KISS Announce ‘New Era’ As Digital Avatars Following Farewell Tour

Iconic rock band KISS are set to continue performing as digital avatars following the recent conclusion of their farewell tour.

KISS played their final ever show at Madison Square Garden in New York on Friday, December 1. At the end of the concert, after the actual band played its last song, fans were able to watch a one-song performance of “God Gave Rock and Roll to You” by digital KISS avatars.

“Today, A New Era Begins. #KISSARMY, the end is only the beginning!,” the band wrote on social media. “KISS have been immortalized and reborn as avatars to rock forever.”

In a press release, the band explained that KISS is “marking the end of its physical existence by crossing into the digital world.” The plan is for avatars of KISS to “perform to fans for decades to come.”

The KISS avatars were created by George Lucas‘ visual effects company Industrial Light & Magic using motion-capture technology involving the band members themselves.

The forthcoming KISS avatar shows will be in partnership with Pophouse Entertainment Group, the Swedish company behind the recent virtual ABBA Voyage production in London.

“We can be forever young and forever iconic by taking us to places we’ve never dreamed of before,” explained KISS’ Gene Simmons. “The technology is going to make Paul [Stanley] jump higher than he’s ever done before.”

Paul Stanley added, “What we’ve accomplished has been amazing, but it’s not enough. The band deserves to live on because the band is bigger than we are . It’s exciting for us to go the next step and see KISS immortalized. I mean, we’ve spent 50 years building it to this point. And by working with ILM and working with Pophouse, we’re all sharing this vision of taking KISS to a completely different level beyond being just a music band. And we’ve always thought of ourselves as more than just a music band.”

(Photo: Dustin Gaffke; CC BY 2.0 via Wikimedia)