KISS recently announced a New Year’s Eve concert at the Atlantis resort in Dubai. Landmarks Live Presents will produce the show live from The Royal Beach at Atlantis Dubai. The producers claim the event, which will apparently attempt to set the world’s record for largest pyro, will be filmed with more than 50 cameras and 360-degree views. It will be seen via livestream, with a ticket purchase on any computer, mobile device, or Apple TV.
In a new interview with Variety, KISS frontman Paul Stanley stated about the over-the-top nature of the New Year’s Eve pay-per-view: “We have never been known for our subtlety, and we’re not going to start now. This year has been an inconvenience for some and outright devastation for others. So who better to kick it in the butt than us? And we’ll do it in eight-inch heels.
“This show that we’re doing is everything we’ve done on steroids. We’re planning on breaking Guinness world records,” he added. “We have, I think at last count, a million and a half dollars of pyro. We’ll be playing all the songs that people around the world expect to hear. And the band is in great, great shape. This will be a good way to welcome in the next year, which we’re all waiting for. We can finally see light at the end of the tunnel. We just have to all be aware that until we are all vaccinated, we’re not over this. People are celebrating a vaccine, but the vaccine means nothing until it’s applied to you. So, with that in mind, we’re going to kick off the new year and say goodbye to the old one in a fashion only we could do.”
Stanley told Variety that KISS and Landmarks were originally planning a big event timed with the band’s farewell tour, which is now on hold due the coronavirus pandemic.
“The ‘End Of The Road’ show that we have, which is our final tour, is really the ultimate KISS show,” he said. “Just in terms of technology, we’ve taken everything to a whole other level, and let’s be frank about this: when you go to see any other band or any other act, you’re seeing the KISS show because this DNA is in everything that’s done nowadays. We wrote the book and now it was time for us on this end of the road to really, really put our stamp on everything we can.
“And we’re in this very fortunate position that we’re really at the top of our game,” Stanley continued. “And yet we realize that we can’t stay here forever. You can play beat the clock, but the clock ultimately wins. If we were wearing T-shirts and jeans, we could play into our nineties, but we’re carrying around 40-plus pounds of gear and doing an Olympic marathon. So with that in mind, we announced this tour and it’s really been a blessing because so many times in life, when we lose someone or lose something, we are filled with a certain kind of regret about what we didn’t do or what we would have said. And in a sense, it’s a victory lap, and also a chance to validate why people have championed us for so long.”
“End Of The Road” kicked off in January 2019 and was originally scheduled to conclude on July 17, 2021 in New York City but is now expected to last well into 2022.
KISS‘s current lineup consists of original members Stanley and Gene Simmons (bass, vocals), alongside later band additions, guitarist Tommy Thayer (since 2002) and drummer Eric Singer (on and off since 1991).
Formed in 1973 by Stanley, Simmons, Peter Criss (drums) and Ace Frehley (guitar), KISS staged its first “farewell” tour in 2000, the last to feature the group’s original lineup.
In its 46-year career, KISS has accumulated 23 gold and platinum albums — more than any other U.S. band.
