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Kiss Cancels Las Vegas Residency After Guitar Tech's COVID Death Draws Criticism
popculture ^ | October 31, 2021 10:22 pm EDT | DANIEL S. LEVINE

Posted on 11/01/2021 5:51:36 PM PDT by conservative98

Kiss canceled their planned Las Vegas residency suddenly late last week, amid questions about their coronavirus safety protocols. The Rock and Roll Hall of Famers were scheduled to play at Zappos Theater at Planet Hollywood in Las Vegas as part of their long-running End of the Road World Tour. The decision came after some of the band's roadies blamed guitar tech Francis Stueber's death on negligent safety protocols in Rolling Stone. Kiss disputed many of the claims the tour staffers made.

Kiss was scheduled to play at Zappos Theater from Dec. 29 to Feb. 5, but options to buy tickets suddenly disappeared from the Caesars Palace/Ticketmaster site, the Las Vegas Review-Journal reported on Saturday. Representatives for the venue said ticket providers will contact fans with details on how to request refunds. They also asked fans to check the group's website for further updates. However, the band has not posted a statement about the canceled Vegas residency on its site or on its Instagram and Twitter pages. Zappos Theater staff did confirm the entire residency was canceled in a tweet Saturday.

The "Rock and Roll All Nite" band went back on the road for their End of the Road tour in August. Some shows were postponed after Paul Stanley and Gene Simmons tested positive for the coronavirus. On Oct. 17, Stueber died after he was quarantined for two days in a Detroit hotel with COVID. He was 53. On Friday, Rolling Stone published comments from three crew members, who blamed Stueber's death on a lack of strict COVID safety measures.

"Every day during the shows, we weren't tested. And there are so many unknowns," one crew member told the magazine. "Did we super spread this, did we spread this thing from city to city? It's horrible that Fran passed, and it's horrible if this is our protocol just for us to tour. Is this going to be the normal, to stick someone in a hotel and if somebody dies, 'Oh, well, off to the next guy?'"

Meanwhile, a production executive disputed the roadies' claims, explaining there were safety measures in place. The band required all crew members to have vaccination cards and wear their masks backstage. Catering was also separated from local workers and the touring crew. Anyone who tested positive were sent to hotels to quarantine and all bus mates were tested again, the executive said. The roadies told Rolling Stone that masks were not always worn correctly and tests were not done frequently enough. The executive said the tour was supposed to have an employee whose job it was to make sure COVID protocols were followed, but management dropped that idea the day before the tour began. Kiss production manager Robert Long told the magazine that daily testing was not in place, but disagreed with the roadies who said testing was discouraged if someone didn't show symptoms.

"Our End of the Road World Tour absolutely had Covid safety protocols in place that met, but most often exceeded, federal, state, and local guidelines," the band told Rolling Stone. "But ultimately this is still a global pandemic and there is simply no foolproof way to tour without some element of risk." The band also disputed the roadies' statements that Steuber was not tested immediately because the band wanted to avoid the issues that came with a positive test.

"While the protocols were in place for the tour, it was impossible to police the crew minute by minute of their lives," the band's statement continued. "If certain crew chose to go out to dinner on a day off, or have beers at a local bar after the show, and did so without a mask or without following protocols, there is little that anyone can do to stop that. Particularly when many of our tour markets did not have any state or local mask mandates in place." The band also admitted that they recently learned some crew members tried to hide their coronavirus symptoms and other crew members may have provided fake vaccination cards which put "the entire tour in harm's way."


TOPICS: Chit/Chat; Music/Entertainment
KEYWORDS: anthonyfauci; covid19; covidstooges; danielslevine; declinedtreatment; detroit; endoftheroad; fakevaccinecards; francisstueber; franstueber; genesimmons; hypochondriacs; kiss; lasvegas; mediawingofthednc; michigan; nevada; obamacare; partisanmediashill; partisanmediashills; paulstanley; planethollywood; psychosomatic; pussies; robertlong; rollingstone; vaccine; vaccinemandates; zappostheater
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1 posted on 11/01/2021 5:51:36 PM PDT by conservative98
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To: conservative98

My dear friend, buddy and guitar tech for 20 years, Fran Stueber died yesterday suddenly of Covid. Both on and offstage I depended on him for so much. My family loved him as did I. He was so proud of his wife and 3 boys as they were of him. I’m numb. pic.twitter.com/RvwUGpFt0X— Paul Stanley (@PaulStanleyLive) October 17, 2021


2 posted on 11/01/2021 5:52:09 PM PDT by conservative98
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To: conservative98

Blame it on the protocols? Nonsense!


