Former Kiss guitarist, Bruce Kulick, had a recent conversation with Artists On Record Starring ADIKA Live!, where he mentioned that he was not invited to Kiss’ final concert and also said that the fans “expected more of Kisstory” at their final show which took place at Madison Square Garden in New York City, and that did not happen.
About being invited to the Kiss final show, Kulick said:
“When the interviews started regarding the final 50 shows (manager Doc McGhee) was very clear when asked point blank by a podcaster, ‘What about Bruce Kulick? Do you think he could come up and play with the band on the final show? And he said, ‘Well, Kiss doesn’t jam. It’s not a jam band.’ And that’s outrageous because I wouldn’t jam with them.
”Of course, I’d know the song and we’d know what we’re doing and I’ve done it on the cruise (Kiss Kruise) three times. That’s not what he means. He means they don’t want anybody else up on stage with them. I have to know that, because how could he say something that is factually incorrect? You think I wanna go up there and have a slop fest? ‘Where do I plug in? What do I do?’ You see what I’m saying? ‘Yeah, but they’re not a jam band.’ […]
About the Kiss final show and the fact that fans did not experience the ”Kisstory”, Kulick said:
“That did not happen. And sadly, I really feel that it was a missed opportunity by the band. But that was their choice. They’re this machine that was out there doing the ‘End Of The Road’ tour. The last night was a big, big set up for their future.
”But the missed opportunity was not honoring and respecting Kisstory. And all I would have hoped for, and I’m hearing this from fans; this isn’t, ‘Oh, Bruce was in the band for 12 years.’ This is from fans.
”Why they couldn’t say or show a video montage featuring all those great eras of the band? How do you do an event like that and not mention Eric Carr or represent him? How do you not mention Ace (Frehley) and Peter (Criss)? That’s even bigger.
“Now we know there was all this drama, very public with Ace talking about (how he was never invited to take part in the final KISS show)… I have no facts about who of them, if (Ace and Peter) were ever contacted or they had a discussion. I have no clue.”
Bruce Kulick continued:
”They claimed they didn’t; they did. It doesn’t matter to me. All I can tell you is I was never contacted. That’s a fact. And that is nothing to lie about. But regardless, you can’t go out there and say, ‘Well, I would do it, but I’ve gotta get a quarter of a million dollars, like Ace said. And I’m just, like, ‘That’s not good optics for anybody.’ I know what he feels like. He feels like he should be compensated because he created the Spaceman with them.
“I could never put myself totally in Peter Criss’s and Ace Frehley’s shoes. I could never. Because they started this incredible band. Now, of course, they couldn’t do it without the four of them. We all know that. And we all know that Paul and Gene took it over, nurtured it, took care of it.
”When Gene was running off doing movies and everything else, Paul was steering the ship, and rightfully so, and that was the start of my era kind of, ’cause Gene got more into other things.”