Gene Simmons Books Geezer Butler, Stewart Copeland, Dave Davies for Vegas Legends of Rock Expo

Three-day Westgate Las Vegas event lines up members of KISS, Black Sabbath, The Police, The Kinks, and a dozen more rock veterans.

Gene Simmons has announced the Gene Simmons’ Legends of Rock Expo, a three-day fan convention running September 25-27 at Westgate Las Vegas Resort & Casino. The lineup pulls members of KISS, Black Sabbath, The Police, The Kinks, and a deep bench of hard-rock and metal veterans into one room for autographs, photo ops, panels, and concerts. Tickets are on sale now, ranging from $249 for a premium weekend pass to $2,795 for a Black Diamond VIP package.

A Headliner Roster Built on Rhythm Sections and Frontmen

The marquee names announced for the Legends of Rock Expo skew toward players who defined entire rhythm sections of rock history. Simmons himself anchors the bill, joined by Black Sabbath bassist Geezer Butler, The Police drummer Stewart Copeland, and The Kinks guitarist Dave Davies. Between them, the four account for foundational work in heavy metal, post-punk, and the British Invasion guitar vocabulary that shaped almost everything that followed.

Simmons’ KISS bandmates Eric Singer and Tommy Thayer round out the current-era KISS contingent, and former KISS guitarist Bruce Kulick adds a deeper-cut connection to the band’s non-makeup years. The presence of Singer, Thayer, and Kulick alongside Simmons gives KISS collectors something unusual: access to multiple eras of the band’s guitar and drum chairs across a single weekend.

Full Confirmed Guest List

The complete roster of musicians and personalities announced for the expo:

• Gene Simmons (KISS)
• Geezer Butler (Black Sabbath)
• Stewart Copeland (The Police)
• Dave Davies (The Kinks)
• Eric Singer (KISS)
• Tommy Thayer (KISS)
• Bruce Kulick (ex-KISS)
• Carmine Appice (Vanilla Fudge, Cactus)
• Vinnie Appice (Dio)
• Graham Bonnet (Rainbow, Alcatrazz)
• David Ellefson (ex-Megadeth)
• Lita Ford
• John Moyer (Disturbed)
• Nelson
• Stephen Pearcy (RATT)
• Saving Abel
• Jerry Scheff (Elvis Presley)
• James Debello (actor)
• Edward Furlong (actor)

Deep Cuts: Drummers, Bassists, and a Presley Sideman

Beyond the four headliners, the supporting cast leans heavily on players whose names get spoken with reverence among musicians even when casual fans know the band better than the player. Carmine Appice’s work with Vanilla Fudge and Cactus put him in the small group of drummers cited as a direct influence on John Bonham and Ian Paice. His brother Vinny Appice held the kit for Dio and Black Sabbath’s Mob Rules and Dehumanizer lineups, which makes his presence at the same event as Geezer Butler one of the more interesting potential photo-op pairings on the docket.

Graham Bonnet brings the Rainbow and Alcatrazz pedigree, including the Down to Earth era that produced “Since You’ve Been Gone” and “All Night Long.” David Ellefson covers the thrash-era Megadeth bass legacy. Lita Ford represents the Runaways-to-solo arc that bridged seventies hard rock and MTV-era metal. Stephen Pearcy fronts the Sunset Strip contingent via RATT, and John Moyer connects the lineup to the modern hard rock mainstream through Disturbed.

Jerry Scheff is the curveball, and arguably the most musically loaded name on the bill for collectors who care about session history. Scheff played bass in Elvis Presley’s TCB Band from 1969 through the end of Presley’s touring years, anchored The Doors’ L.A. Woman, and worked with Bob Dylan, John Denver, and Elvis Costello. His inclusion signals that the expo is reaching beyond the obvious KISS-adjacent metal circuit.

What the Weekend Looks Like

Fanboy Expo, run by promoter David Heynen, is handling the production. Heynen framed the appeal in straightforward fan terms when describing what the weekend offers, saying it gives attendees a chance “to rub elbows with musicians from their favorite rock bands. The kind of access most of us can only dream of!”

Programming is built around concerts, autograph sessions, photo ops, parties, and panels across the three days. The pricing structure mirrors the comic-con tier model that Fanboy Expo and similar operators have refined over the last decade, with the $249 entry-level weekend pass scaling up to the $2,795 Black Diamond VIP experience. The Westgate, the former Las Vegas Hilton where Elvis Presley logged his historic residency, gives the event a venue with built-in rock weight.

Expert Take

The fan-convention-as-rock-experience model has been quietly gaining traction since the original KISS Expo events in the 1990s, and the format has matured into something closer to comic-con economics applied to a graying rock audience. Pricing tiers like the $249 floor and $2,795 ceiling here track with what operators such as Creation Entertainment and Wizard World have charged for genre-fandom weekends, and the math works because the supply of legacy musicians willing to do paid signings is large while the supply of fans with disposable income and limited tour-going stamina is also large.

What’s notable about this particular lineup is the depth on the rhythm-section side. Butler, Copeland, Carmine Appice, Vinny Appice, Ellefson, Moyer, and Scheff in the same building is essentially a bassist-and-drummer summit dressed up as a fan event, which historically has been the kind of programming that draws working musicians as much as collectors. The Westgate venue itself carries Presley’s residency legacy, and pairing the expo with the KISS Kruise residency two months later suggests Simmons is treating Las Vegas as the operational base for the post-touring chapter of his career.

Why It Matters

For legacy hard rock and metal acts whose original lineups are aging out of full tour cycles, the curated fan-weekend has become a viable third act, sitting between memorabilia auctions and farewell tours as a way to monetize catalog and connection. The Legends of Rock Expo is one of the larger-scale tests of whether the model can sustain headline-name talent across three days at convention-grade ticket prices. If the September run draws, expect more bands and more cross-band rosters to follow the template, particularly as Las Vegas continues to position itself as the default destination for legacy-rock residencies and adjacent fan tourism.

What’s Next

The Legends of Rock Expo runs September 25-27 at Westgate Las Vegas Resort & Casino, with tickets on sale now through the event’s official channels. The 2026 KISS Kruise: Landlocked in Vegas follows November 13-15 at Virgin Hotels Las Vegas, featuring two unmasked KISS performances. Additional guest announcements, panel schedules, and concert lineups for the expo weekend have not yet been detailed.

FAQ

When is the Gene Simmons Legends of Rock Expo?
The event runs September 25-27 at Westgate Las Vegas Resort & Casino.

Who is performing or appearing at the Legends of Rock Expo?
Confirmed guests include Gene Simmons, Geezer Butler, Stewart Copeland, Dave Davies, Eric Singer, Tommy Thayer, Bruce Kulick, Carmine Appice, Vinnie Appice, Graham Bonnet, David Ellefson, Lita Ford, John Moyer, Nelson, Stephen Pearcy, Saving Abel, Jerry Scheff, and actors James Debello and Edward Furlong.

How much do Legends of Rock Expo tickets cost?
Ticket packages range from $249 for a premium weekend pass to $2,795 for a Black Diamond VIP pass.

What activities are planned for the expo weekend?
The three-day event is built around concerts, autograph sessions, photo ops, parties, and panels with the participating musicians.

Is the expo connected to the KISS Kruise event?
Yes. The expo precedes the 2026 KISS Kruise: Landlocked in Vegas, which runs November 13-15 at Virgin Hotels Las Vegas and will feature two unmasked KISS performances.