Hard rock band KISS played their final show at the esteemed Madison Square Garden in December last year—until we found out it was only their final “in-person” show. The band recently announced the acquisition of their likeness to bring together an AI spectacular similar to that seen at ABBA’s hologram concerts in London.
With a career spanning over 50 years, The End of the Road World Tour seemed a fitting name for a group ready to reap the rewards of retiring their strings, however this is only the end of the physical touring.
Gene Simmons recently spoke to TMZ about the band’s work with Pophouse, a Swedish company responsible for the ABBA Voyage series featuring a hologram performance by the band. KISS will be seeing a similar production with the sale of their discography to Pophouse for a whopping $300 million earlier this year.
“We will never tour as Kiss again. However, the end is also the beginning,” he said, explaining the comment made by a hologram version of Paul Stanley at their last show about the new era of KISS.
Discussing the hologram band, Simmons added, “It’s not like they’re gonna show up on stage, just like they did before, but it’s holograms. No, that’s an archaic term – technology has advanced so far you won’t believe it. We spent some time at George Lucas‘s place and did motion capture stuff secretly. We didn’t talk to anybody media or anything about it because we wanted this to be like nothing anybody’s ever seen.”
The avatars that will be used in KISS’s new AI shows were designed by George Lucas’ company, Industrial Light & Magic. Thus, you can expect the same allurement from these new shows that guided you through some of the 21st-century’s most popular movies.
“This is going to be beyond anything you’ve ever seen. So, the future is here. And with our friends at Pophouse, we’re going to be doing things that no band; no musical; nobody’s ever done before.”
So, if you missed the last KISS tour, you’ll be able to see them again in all their digital glory for the foreseeable future.
