KIX closed out the festivities at the M3 Rock Festival last night (on May 7, 2023) and shocked the crowd with their announcement that they were retiring (later this year). KIX frontman Steve Whiteman was interviewed by Andrew Daly for Metal Edge Mag before the historic announcement to talk about the band’s decision to retire. In terms of what went into KIX‘s decision to retire, Whiteman indicated: “It might seem sudden, but this is a decision that I made around a year ago. I gave it a lot of thought, decided, and announced it to the guys in the band and our booking agents. I knew at that point that I was probably going to be done by the of 2023. It’s been 45 years of nonstop rock ‘n’ roll, travel, and hanging out, and I don’t have the time to commit to it anymore. I’m 66. I’m tired.”
Fans can enjoy KIX one last time locally at the Allegany County Fair July 17th. Tickets are available at www.alleganycofair.org. With respect to KIX‘s very last show, Whiteman stated: “Well, the run of scheduled dates actually had us ending in Hinckley, Minnesota. And with all due respect to them, we knew we could not finish our career in Hinckley, Minnesota. [laughs] We knew we had to do something for our local fans who have supported us all this time. So, we decided to call the man who runs the Merriweather Post Pavilion to say, “Hey, would you be interested in hosting the final KIX show?” Thankfully, he jumped at the chance. So, that’s what we’re going to do. The show is on September 17 in Columbia, Maryland, which is great because many of our fans will be able to attend and see the show.”