Paul Stanley says prospects of KISS concerts in the foreseeable future are “dim at best”
“We seem to be travelling towards the light in the tunnel, but we’ve got a long way to go yet.”
Image: Kevin Winter / Getty
KISS’ Paul Stanley has said that he’s not optimistic about the band returning to the stage anytime soon, saying that prospects of them doing so in the near future are “dim at best.” Despite this, he is still keen to see the band finish their End Of The Road Tour, once touring is safe again.
Speaking to Rolling Stone, Stanley was asked about the band’s record-breaking live performance in Dubai, which took place on New Year’s Eve 2020, and how it was made feasible given the necessary COVID-19-related restrictions. “That was a unique situation where the protocols and all the safety conditions were all met and adhered to very, very vigilantly,” he said.
“That’s not practical or possible elsewhere. That was a stage that was built there. That wasn’t a travelling stage. It took 500 people to put it together. And everybody was literally daily Covid-tested.”
He added that the performance was “a lot of fun,” but noted how difficult full-scale concerts will be for a significant while: “the prospects of going out to play in the foreseeable future are dim at best. And that’s not just for us. That’s for any band. The health concerns, the lack of promoters being able to get insurance. Who’s going to give insurance to a promoter to get, you know, 10, 20, 100,000 people shoulder to shoulder? And enough cities, states or countries are not going to allow that anyway.”
“So we seem to be travelling towards the light in the tunnel, but we’ve got a long way to go yet,” he added.
When asked about the prospects of the band’s End Of The Road tour being completed at all, Stanley was a little more optimistic, saying he and Gene Simmons “totally” see it resuming.
He did note, however, that the tour truly will be the End Of The Road, whenever it does end up happening: “If we were wearing jeans and T-shirts, we could do this into our eighties or nineties, but we’re carrying around 40 and 50 pounds of gear for a couple of hours… So the End Of The Road, I don’t see it as bittersweet. I see it as sweet. And will there be tears? Sure. But oh, my God, look what we’ve been given. And from what the fans say, look what we gave them. It’s unlike other bands.”
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