Would you spend thousands of dollars to go on the road with your favorite musician—even for just a day?
Well, back in March, Gene Simmons revealed that he was offering the opportunity to do just that. The KISS bassist and co-lead singer, 75, dubbed it “The Ultimate Gene Simmons Experience” before slapping it with a $12,495 price tag.
Dwayne Rosado, a retired corrections sergeant, and his 13-year-old son Zach paid the fee and got to live out their roadie dreams while The Gene Simmons Band played on Monday, May 5, at the Count Basie Center for the Arts in Red Bank, New Jersey.
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Speaking with The New York Times in an interview published on Monday, May 12, Rosado, 52, who was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis a year and a half ago, opened up about the once-in-a-lifetime experience.
“You only live once, and I want to experience life,” he told the publication. “I’m not going to die with a lot of money. I’m going to die happy.”
Ahead of the concert, the trio dined on takeout from “a local Italian place,” where Simmons shared tidbits from his eccentric life, including “losing his virginity at age 13 or 14 to a married woman on his newspaper delivery route.”
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As for the actual performance, Rosado was on Cloud 9. “It felt awkward, because I have a whole crowd in front of me, and all I wanted to do is hug him,” he recalled to The New York Times. “I didn’t care about anything else that was going on.”
To some people, paying $12,495 would be out of the question, but according to Rosado, it was “absolutely” worth it.
“Nothing can beat tonight,” the proud fan concluded. “It’s cemented in Kisstory now, because it’s going to be on YouTube and everything else. So I’ll get to look back and see that moment forever.”
