Former KISS drummer Peter Criss recently opened up about the financial struggles that led to the band’s historic 1996 reunion tour. He shared candid details about the circumstances that brought the original lineup back together in a statement on Talkin’ Rock with Meltdown.
Criss discussed how both he and Ace Frehley were experiencing difficult times before the reunion. They were playing much smaller venues than they were accustomed to during their KISS heyday.
“We were on a tour, on our own tour, Ace Frehley and I. It was called the ‘Bad Boys Tour’. And so we were touring together. And it was hard times. We weren’t playing stadiums. We were playing, like, 500 seaters, and we were missing it — we were really missing the life,” Criss said. “And they [the then-lineup of KISS], too, weren’t doing great. They were playing these conventions — they were playing KISS conventions — so they were also not in the position where they used to love to be in that position.”
The drummer revealed a pivotal moment during rehearsals when he sensed Gene Simmons’ enthusiasm for the financial potential of a reunion.
“And so we got together and rehearsed. I looked at Gene’s [Simmons, KISS bassist/vocalist] eyes, and all I saw was ‘ka-ching, ka-ching, ka-ching’ rolling around in his eyeballs, when I did ‘Hard Look Woman’, and I went, ‘I got a vibe here,'” he continued.
Criss also described the fan reaction during the MTV Unplugged taping that served as a catalyst for the reunion tour.
“And I remember the funny thing is when we were [playing at the ‘MTV Unplugged’ event], [fans] were booing [then-KISS drummer] Eric [Singer] and [then-KISS guitarist] Bruce [Kulick]. And Ace was, like, ‘Ah, shut up. They’re part of the family.’ And the fans, all of sudden, didn’t want them guys; they wanted the [original] band back,” he said.
The official reunion offer came shortly after. Manager Doc McGhee presented an irresistible proposition.
“And then two weeks later I was on tour with my band in Canada somewhere, and I got a call from [KISS’s longtime manager] Doc McGhee, and he said, ‘We wanna put the [original] band back. We wanna go back out on a reunion tour. I already know for a fact you already sold out two years, and it’s gonna be around the world twice. [You’ll travel in a] jet, all the perks, all the good stuff.’ And I said, ‘You’re kidding me,'” Criss recalled.
The drummer emphasized the extensive preparation required to return to the KISS stage after 17 years away from the band.
“So I had to work hard. I had to relearn all the KISS stuff that I hadn’t played in 17 years. I would get up in the morning and go to the gym. We took it real serious. Then we’d go to rehearsal. And then I’d go home and watch old KISS movies, like back-in-the-day stuff to relearn kind of the movements and the way we were on stage. So it was a lot of work, man,” he said.
Criss described the excitement surrounding the reunion announcement and the tour’s success.
“We looked the same. It looked like we were ageless. We still looked like [we were] in our twenties. And we just looked at one another and said, ‘This is gonna be so good.’ And we got on the Intrepid, and there was a million photographers from all over the world snapping pictures. And we just knew we were gonna be on the ride of our life. We knew it was just gonna be great,” he said.
The reunion lasted eight years before internal tensions led to another departure.
“And then I stayed with them for another eight years. And then it again got crazy, as it always does in bands — sometimes you can’t change the spots on a leopard, especially with certain members of the band — and so Ace and I kind of ducked out again and said, ‘I just don’t want a part of this anymore.’ But for those eight years with the ‘Psycho Circus’ tour and the other stuff and all, it was good. It was good. It was [KISS being] back in stadiums,” Criss concluded.
Criss’s instincts about the financial potential of the reunion proved remarkably accurate. The tour would go on to become one of the most successful concert events in rock history.
UPI Archives reported that the 1996 KISS reunion tour was the highest-grossing concert event of that year in North America. The tour generated $43.6 million in ticket sales across 75 cities. 1.2 million fans attended the shows featuring the band’s founding members in full makeup.
The massive scale of the tour extended far beyond North America. Deseret News documented that the reunion tour ran for nine months from June 1996 to March 1997. It spanned 192 concerts across three continents and grossed over $200 million in total revenue. This significantly outpaced other major touring acts that year. Country star Garth Brooks came in second with $34.5 million in gross ticket sales, despite selling 1.9 million tickets at approximately 50 percent cheaper prices than KISS.
However, the financial success came with complications for some band members. YouTube documentation revealed that while the tour was structured to provide members with a 25% share, guitarist Ace Frehley reported receiving only 3% of profits. His compensation was limited to concert tickets and album sales. Other revenue sources—particularly merchandise, which was the biggest revenue source for rock tours—were controlled differently.
The reunion tour’s unprecedented success validated Gene Simmons’ business instincts that Criss had observed during those early rehearsals. It transformed what began as a nostalgic experiment into a financial juggernaut that would define the band’s legacy for years to come.
