KISS To Perform Show For Great White Sharks For ‘Airbnb Animal Experiences’
The concert marks the launch of the Airbnb-sponsored concerts series, where tourists can interact with animals in their own environment while following World Animal Protection guidelines.
On 18 November, iconic hard rockers KISS will take their fire-breathing intensity overseas to the southern coast of Australia, where they’ll perform their first-ever concert for great white sharks.
The concert marks the launch of Airbnb Animal Experiences, where tourists can interact with animals in their own environment while following World Animal Protection guidelines. At 6:30 am in Port Lincoln, Australia, eight guests will board a boat hosted by Matt Waller and shark expert Dr. Blake Chapman. The band will descend underwater in a glass viewing hull, where they can observe the sharks in their natural habitat.
Meanwhile, above on deck, Kiss will perform a scorching set that will be projected down into the water (Paul Stanley guesses the sharks will enjoy ‘Lick It Up’ and ‘I Want You’). Research indicates that great white sharks are attracted to low frequencies and pulsed sounds, even rock music. “It’s not like going to the zoo,” Stanley told Rolling Stone. “You’re actually experiencing them in their home. If people don’t cooperate, they’ll be treated like chum and thrown to the sharks.”
Paul Stanley hasn’t had many interactions with sharks before, but seeing Jaws in 1975 certainly kept him out of the water. “I’m much more apt to be in a pool than the ocean, but this time I’ve got nothing to be afraid of,” he said. “When the great white sharks see what I’m wearing, they’ll be afraid of me.”
Out of the band’s four current members — Stanley, bassist Gene Simmons, drummer Eric Singer and guitarist Tommy Thayer — Stanley believes Simmons is the best swimmer. “Gene was once a lifeguard,” he told Rolling Stone. “So yeah, I would say it’s probably Gene. And we may find out when we throw him in the water.”
Tickets for the performance are $50 per person and go on sale today at 6:00 pm EST. All proceeds will be donated to the Australian Marine Conservation Society.
KISS are currently on their End of the Road farewell tour that began in January 2018. A final date has yet to be announced, but Stanley has an idea of when and where it will be. “We can’t be running around for that much longer in 40 pounds of gear,” he says. “There’s nothing maudlin about it. It’s a celebration with our fans around the world.”
“We wanted to raise the bar again as to what a band can do live,” he adds. “That’s really what we’ve always done: we’ve always wanted to be the band we never saw. There are a lot of shows out there that have KISS DNA in them because they really weren’t shows of any magnitude before us.”
Listen to KISS on Apple Music and Spotify.