On Saturday night, KISS concluded their “The End of the Road” farewell tour with a final performance at New York City’s renowned Madison Square Garden.
Dedicated fans, however, were certain — the band was never going to truly call it quits. During their encore, the current lineup, including founders Paul Stanley and Gene Simmons, alongside guitarist Tommy Thayer and drummer Eric Singer, left the stage to unveil their digital avatars. Post-transformation, the virtual KISS launched into a rendition of “God Gave Rock and Roll to You.”
Cutting-edge technology was employed to tease a new era for the rock band. After 50 years of KISS, the band is now exploring a form of digital immortality.
The avatars were created in collaboration with Industrial Light & Magic, George Lucas’ special-effects company, along with the PopHouse Entertainment Group, co-founded by ABBA’s Björn Ulvaeus. These companies recently collaborated for the “ABBA Voyage” show in London, where fans could attend a complete concert by the Swedish band — performed by their digital avatars.
Per Sundin, CEO of PopHouse Entertainment, expressed that this innovative technology grants KISS an “eternity” for their legacy. Sundin highlighted the absence of the band on stage during the virtual performance as a crucial aspect of this futuristic technology. He emphasized the potential for KISS to hold concerts in multiple cities across different continents simultaneously.
To create their superhero-like digital avatars, KISS performed in motion capture suits.
This technological experimentation is becoming more prevalent in segments of the music industry. In October, K-pop star Mark Tuan partnered with Soul Machines to create an autonomously automated “digital twin” named “Digital Mark.” Tuan became the first celebrity to integrate his likeness with OpenAI’s GPT technology, enabling fans to engage in AI-driven one-on-one conversations with Tuan’s avatar.
K-pop girl group Aespa frequently performs alongside their digital avatars, aiming to present the quartet as an octet with digital twins. Meanwhile, another girl group, Eternity, consists entirely of virtual characters — no humans needed.
Paul Stanley, KISS’s frontman, expressed excitement about immortalizing the band, stating, “What we’ve achieved has been amazing, but it’s not enough. The band deserves to live on because the band is bigger than we are.” Gene Simmons, KISS’s bassist, added, “The technology is going to make Paul jump higher than he’s ever done before.”
Here are few more interesting facts about the Rock Band KISS
