Gene Simmons and Paul Stanley threw the ceremonial first pitch in Anaheim on Saturday, marking 50 years since Kiss played the stadium.
Gene Simmons has thrown out a Major League first pitch twice before. It did not help much on Saturday.
The Kiss co-founder took the mound at Angel Stadium in Anaheim ahead of the Los Angeles Angels‘ game against the Kansas City Royals, with Paul Stanley alongside him. According to Major League Baseball‘s own account of it, Simmons threw four pitches before one came out right.
The appearance was not a novelty booking. The Angels hosted the pair to mark 50 years since Kiss played Anaheim Stadium on August 27, 1976, during “The Spirit Of ’76” tour, and to promote Kiss Destroys Anaheim ’76, which arrives on August 21. That show drew more than 42,000 people, the largest crowd the band had played to at that point, and the recording has never been officially released before.
The club built the whole evening around it. Alongside the first pitch there were Kiss-themed giveaways and in-stadium entertainment, a live band playing Kiss covers through the game, and a fireworks show afterwards.
The Angels had announced it in keeping with the theme: “Ready to Rock And Roll All Nite at the Big A?” Join us on Saturday, August 15th as Gene Simmons and Paul Stanley from [Kiss] toss the ceremonial first pitch! Be sure to stay after the game for a Kiss-themed postgame fireworks show!”
Simmons threw the first pitch at Dodger Stadium in July 2011 before a Los Angeles Dodgers game against the New York Mets, and again at Wrigley Field in May 2018, opening a Crosstown Classic between the Chicago Cubs and Chicago White Sox. Saturday was the first time Stanley had joined him for one.
Angel Stadium has been the Angels‘ home since 1966, making it one of the oldest parks still in use in the majors. The nickname comes from the 230-foot A-frame scoreboard that once stood behind the outfield and now sits in the car park.
Kiss played their last show as a touring band on December 2, 2023 at Madison Square Garden, closing the “End Of The Road” run. In early 2024 they sold their catalogue, likeness and brand to the Swedish company Pophouse Entertainment, which is developing a biopic, an avatar show and a Kiss attraction with both men involved. Stanley and Simmons were inducted into the Songwriters Hall Of Fame in New York on June 11.
Their only scheduled live performances anywhere this year come in November, when the second “Kiss Kruise: Land-Locked In Vegas” runs from the 13th to the 15th at Virgin Hotels Las Vegas, with an acoustic set and an electric one, both unmasked. The first edition last November was the band’s first performance together since the Madison Square Garden finale, and Stanley used it to lead a tribute to Ace Frehley, the band’s original guitarist, who died in October 2025 at 74.
