“My Omicron face! Yup. My entire family has it.”. The legendary KISS singer-guitarist Paul Stanley wrote on his Instagram selfie on December 26. This marks the 2nd time the star has battled the virus after first contracting COVID-19 back in August of 2021. It seems this time he and his family have fallen victim to the new Omicron strain. Stanley states that even though most of his family is showing no symptoms, he feels “tired and [has] sniffles.”.
The band has also canceled their Las Vegas residency. While an official reason wasn’t provided by their team, KISS frontman Gene Simmons said the reason for the cancellation was due to Vegas hosting too many shows and turning it into competition. However, there are speculations that the cancellation was actually due to the “allegedly” lenient COVID-19 protocol put in place. Earlier this year, Simmons also tested positive for COVID-19, which put a halt to the tour for two weeks, resuming back in September. Longtime KISS guitar tech Francis Stueber was also infected during the tour and passed away due to complications from COVID-19 while on quarantine. The band is heartbroken by the passing of Stuber and has recently discovered that some of the crew members outright denied medical treatment while infected and may have even faked vaccination cards. These events have pushed forward the dates of their “End of the Road” farewell tour. The last show will now be taking place in early 2023 when the tour had been originally scheduled to end during Summer 2021. While the band was set to begin their Vegas residency on the 29th of December, they are now scheduled to headline Rockville 2022 with Korn, Guns N Roses and Foo Fighters. They will also begin a tour of Australia starting in Spring 2022 followed by a European tour in Summer 2022.
Photo Credit: Gary Moratz
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