Gene Simmons Solo 2026 Tour Dates

Kiss may have taken its final bow, but Gene Simmons clearly did not get the memo that he was supposed to slow down. The 76-year-old co-founder of the most merchandised band in rock history has just announced a fresh batch of summer solo dates for 2026, and he is bringing some serious '80s firepower along for the ride. Sebastian Bach, Lita Ford, and Quiet Riot will rotate through as support acts on a run of California and Nevada shows this July, turning what could have been a routine solo outing into something resembling a hard rock fever dream pulled straight from the Sunset Strip circa 1987.

The newly announced dates, revealed at the tail end of March, slot into an already active year for the Gene Simmons Band. Three shows will hit Northern California and the Nevada border in rapid succession: Fresno's Save Mart Center on July 17, Ironstone Amphitheatre in the Gold Country town of Murphys on July 18, and the Tahoe Blue Event Center in Stateline on July 19. Bach, Ford, and Quiet Riot will share the bill on the first two nights, with Ford and Bach splitting support duties at Tahoe.

Those three dates join a handful of previously confirmed gigs that round out Simmons' 2026 calendar. He will play the Fantasy Springs Resort Casino in Indio on June 13 and the Alameda County Fair in Pleasanton on June 19 before the July blitz. And if you are the type who likes your rock and roll served poolside with a rum drink, there is also a residency slot at The Sands 2026 in Cancun, running October 20 through 25.

The full 2026 tour itinerary as it currently stands:

June 13 / Indio, CA / Fantasy Springs Resort Casino

June 19 / Pleasanton, CA / Alameda County Fair

July 17 / Fresno, CA / Save Mart Center (with Sebastian Bach, Lita Ford, Quiet Riot)

July 18 / Murphys, CA / Ironstone Amphitheatre (with Sebastian Bach, Lita Ford, Quiet Riot)

July 19 / Stateline, NV / Tahoe Blue Event Center (with Sebastian Bach, Lita Ford)

October 20-25 / Paradisus Cancun / The Sands 2026

Tickets for all announced dates are on sale now.

Simmons already had a busy start to 2026 before these summer dates hit the books. He kicked off the year with a run of casino shows in February, including a February 20 set at L'Auberge Casino Resort in Lake Charles, Louisiana, that gave fans something they had never heard before. That night, the Gene Simmons Band broke out two Kiss songs written by the late Ace Frehley for the first time: “Strange Ways,” the deep cut off Frehley's 1978 solo album, and “Rocket Ride” from 1977's Love Gun. It was a small but significant gesture from a guy who spent decades publicly sparring with his former bandmate before Frehley's passing, and the moment did not go unnoticed by the Kiss faithful.

A week later, Simmons and his band boarded Royal Caribbean's Liberty of the Seas for Rock Legends Cruise XIII, which sailed February 22 through 27. Fan-filmed footage from the February 26 pool deck performance quickly made the rounds online, showing Simmons barking through Kiss classics under open skies while sunburned boomers lost their minds between the waterslides and the buffet line. Say what you will about the cruise circuit, but those gigs have become an institution in classic rock, and Simmons looked right at home commanding the deck.

The Gene Simmons Band lineup backing him through all of this is no joke, either. Guitarist Jason Walker and guitarist Brent Woods flank Simmons on either side, with powerhouse drummer Brian Tichy holding down the low end. All three players also sing, giving the band the vocal firepower to pull off even the most harmony-heavy Kiss material without leaning on backing tracks. It is a lean four-piece that plays bigger than its headcount.

The choice of support acts for the July dates tells you something about the lane Simmons is carving out with these solo runs. Sebastian Bach, the former Skid Row frontman who is himself booked solid through October with his own shows and a Twisted Sister run that picked up after Dee Snider had to step away from the band's reunion due to health issues, brings the big voice and the bigger hair. Lita Ford brings the riffs and the legacy of being one of the few women who clawed her way to the top of the '80s metal heap. And Quiet Riot, still carrying the torch after the losses of Kevin DuBrow and Frankie Banali, remain one of those bands that simply refuses to quit. Pair all of that with the guy who breathed fire and spit blood for five decades, and you have a summer night that practically sells itself.

Gene Simmons has never been shy about saying that rock and roll is a business. But nights like these are not about the business. They are about a guy who still wants to strap on the bass, step into the lights, and prove that the God of Thunder did not hang it up when Kiss left the stage. Not even close.