Sharks among few to see Kiss on cancelled Oz tour leg

Kiss performed the single date of an otherwise cancelled Australian leg of their End of the Road world tour to an audience made up of eight humans and several great white sharks.

The show took place yesterday (18 November) aboard a boat in a part of the Indian Ocean known as a hot spot for great white sharks.

The performance was relayed underwater via special speakers to attract the sharks, while fans were lowered below the surface in a glass viewing hull.

The veteran rock band had cancelled the eight-date run of arena shows down under due to the illness of co-lead vocalist Paul Stanley.

The performance was relayed underwater via special speakers to attract the sharks

However, remaining band members Gene Simmons, Eric Singer and Tommy Thayer braved the jaws of one of the ocean’s top predators to play the one-off show, presented by Airbnb and in conjunction with tour company Adventure Bay Charters.

“Airbnb approached us with this idea that sounded, quite frankly, a little weird, but we’re used to being approached with things that are a little weird,” Stanley told Rolling Stone before the concert. “I’ve played for a lot of land sharks. Now I finally get a chance to play for the ocean varieties.”

The Australian concerts were part of the band’s last-ever tour, which is visiting Asia, North and South America, Europe and South Africa, before coming to a close in New York on 21 July 2021.

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Kiss announce final End of the Road tour dates

Kiss have announced the final leg of what’s being billed as their last-ever tour, the End of the Road world tour, which began in Canada this January.

The End of the Road trek will come to a close on 21 July 2021 at a New York venue “yet to be named”, according to tour producer Live Nation.

The US rock legends are currently en route to Australia, where their next date is at the Adelaide Entertainment Centre (11,300-cap.) next Tuesday, 19 November, and will next head to Japan for a string of pre-Christmas dates. The tour will start 2020 in the US, before taking off for South America and Europe, and then back to North America for the end of 2020.

“This will be the ultimate celebration for those who’ve seen us and a last chance for those who haven’t”

“All that we have built and all that we have conquered over the past four decades could never have happened without the millions of people worldwide who’ve filled clubs, arenas and stadiums over those years,” the band say in a statement. “This will be the ultimate celebration for those who’ve seen us and a last chance for those who haven’t.

“Kiss Army, we’re saying goodbye on our final tour with our biggest show yet, and we’ll go out the same way we came in: unapologetic and unstoppable.”

Kiss, formed in 1972, have sold more than 100 million albums worldwide and been inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. According to Pollstar’s Q3 2019 tour charts, the End of the Road tour was the 20th highest-selling in the first nine months of this year, grossing US$68 million from 626,935 tickets sold.

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