KISS Pause Concert Due To Gene Simmons Illness

Bruce Henne | 04-13-2023

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(hennemusic) KISS paused an April 12 concert performance in Manaus, Brazil after bassist Gene Simmons fell ill onstage early in the show. During the opening night of the South American leg of the group's End Of The Road farewell tour - according to a report by G1 - Simmons asked stage assistants to bring him a chair, and he played some of the bass parts to "Say Yeah" sitting down, after which he was attended to by the band's crew.

"We're gonna have to stop," Paul Stanley told the crowd. "You know how much we love Gene, and he's obviously sick. And we're gonna have to stop to take care of him, 'cause we love him, right?" The singer then rallied fans to chant "Gene", before adding, "all right, we'll try to see you all a little bit later."

Simmons was taken backstage and treated before the group returned to the stage a few minutes later, with the bassist greeting the audience in Portuguese: "Manaus, all right!", he said, adding, "Thank you."

According to the National Institute of Meteorology (INMET), at the time of the show, the temperature in Manaus was between 26.9°C and 27°C.

Read Gene's status update and view videos from the show here.