Jen Rosenstein; Jay GilbertThe eighth annual KISS Kruise kicked off with a bang on Wednesday, as original lead guitarist Ace Frehley joined his old band’s current lineup to play four songs during the group’s acoustic set, Rolling Stone reports.
This marked the first time Frehley has performed with KISS in 17 years. The set included performances of KISS’ “Nothing to Lose” and “Rock and Roll All Nite,” a cover of The Rolling Stones‘ “2000 Man” — a song Ace sang on the 1979 KISS album Dynasty — and a rendition of Frehley’s 1978 solo hit, “New York Groove.”
During the set, Frehley told the band, “This is so great. Thank you guys for inviting me up.” Paul Stanley responded by saying, “Ace, all this couldn’t have happened if we hadn’t happened. We started this. So thank you for being here.”
Another former KISS guitarist, Bruce Kulick, also took part in the unplugged set. Both Frehley and Kulick are part of the KISS Kruise VIII lineup as solo artists.
You can check out fan-recorded video of the full reunion performance on YouTube.
In a recent interview with ABC Radio, Ace was asked if there was a chance that he’d be doing any reunion performances on the cruise. “Anything can happen on this cruise,” he said, “and I think the fans are expecting something special.”
Leading up to the KISS Kruise, Frehley opened for Gene Simmons and his solo band at several shows in Australia, and joined Simmons on stage a number of times. Gene also contributed his bass and songwriting talents to Ace’s recently released solo album, Spaceman.
As previously reported, KISS will kick off its End of the Road farewell world tour on January 31, 2019, in Vancouver, Canada. Tickets to the trek go on sale today.
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