On 16. December 1979, in Toledo, Peter Criss played his last show with the original Kiss before the MTV Unplugged special reunion in 1995. This was the tour end for the album “Dynasty”, which Peter Criss played only one song.
Peter Criss:
That night in Biloxi, I was throwing sticks out to the audience during our last song before the encores and, on a whim, I decided to hit Gene with one. I didn’t mean to hit him hard, but the thick end of the stick whacked him. He turned around and glared at me, but I just figured he was in his demonic state. When I got downstairs after the song and we were waiting to go back on, Gene came into the room and walked up to me and kicked me in the shin. And it hurt with those gigantic boots. I was in pain.
“You son of a bitch!” I screamed. “What was that all about?”
“Don’t ever throw a drumstick at me,” Gene said.
“Gene, it was an accident, man. I didn’t mean it,” I fudged. I certainly didn’t mean to hurt him.
We went back on for the encore and my shin was throbbing. I got furious. I was plotting during the song how I was going to get back at Gene. Should I whack him immediately or hit him in the back when we were going back for the second encore?
When the song was finished, I jumped off the drums and was the first one back into the room. I found one of Ace’s empty champagne bottles and broke it against the table. As soon as Gene walked into that room, I went after him with the broken bottle, but some of the crew intervened and dragged me away.
We managed to go back out and do the last encore. When we went back in the room after that song, Gene and I were glowering at each other.
“This is great,” Paul said. “Gene Simmons kicks the drummer of Kiss. Peter Criss kills Gene Simmons. Band over with, no more Kiss.” We begrudgingly shook each other’s hands, but I knew that was it. We had broken another cardinal rule of Kiss: You never hit each other. Sean had told us years ago that once you put your hands on one of your band members and physically attack him, it’s over. Ace and I had done that years before when we were just starting out, and we bonded and became closer after that incident. But now, with so many years between us, this was different, and there was no turning back. We finished the final two shows of the Dynasty tour without incident. But Kiss, as the world knew it, was over.
– “Makeup to breakup” by Peter Criss
KISS -12/16/79 Toledo, OH Newsclip from Rock N Roll Hell on Vimeo.
