After 50 years of blood, fire, and rock ‘n’ roll, KISS said farewell (again) at Madison Square Garden last night with the band’s final show ever—well, kind of. At the end of the performance, Paul Stanley, Gene Simmons, Eric Singer, and Tommy Thayer left the stage only to be replaced by digital avatars of the band, who performed “God Gave Rock and Roll to You” in the first preview of a “new era” for KISS.
KISS has talked for years about achieving a kind of immortality by replacing every member of the band and continuing to tour with the same bombastic live show well after the band’s founding members hang up their high-heeled boots. With the help of ground-breaking special effects technology, however, the hottest band in the world will be able to deliver concerts featuring the band’s final lineup, which has been stable since Thayer joined the group in 2002.
“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,” said Paul Stanley. “It’s exciting for us to go the next step and see KISS immortalized.”
The avatars were created by recording the band with motion capture technology and are the work of George Lucas’ special-effects company, Industrial Light & Magic, in partnership with Pophouse Entertainment Group, which was co-founded by ABBA’s Björn Ulvaeus. The two companies recently collaborated to produce the ABBA Voyage show in London.
KISS did not offer many details on what to expect from the digital avatars, but the possibilities are staggering. According to Per Sundin, CEO of Pophouse Entertainment, “KISS could have a concert in three cities in the same night across three different continents. That’s what you could do with this.”
Watch the video announcement of KISS’ new digital avatar era below, and stay tuned for updates.
(Video: KISS)
The post KISS Says Farewell Again With “Final” Show, Announces Plans To Continue Performing As Digital Avatars [Video] appeared first on L4LM.
