KISS Kruise Drops Anchor in Vegas for Round Two

There's a certain irony in calling something a “kruise” when the closest body of water is a hotel swimming pool, but KISS have never been a band overly concerned with semantics. Paul Stanley confirmed during an April 11 Q&A session at the Indy KISS Fan Expo that the 2026 edition of KISS Kruise: Landlocked In Vegas will return to Virgin Hotels Las Vegas this November, marking the second consecutive year the legendary band has swapped open seas for the Strip.

The pivot from ocean liner to desert oasis wasn't exactly a creative choice. After hosting 11 branded cruises departing from ports in Los Angeles, Miami, and New Orleans over the years, KISS found themselves squeezed out of the maritime market as more and more acts crowded into the rock cruise space. Rather than fight for deck space, the band made the pragmatic call to plant their flag on dry land, rebranding the originally planned “KISS Army Storms Vegas” concept into the inaugural Landlocked In Vegas event last November.

That 2025 debut carried enormous emotional weight. The weekend served as a dual celebration of five decades of KISS and the 50th anniversary of the KISS Army fan club, and it arrived just weeks after the death of founding guitarist Ace Frehley, who passed away on October 16, 2025, at age 74 following complications from a fall at his home studio. The band opened their unplugged set at Virgin Hotels by asking fans to raise electric candles that had been distributed before the show in tribute to the Spaceman. In one of his final interviews before his death, Frehley had revealed he'd turned down an invitation to participate in the event, characteristically blunt in his assessment of the venue choice.

The 2025 edition also marked the first time Stanley, Gene Simmons, and company had performed together since closing out the End of the Road tour at Madison Square Garden in December 2023, and they did it without the iconic greasepaint. It was their first unmasked performance in two years, a striking visual statement from a band that built an empire on face paint and pyrotechnics. The supporting lineup was a who's who of '80s hard rock royalty: Quiet Riot, Stephen Pearcy and Warren DeMartini performing the music of RATT, Sebastian Bach, Bruce Kulick, Black ‘N Blue, Kuarantine, and School of Rock all took the stage across the weekend. The event was co-produced by Pophouse, Topeka, and Vibee.

Stanley, speaking to the packed Expo crowd in Indianapolis, was characteristically bullish about the 2026 installment, promising that lessons learned from the inaugural run would translate into a significantly upgraded experience. He teased that the lineup of supporting acts would be worth the trip on its own and urged fans to start packing their bags. Full details on the 2026 edition are expected to be officially announced later this month.

For a band that supposedly retired from touring over two years ago, KISS continue to find creative ways to keep the machine running. The Landlocked format gives them something the cruise model never quite could: full control of the environment without the logistical headaches of chartering a ship. Whether this becomes an annual November tradition in Vegas or eventually evolves into something bigger remains to be seen, but one thing is clear. KISS may have hung up the makeup, but they haven't hung up the guitars.