KISS honored Ace Frehley in the band’s first performance since his death.
The rock group performed its three-day KISS Kruise: Landlocked event in Las Vegas over the weekend and paid tribute to the guitarist, who died Oct. 16 at age 74 after suffering a fall in his studio.
“Obviously, before we get going — and we’re going to have an awesome time — we just wanted to take a moment to think about somebody who was at the foundation of this band, and we’re talking about Ace,” frontman Paul Stanley told the crowd on Friday, as seen in a fan video from the concert.
“We certainly had differences, but that’s what family is about,” Stanley, 73, added.
The musician then led a moment of silence for Frehley, telling the crowd, “Why don’t we take a moment, little quiet, and think about him looking down on us, and let’s have a moment for Ace.”
After the moment of silence, the audience chanted “Ace! Ace! Ace!” Stanley also encouraged everyone to hold plastic candles in the air in Frehley’s honor.
The current members of KISS include Stanley, Gene Simmons, Eric Singer and Tommy Thayer.
Frehley, dubbed the Spaceman and Space Ace, was a founding member of KISS. He departed the group in 1982 to pursue a successful solo career, but then rejoined KISS for a reunion tour in 1996 and stayed until 2002.
Last month, Frehley was placed on life support with a brain bleed after a fall he suffered in his New Jersey studio weeks prior.
Frehley appeared to mention the incident in September when he canceled a performance in California due to “a minor fall in his studio” that resulted in a visit to the hospital. He went on to call off the remaining dates of his 2025 tour because of “ongoing medical issues” following the fall.
The rocker’s family confirmed his passing on Oct. 16.
“We are completely devastated and heartbroken,” his loved ones said. “In his last moments, we were fortunate enough to have been able to surround him with loving, caring, peaceful words, thoughts, prayers and intentions as he left this earth.”
Frehley’s fellow KISS members shared their own statement honoring their former bandmate.
“We are devastated by the passing of Ace Frehley,” Stanley and Simmons, 76, wrote. “He was an essential and irreplaceable rock soldier during some of the most formative foundational chapters of the band and its history.”
The duo also noted that Frehley will “always be a part of Kiss’ legacy.”
Frehley’s funeral took place in The Bronx on Oct. 22. Simmons, Stanley and Peter Criss, another founding member of KISS, all attended the ceremony.
