KISS is throwing their support behind music industry workers who’ve lost their jobs due to the coronavirus pandemic. As part of the Live Nation Crew Nation relief fund, the band has launched a new ‘Stay At Home’ tour t-shirt, available to buy now.
With the abrupt halt of concerts worldwide due to COVID-19, Live Nation set up the Crew Nation fund specifically to help tour managers, production managers, riggers, sound engineers, backline techs, lighting directors and designers, special effects teams, carpenters and more.
Now KISS have gotten behind the cause, releasing a special t-shirt which reads ‘You Wanted The Best. You Got The Best. Stay At Home Tour 2020’. The back of the shirt lists days of the week and ‘stay at home’ in place of dates and venues.
“100% of the profit generated from the purchase of this Stay At Home T-Shirt shall be donated to the Global Relief Fund For Live Music Crews – Live Nation Entertainment Crew Nation,” says the KIIS World website.
In announcing the Crew Nation initiative, Live Nation’s Senior VP of Marketing & Sponsorship Barry Gabel said; “Live Nation instantly saw the need to support the road crews. These behind the scenes professionals are the backbone of our industry.”
“I’m proud Live Nation, our employees and the touring artists themselves have stepped up to provide financial relief while the concert industry is on pause.”
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Live Nation kicked off the fund with a donation of US$5 million, and also pledged to match the next $5 million raised by artists and fans.
Watch ‘Rock And Roll All Nite’ by KISS:
Gene Simmons recently hit out at people complaining about being in quarantine due to the coronavirus outbreak. “What’s the burden? The burden ain’t much of anything. We should all shut up and get over ourselves, and that includes yours truly,” he said.
KISS is far from the only band to be giving back to touring crews. The National announced an archival series featuring classic live sets and never-before-seen footage called ‘An Exciting Communal Event’ in an effort to help fund their touring crew.
