It takes a lot for Gene Simmons to admit a mistake, but he seems to be doing just that in explaining why KISS canceled their Las Vegas residency, which had them playing 12 shows between December 29th and February 5th.
He tells the Las Vegas Review-Journal, “Our original plan was to come in just before New Year’s, but it was just too busy. When I came into town [last week] and joined my friend Dave Grohl [and Foo Fighters] onstage, that same night you could see George Strait at the T-Mobile Arena, literally across the street. You go down the street and you can see many more artists. I mean, it’s packed. There are more artists per square inch in a city that never sleeps than anyplace on the planet.”
Simmons says they plan to revisit the idea in a year to a year-and-a-half, but adds, “With all due respect to other all the other artists who are terrific, and who are great and iconic, we’d rather wait for the traffic to die down and bring the best show on Earth, period.”
KISS will return to Las Vegas in another capacity in March. That’s when the KISS museum will open at the Rio Hotel. It will be an extension of the glow-in-the dark attraction KISS by Monster Mini Golf.
Simmons says it’s “really just my collection, because I’ve got a half-century of KISS stuff. I want the fans to see it… It’s going to be breathtaking. I was there the first day, as my stuff started to come in. We have three tractor-trailers full of stuff, and it’s going to be spectacular. The fans are going to dig it. You can play golf, you can have your photo taken, you can take videos of yourself onstage with KISS, and then go visit my private collection.”
Among the items that will be on display are costumes, stage props and gold and platinum albums, all of which he had in a special room in his Beverly Hills home that he recently sold.
