All 12 dates have been canceled
Kiss has canceled its upcoming Las Vegas residency at the Zappos Theater at Planet Hollywood on the Strip. The 12 date residency was set to run from December 29th through February 5th with the Ticketmaster link having been removed.
The Las Vegas Review Journal cities “soft ticket sales” as the reason for the cancelation, but no comment has been officially made by the band, promoter Live Nation or venue owner Caesars Entertainment. Ticket holders have been notified. Venue reps say to watch for kissonline.com for further details.
The band recently wrapped rescheduled North American dates to their End of the Road Tour last week, following the death of longtime guitar tech Francis Steube who passed away from COVID two days after being diagnosed at the age of 53.
The news comes a day after Rolling Stone released an article in which crew members cited the death due to lax COVID protocols that were said to have been in place. Three crew members spoke to the publication anonymously claiming Stueber’s death was due to the production not taking “strict enough safety measures, which they say sickened several tour workers and potentially cost Stueber his life.”
One of the crew members said they were not tested enough and have no idea if they were COVID “super spreaders” traveling from city to city.
However, a production executive says protocols were in place and that the band required all crew members to submit proof of vaccination status and wear masks backstage, and that catering was separated from the touring crew and local workers. The band elected to only test if someone show symptoms, and that a COVID-19 compliance officer was axed a day before the trek started. Therefore, the COVID protocols were left to the production team to administer.
The band released a statement assuring protocols were in place.
“We are profoundly heartbroken at the loss of Francis, he was a friend and colleague of 20 years, there is no way to replace him. Millions of people have lost someone special to this horrific virus and we encourage everyone to get vaccinated. Please protect yourself and your loved ones,” they state.
“Our End Of The Road world tour absolutely had COVID safety protocols in place that met, but most often exceeded, federal, state, and local guidelines. But ultimately this is still a global pandemic and there is simply no foolproof way to tour without some element of risk.”
Despite these protocols, both Paul Stanley and Gene Simmons tested positive for COVID a few days apart, postponing several shows. Before the tour resumed, Simmons shared with us exclusively on The Music Universe Podcast that the band had practices in place to ensure everyone’s health and safety.
“First of all we’re all gonna keep our staff safe because, you know, there are different laws in different states — and you can’t dictate to the fans, but once you get backstage, every road member, road crew, security, truck drivers, everybody’s gonna get vaccinated and wear masks. And the rest of you have a choice because you live in, ‘Oh so free America.’ There’s a law that says you have to wear a seatbelt and there isn’t a law that you have to wear a mask to protect others in case you infect them? That’s crazy.”
The trek is currently set to resume in March in Australia.
