Gene Simmons Meets Struggling Iron Maiden Singer

The music industry can be as tight knit or as far apart as the musicians within the industry want it to be. That always seems to be the case. There are so many stories of artists who know artists who just happen to know other artists going out and about and partying until the wee hours of the morning. That’s how the industry machine has always been and it doesn’t seem to stop either, even in the older age of certain musicians.

Enter two giants in the rock world – Iron Maiden and none other than the painted warriors in KISS. Former Iron Maiden singer Paul Di’Anno met the current members of KISS for the first time in 42 years this past Saturday night (July 9) when the legendary rockers performed in Zagreb, Croatia as part of their “End Of The Road” farewell tour.

Di’Anno, who has been receiving physiotherapy and lymphatic drainage treatments in Croatia in preparation for his long-awaited knee surgery, supported KISS with Maiden on the former band’s 1980 “Unmasked” European tour. On that trek, Iron Maiden played 27 concerts and for the first time visited countries such as Italy, Germany, France, Switzerland, Norway, Sweden, Denmark and the Netherlands. This run of shows undoubtedly opened the European doors wide for Maiden and helped Steve Harris and company become one of the biggest metal bands of all time.

During that period, Di’Anno told U.K. journalist Geoff Barton that he and his bandmates were “having an amazing time” supporting KISS. He would say: “We came over expecting nothing, but it’s been so good. Touring with KISS is one of the best moves we’ve made. They’ve been so great to us, I’m knocked out.”

Di’Anno closed: “KISS could’ve ignored us but they’ve been really helpful, really encouraging. We often notice the band members in the wings, watching our show. They like to see Eddie warming up the crowd; they love that. [KISS guitarist] Ace Frehley got so carried away, I even saw him climbing up the lighting rig to get a better view — platform boots and all.”

Check out the new photo of everyone together below.

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