The AFL is still searching for this year’s Grand Final entertainment, less than eight weeks out from the premiership decider, after a second act rejected their offer.
But vintage US rockers KISS could end up being the league’s saviours with their Australian tour promoter pushing for their inclusion.
Popular Aussie-Kiwi rock band Crowded House has pulled out from the gig, with former Collingwood president Eddie McGuire claiming there was a dispute over where the stage would be placed at the MCG.
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Last year Robbie Williams took centre stage on the ground itself, but that is much more costly than putting the act on the stage in the crowd where Meat Loaf famously once performed.
“I’m understanding from our breakfast team there was a dispute that came in between the AFL and Crowded House as to the stage position on the MCG on grand final day,” McGuire said on the Eddie And Jimmy Podcast.
“Which makes sense to me, because if you stick them up in that back corner like Meat Loaf, it’s not great.
“Out in the middle of the ground, that could work, (but) there’s a lot of cost involved in that.
“I don’t know what the situation is. I’ve been talking to people this morning, trying to get on to a lot of people hiding at the moment. (But) if that’s the case, that could be a deal-breaker.”
But McGuire also believes the NRL might have played a role in the divorce.
“I was speaking … to one of Australia’s most influential and in-the-know people when it comes to show business … who had no idea about the AFL and Crowded House … and I mentioned to this particular person, ‘I’ve heard this morning that Crowded House have pulled out,’ and his first reaction was, ‘Yeah, they’re doing the NRL grand final’.
“I’ve subsequently rung Channel 9 in Sydney and they’ve said … ‘not to my knowledge, the last update didn’t have them on the bill’.”
That leaves KISS, who are coming to Australia a week later for their global tour anyway, as a leading option.
The band, made up of Gene Simmons, Paul Stanley, Tommy Thayer and Eric Singer, have expressed their interest via tour manager Andrew McManus.
“I wanted to make sure they were 1) into it and 2) available to come to Australia four to five days earlier. The answer to both was yes,” McManus told The Age.
“The public is crazy about the idea of KISS. The amount of people that have called me – the KISS Army, the fans – since the rumours started, it just makes sense.
“There would be a bit of work to be done,” he said. “KISS is rock ‘n’ roll theatre. When we move, we move with 60 trucks.
If we were to do it, we would want to do it as a spectacle and leave everyone gobsmacked. Paul (Stanley) is already thinking about how he’d arrive at the stage. They’re pretty excited by it.”
He added the AFL was yet to reach out and the league said in a statement “pre-match entertainment for the 2023 AFL grand final will be announced in September”.
McManus proclaimed: “It would be an absolute mind-blowing show.
“Paul Stanley flying from the grandstand, zip-lining to the middle of the stage and doing I Was Made for Lovin’ You and then into Rock and Roll All Day (changed from ‘night’ given the show would be at around 1pm). All the pyros going off and flames and explosions. Absolute spectacle.”