A combination of high heat and humidity are being blamed for a scary situation during last night’s Kiss concert in Manaus, Brazil, after bassist and casket peddler Gene Simmons reportedly felt ill and needed to play the rest of the show sitting down.
According to G1, the band was in the middle of playing “Say Yeah” when Simmons was heard calling out to the road crew and asking for a chair. From that point on, he sat down and played out the rest of the show. Paul Stanley then told the crowd that Simmons wasn’t feeling well and that they needed to take a short break that lasted for several minutes, calling for the crowd to “give Gene a really loud ‘Gene’.” Eventually, the band was able to continue the show, albeit with Simmons remaining seated throughout.
Earlier today, the Demon took to Twitter to let fans know that he was alright and explained what forced him to have to take it easy for the rest of the set.
“Ok, kids. Not a big deal. Thanks for your kind wishes. Last night we played Amazon jungle Stadium/Brazil. Humidity and temperature were sky high. I was dehydrated and was forced to sit for a song. We got back on stage in 5 minutes & finished the show.”
As we all know, Kiss shows tend to have a lot of pyrotechnics and some light choreography mixed in. Given the fact that the youngest member of the band is 62, it’s amazing this sort of thing doesn’t happen more often. Still, Simmons is a 73 year old man at this point, so it’s only natural that those conditions would bring him down.
It’s real easy to shit on Kiss here on MetalSucks, but we’re glad to hear Simmons is alright. Just like Ozzy and other old rock and metal statesmen, we wish them all the best as they finish out their “final” tour.