said the foreign secretary would use the visit to promote opportunities for British businesses and announce £50m of new funding to support the sovereignty and independence of states across the region.

A Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office spokesperson said: “The foreign secretary’s job requires him to travel abroad to pursue the UK’s interests. This was the most time effective way to do this in this instance. Value for money is taken into account in all travel decisions and costs are routinely published for transparency.”

Last year, Cameron’s predecessor James Cleverly was criticised for a bill of about €400,000 (£348,000) when he used the same type of plane for an eight-day tour of the Caribbean and Latin America.

Rishi Sunak has also been criticised for his fondness for short-distance air travel for journeys within the UK.

In February 2023 the prime minister travelled to London from Dorset by helicopter and flew back to south-west England by jet the next morning, Downing Street said.

The previous month, Sunak took domestic flights in RAF jets three times in 10 days . He took a 40-minute flight on a 14-seat aircraft to an event in Blackpool, Lancashire, where he took questions from the public. It came after flights to Scotland and Leeds.

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