”Hello this is Gene Simmons from KISS and I need you to send me $12K for you to be my roadie’ is like Instagram scam DM material’
The 75-year-old musician is touring with the Gene Simmons Band in April and May, which includes a stop at OLG Stage in Niagara Falls, and one deep-pocketed fan at every show will get the chance to assist his team setting up the stage and listening to sound check. The one-of-a-kind encounter also includes a list of other perks, including a KISS rehearsal-used bass guitar and dinner with Simmons.
“You will meet up with Gene and GS band members early in the day (either at his hotel or designated location) to go over the Band’s Show day schedule,” states the official website for the band, which also features drummer Brian Tichy and guitarists Jason Walker and Brent Woods.
A meet-and-greet package that includes a “non-stage-played” bass instrument will run you $6,500.
“You will find that Gene Simmons is very down-to-earth, funny and knowledgeable on almost any subject,” Simmons’ website promises (we have met him and confirm this is true).
Although many enthusiasts praised Simmons for giving someone a chance at the unique opportunity, the jaw-dropping price tag for the “ultimate” experience with the rock star and his band didn’t hit all the right notes with some members of the KISS Army who accused him of “raking” his fans.
“(I’m) not going to pay to work for you,” one follower wrote on X, with another mocking the offer by saying, “Let’s pay to be a personal slave.”
“Still have to buy a ticket to the show,” another critic swiped.
But selling the experience is just the latest in a long line of business ventures for Simmons, who has hawked everything from condoms to caskets.
Last year, after retiring, KISS— which Simmons co-founded with vocalist Paul Stanley in 1973 — sold its catalogue, brand name and IP to Swedish company Pophouse Entertainment Group in a deal estimated to be over $300 million.
An avatar show will debut in 2027, and Pophouse said fans can expect a biopic, a documentary and a KISS experience on the horizon.
“We’re doing the right thing by the fans. We have too much self respect to stay out there a day longer if we can’t live up to our self-mandated manifesto: ‘You wanted the best, you got the best.’ It’s not, ‘Hey, I remember when they were good.’ We’re not fat, bloated Elvis that should have quit earlier,” Simmons said.
With KISS’ days coming to a close, Simmons told Postmedia at the time that he could have been “smarter.”
“I could have tried to join U2 or the Stones and put on a comfortable pair of sneakers and a T-shirt and I would have been fine,” he joked. “If you took those esteemed gentlemen and stuck them into my outfit with dragon boots that are seven inches high they will feel the pain … Each dragon boot weighs close to a bowling ball. All in, I’ve got 40 pounds on with the bass I’m carrying around on stage. I’ve got to do that for two hours, spit fire and fly through the air. Respectfully, if Keith Richards, who I can’t tell you how much I admire him, but if he got into my outfit, he would pass out in half an hour. The physicality of what we do … we are simply the hardest working band in show business — period.”