Kiss brought former guitarists Ace Frehley and Bruce Kulick onstage for the first time in more than 20 years to kick off this year's Kiss Kruise, and Kulick says they had only a few hours to prepare for the big event.

The surprise guest appearances took place during Kiss' traditional acoustic sail-away show. "In the middle of the afternoon, on the day we boarded, I got a text from [drummer] Eric Singer: 'Heads up, I think at the sail-away, something's going to happen, and you're going to play.'"

Only one problem: Kulick hadn't packed an acoustic guitar. Luckily, current guitarist Tommy Thayer agreed to share his -- and even gave up the better one for a couple of songs.

"He uses those Chet Atkins acoustics," Kulick tells UCR. "I've always owned one and I use them. So I went up to Tommy's room, he had two guitars, one that definitely played better than the other. I jokingly begged him, 'Look, if you're going to give me the majority of the lead guitar work for 'Domino' and 'Hide Your Heart,' give me the 'A' guitar -- just hand it over onstage, it'll look good.'"

Watch Kiss Perform Two Songs With Bruce Kulick

Kulick was then asked to stay onstage while Frehley sang two songs; then all six musicians teamed up for the set-closing "Nothin' to Lose" and "Rock and Roll All Nite." Responsibility for the guitar solo for the latter song ended up turning into a game of hot potato.

"I had no idea I'd be up there for six songs," Kulick says. "I told Tommy, 'I don't want to solo, if you're giving me back the 'B' Chet Atkins, you do it, or you figure it out with Ace.' Ace just laughed and said, 'I don't wanna play this freaking thing, you do it!' So Tommy did it, and he did a great job. I know it looked great and it felt great and the fans got a great treat."

Watch Kiss Perform Four Songs With Ace Frehley and Bruce Kulick

 

 

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