As KISS fans wait to find out more details about the band’s planned avatar show, guitarist Tommy Thayer recently revealed some potential sites for the multimedia extravaganza.
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While attending the Keep Memory Alive organization’s 27th annual Power of Love gala in Las Vegas earlier in May, Thayer told The Sun that the concert event could very well be staged in Sin City.
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“A show like this needs a theater which is built specifically for the show, so we have to decide where it’s going to be,” the veteran rocker noted. “And there’s considerations about New York, Singapore, Dubai, London of course, but Las Vegas as well is a strong contender.”
The KISS avatar show is being created by the band in collaboration with Pophouse Entertainment Group, the Swedish company behind ABBA’s popular avatar show in London, ABBA Voyage. KISS’ Gene Simmons and Paul Stanley recently sold the rights to the band’s music catalog, logo, and name to Pophouse.
[RELATED: Watch Gene Simmons Ditch the Makeup and Play First Concert Since KISS Farewell Show]
Thayer added about the KISS avatar show, “I’m a big fan of Las Vegas. This is where I live. So I can see something like that possibly happening here, but we’ll just have to wait and see.”
KISS announced in December that the avatar show will debut in 2027.
ABBA’s Potential Plans for a Las Vegas Avatar Show
According to a news item reported in March, ABBA had been talking to multiple casino hotels about bringing the ABBA Voyage show to Las Vegas. The report also claimed that Resorts World apparently had won a bidding war.
Thayer suggested to The Sun that even if the KISS and ABBA shows both come to Las Vegas, he doesn’t think they will compete against each other.
“We don’t want to affect what ABBA does,” he said. “ABBA’s probably looking at other cities and other places, they might take that show too because it’s been so popular in London. But a group like ABBA could work anywhere.”
On KISS Retiring from Touring
KISS wrapped up its End of the Road farewell trek with a pair of shows, on December 1 and 2, 2023, at Madison Square Garden in New York. Thayer told The Sun that there are no further plans for the band to play live.
“We’ve just basically ended the touring,” he said. “Gene, Paul Stanley, myself, and Eric Singer have decided that because of the physicality of what KISS does, it’s a little bit different. … It’s a heightened kind of a performance thing, and physically it’s even way beyond what the normal groups are doing.
The 63-year-old guitarist added, “That’s why we’ve decided to kind of bow out when things are still really strong with the band and the band is still really hot.”
Gene Simmons Band’s Tour Plans
Although KISS is no longer touring, Simmons will be hitting the road with his solo band this summer. The group will be playing a series of shows in Europe that runs from a July 27 concert in Kuopio, Finland, through an August 16 show in Taranto, Italy.
Simmons gave his first post-farewell-tour performance with his solo band on April 23 in Ridgefield, Washington. The show took place at a Rock & Brews Restaurant. Thayer made a surprise appearance at the gig, joining Simmons for renditions of the KISS tunes “Parasite” and “Lick It Up.”
The Simmons Band also played a festival in Sao Paulo, Brazil, on April 26.
Tickets for Simmons’ shows are on sale now via various outlets, including StubHub.
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