3 posted on 11/01/2021 5:52:54 PM PDT by jimfree (My 19 y/o granddaughter continues to have more quality exec experience than Joe Biden.)
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To: conservative98

Life is dangerous.
Get busy living or get busy dying.


4 posted on 11/01/2021 5:54:59 PM PDT by EEGator
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To: conservative98

Let me guess: He went to the hospital, they slapped him on a ventilator and he died!

What a surprise!

If you want to die the Fauci/China biological warfare virus, be sure to run to a hospital the minute you have a sniffle.


5 posted on 11/01/2021 5:55:12 PM PDT by E. Pluribus Unum ("Communism is not love. Communism is a hammer which we use to crush the enemy." ― Mao Zedong)
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To: E. Pluribus Unum

And he was overweight and getting up there a little bit in age, didn’t long term bulk up his immunity, but rock and rolled all night and partied every day? Not knocking him. Just saying.


6 posted on 11/01/2021 5:57:23 PM PDT by conservative98
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To: conservative98

Prophetic I’d say:

GENE SIMMONS: ‘I’M NOT WORRIED IF AN IDIOT GETS COVID AND DIES’

https://freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/3983655/posts


7 posted on 11/01/2021 5:57:46 PM PDT by God luvs America (63.5 million pay no income tax and vote for DemoKrats...)
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To: conservative98

Ross Halfin reminded me that Fran LOVED this photo and had a big print. We’ve all lost someone so special. I know I have. pic.twitter.com/L5LNsnd59h— Paul Stanley (@PaulStanleyLive) October 17, 2021


8 posted on 11/01/2021 5:58:14 PM PDT by conservative98
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To: conservative98

So, who is who in the picture?


9 posted on 11/01/2021 6:00:12 PM PDT by the_Watchman
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To: the_Watchman
(Left) Paul Stanley, 69, frontman and founder of Kiss

(Right) Fran Steuben, 52, guitar tech who passed

10 posted on 11/01/2021 6:05:39 PM PDT by conservative98
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To: conservative98

So was the dude VAXXED?


11 posted on 11/01/2021 6:07:06 PM PDT by servantboy777
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To: servantboy777
Apparently unless he was one of the ones with the fake vax card.

The band announced this summer that its entire touring party was fully-vaccinated against COVID-19 and that they were taking the utmost precautions onstage and off to prevent the spread of the disease.

12 posted on 11/01/2021 6:09:14 PM PDT by conservative98
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To: conservative98

The passing of Fran Steuber on road w/ @kiss could have major ramifications for future touring/events if he passed that quickly from Covid & was vaxed. I already heard from 1 artist tonight announcing a tour cancellation tomorrow in light of news. RIP Fran— Eddie Trunk (@EddieTrunk) October 18, 2021


13 posted on 11/01/2021 6:11:20 PM PDT by conservative98
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To: conservative98

That’s kinda what I was thinking. Unless he was vax incognito.


14 posted on 11/01/2021 6:14:41 PM PDT by servantboy777
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To: servantboy777
So was the dude VAXXED?

This is the million dollar question for EVERY reported COVID death.

15 posted on 11/01/2021 6:15:18 PM PDT by Captain Walker ("The side that has Truth gets Humor as a bonus.")
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Why did Kiss need to tour when they were so worried about covid and preaching about people not being masking on Twitter?


16 posted on 11/01/2021 6:26:35 PM PDT by TakebackGOP
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To: TakebackGOP
Why did Kiss need to tour when they were so worried about covid and preaching about people not being masking on Twitter?

So some schlub not making millions could risk his life so these old, makeup-wearing rockstars could rake in more CA$H.

17 posted on 11/01/2021 6:34:45 PM PDT by frogjerk (I will not do business with fascists)
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To: conservative98; All

Thank Goodness that Eddie Van Halen is still with us!

Oh. Wait...

Do people who die of CovidBS-19 have a special palace in heaven?

Asking for a friend...


18 posted on 11/01/2021 6:35:07 PM PDT by Diana in Wisconsin (I don't have 'Hobbies.' I'm developing a robust post-Apocalyptic skill set. )
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To: conservative98
The VAX is working as expected. It could have been much worse had he not been vaxed.


19 posted on 11/01/2021 6:40:27 PM PDT by frogjerk (I will not do business with fascists)
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To: conservative98

KISS of death.


20 posted on 11/01/2021 6:42:08 PM PDT by frogjerk (I will not do business with fascists)
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