Oy. We cannot believe we have to address nonsense like this. We are very busy and important and as such should be doing blog research at a strip club, not shooting down moronic stories untethered to reality.
Like the one where people think Kiss, or whoever owns Kiss now, is going to spend $200 million on an “immersive avatar show” to debut in Las Vegas. It’s whimsy being reported as truth by writers who appear to possess no critical thinking skills or basic common sense.
We have a smidge of both, and more importantly, we’ve spent years calling out bullshit like this, so let’s do it again, shan’t we?
So, Kiss founding members Gene Simmons and Paul Stanley made an appearance at a music industry conference recently, and shared details about their multihundred-million project that’s definitely happening because celebrities said it!
From a story in Rolling Stone, which should know better: “During the event’s centerpiece panel presentation on Tuesday, the pair were joined by manager Doc McGhee and Pophouse Entertainment CEO Jessica Koravos to talk about their progress on the innovative music experience and how they plan to preserve their iconic personas for fans. During the conversation, they emphasized their intentions to outdo other tech-driven attractions around the world, including Sin City’s much-trumpeted Sphere shows where mega-acts like U2, Phish, and Dead & Company have performed.”
They’re talking about the Sphere, of course.
Pophouse is a Swedish music catalog investment firm. They created “ABBA Voyage,” with digital recreations of ABBA. That show takes place in a custom-built arena in London.
The tech involves motion capture and CGI synced to pre-recorded audio.
Also known as a “shameless money grab.”
That debate aside, yes, a Kiss avatar show could come to pass. It could even come to Las Vegas.
The production would presumably be called “Kiss Forever.”
Beyond that, this story is smoke and mirrors delusion.
Nobody, including Pophouse, is spending $200 million on a show or venue in Las Vegas (especially one devoted to hosting an avatar show).
First, these shows tend to suck. They’re especially creepy when the performers are dead, as with “An Evening with Whitney: The Whitney Houston Hologram Concert” that ran at Harrah’s Las Vegas from late 2021 through June 2022.
Successful things don’t close in Las Vegas.
A Kiss hologram show would be additionally challenged because the live band couldn’t sell enough tickets to support a Las Vegas residency.
In 2021, the band canceled a 12-date residency at Planet Hollywood due to lack of interest.
So, why has this story gained traction? Well, not to over-simplify, but many journalists are boobs.
Some of these same geniuses think the ABBA avatar show is going to the Tropicana site, despite the fact there will be no resort there to accommodate it.
The fact is Gene Simmons and Paul Stanley are hucksters, along with manager Doc McGhee and Pophouse Entertainment.
Their job is to fish for interest, to hype up some project they’d love to become a reality, despite it being doomed from the start.
A journalist’s job is to question and debunk, not just regurgitate what famous people say.
As mentioned, the members of Kiss don’t own Kiss anymore. They cashed out in 2024.
The interest of Kiss members now is legacy.
Kiss is attempting to regain some relevance in a world that has moved on. You know, like journalists at newspapers.
We look forward to updating you on this $200 million project when details become available, and by that we mean never.
If you think this whole saga harkens back to Kind Heaven, a celebrity-driven, $100 million imaginary project planned for Linq, you aren’t wrong. As George Santayana, lead singer of Steel Panther, once said, “Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to continue to write dopey stories in our local paper of record like they were dropped on their head a lot as an infant.”
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