Kiss ready to cram outrageous spectacle into small theater

By John Katsilometes

Friday, Nov. 27, 2009 | 2 a.m.

Kiss, the indefatigable glam-rock pioneers who spawned a billion Halloween costumes and their own teenage army, returns to Las Vegas on Saturday for a show at the Pearl at the Palms. This fall the band, still powered by founding members Paul Stanley and Gene Simmons, released its first studio album in 11 years, “Sonic Boom.”

Stanley spoke with the Las Vegas Sun as the band prepared for a show this week in Anaheim, Calif.

How are you going to scale down your live show, which is built for arenas and stadiums, for a small theater like the Pearl?

We have special shoehorn where we take our size-12 foot and jam it into a size-9 shoe. Rather than go back to a big arena, we wanted to play the Pearl again (Kiss performed at the theater in August 2008). Every seat is unobstructed, which you don’t get often, but we’re not going to do the lounge thing. We’re going to test how much volume this place can handle.

Palms owner George Maloof likes to bring in bands he’s a fan of. Is that how Kiss came to play the Pearl?

Yeah, he is a fan. I’ve known George for about 15 years now. I was there when it was just rebar, talking with him about the day Kiss would come to town. We were envisioning it even then.

You have a place at Palms Place, right?

I’ve had a place there since it was under construction, before it was completed.

There were reports last year that you might be in Las Vegas, as a resident, as the Phantom in “Phantom — The Las Vegas Spectacular” at the Venetian. Any truth to that?

I was in Las Vegas having meetings, and we’d discussed that. I’d played the role before (in the Toronto production), but for a lot of reasons it wasn’t to be. I think it’s a great show — terrific. I still intend on doing it on Broadway, but there are only so many hours in the day, you know?

We have the Beatles-themed Cirque du Soleil show, “Love,” at the Mirage and an Elvis-themed Cirque show at Aria called “Viva Elvis.” You’ve seen “Love,” right?

I did and it was absolutely terrific.

Would you be interested in a Cirque-produced show with a Kiss theme?

Sure. We’ve been in talks with different people with possibilities … not Cirque people, but we’ll see what develops over time ... Anything is possible with Kiss.