During their first show of 2026, the Gene Simmons Band surprised fans by digging deep into the Kiss catalog. At their Friday, February 20 concert at the L’Auberge Casino Resort Lake Charles in Louisiana, the group performed two tracks originally written by former Kiss guitarist Ace Frehley—”Strange Ways” and “Rocket Ride”—for the very first time.
The solo band, which features Gene Simmons on bass and vocals, Jason Walker and Brent Woods on guitars, and Brian Tichy on drums, delivered a 14-part setlist heavy on classic rock anthems. However, the inclusion of the two Frehley-written tracks was the major talking point of the night.
Originally appearing on the 1974 Kiss album Hotter Than Hell, “Strange Ways” featured lead vocals by drummer Peter Criss. While a 1975 rehearsal recording of the song was included in the recent 50th-anniversary deluxe edition of the Alive! album, the track was never actually played live by Kiss.
Ace Frehley has previously opened up about the writing process for the heavy track and why he ultimately passed the vocal duties over to the drummer:
“I love ‘Strange Ways‘. I just came up with the riff. It was one of those inspired, heavy tunes. I didn’t feel comfortable as a singer at that point. Gene and Paul [Stanley] are very intimidating people. A lot of the time they tend to make people feel inadequate. It took me a while to get over my feeling of inadequacy. I didn’t think I was as good a singer as I am. It took me a while to come out of my shell.”
“Whenever I wrote songs in the early days, I’d always ask Peter to sing so he would get some of the spotlight. I wasn’t that secure with myself as a singer around Gene, Paul and Peter. They were all confident lead singers, and even though I knew I could sing, they didn’t encourage it, so, I just kind of laid back.”
“‘Strange Ways‘ was never performed live by Kiss. I had forgotten just how heavy it was. One of my favorite guitar solos is the one on ‘Strange Ways‘. It was done in one take. I just closed my eyes and that’s what came out. Usually, I record in the control room, but for that solo I went out and stood in front of the amp and got that wild feedback bend at the beginning. It sounded like a dinosaur.”
Looking back on the song, Peter Criss also reflected on what it was like to sing such a heavy riff:
“Ace wrote it and I sang it. It was really different for me, really heavy and new. I’d never sung anything like it. It wasn’t exactly R&B. It was a great challenge to me and I loved it.”
The second debut of the evening, “Rocket Ride“, was co-written by Frehley and Kiss associate Sean Delaney. While originally intended for the guitarist’s solo record, it eventually found its home on the Alive II album.
In the book “Behind The Mask,” Ace explained that the song was a major turning point for him as a vocalist:
“That’s the first time I was satisfied with my vocal projection. More than that, ‘Rocket Ride‘ was the song that really gave me confidence that I could sing and really project a song.”
The setlist for the night was as follows:
- “Deuce”
- “Shout It Out Loud”
- “War Machine”
- “I”
- “Domino”
- “Parasite”
- “Strange Ways”
- “Charisma”
- “Rocket Ride”
- “Cold Gin”
- “I Love It Loud”
- “Calling Dr. Love”
- “Let Me Go, Rock ‘N’ Roll”
- “Rock And Roll All Nite”
