KISS performed their last-ever concert last weekend at New York’s Madison Square Garden after an epic End of the Road final tour.
But as Gene Simmons, Paul Stanley, Eric Singer and Tommy Thayer left the stage for the final time, the four band members “returned” in the form of their younger digital avatars to perform God Gave Rock ’n’ Roll to You II.
The motion-captured performance creations were designed by George Lucas’s Industrial Light & Magic and financed by Pophouse Entertainment, who were behind London’s ABBA Voyage.
The virtual concert residency features younger ABBAtars of the Swedish band made from mo-cap performances by the actual band, alongside a 10-piece live band.
The London-based stadium show makes over $2 million a week and now it looks like KISS will be following suit in some form.
In a new video, KISS were shown in motion capture suits creating virtual performances that can be used beyond their retirement and long after they’re dead. They teased: “We can live on eternally”.
At this stage, it’s not be revealed if KISS will have a similar virtual concert residency like ABBA (presumably in their native New York?) or if they’ll be used for a rock opera, musical or another attraction.
Stanley said in a video: “People say, ‘Well what are you going to do when you stop?’ Well, the band will never stop because we don’t own the band. The fans own the band, the world owns the band.”
Simmons shared: “We can be forever young and forever iconic by taking us to places we’ve never dreamt of before.
“The technology is going to make Paul [Stanley] jump higher than he’s ever done before.” And Stanley added: “And it won’t hurt!”