KISS finished the last show of their career in New York this Saturday (2nd December) evening.
The band launched their ‘new era’ as ABBA-style avatars. After the band ripped apart the stage with their final song ‘Rock and Roll All Nite’ at Madison Square Garden, these avatars appeared on screen to perform the band’s cover of Argent’s ‘God Gave Rock and Roll to You.’
“A New Era Begins” – Kiss’s new video out on YouTube
All the 4 members of the band – Paul Stanley, Gene Simmons, Tommy Thayer and Eric Singer have been apparently “immortalized” by motion capture, “reborn as avatars to rock forever”, as they call this. The Swedish company Pophouse Entertainment have worked behind the production of these avatars, named Demon, Starchild, Catman and Spaceman, which are imagined as “superhero” versions of the band created by Industrial Light and Magic (ILM). “A New Era Begins” – this is what they have named the promotion video out on YouTube, soundtracked by “Rock and Roll All Nite“.
The video shows Paul Stanley and Gene Simmons excited about the band’s future. “The band will never stop because the fans own the band,” says Stanley. Gene Simmons adds: “It’s going to be the best concert you’ve ever seen.” Paul Stanley also added that,”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.” “The technology is going to make Paul jump higher than he’s ever done before,” added Simmons.
Sundin’s reaction to the announcement which seems to have mixed reactions from the fans
“KISS could have a concert in three cities in the same night across three different continents. That’s what you could do with this,” said Paul Sundin, CEO of Pophouse Entertainment. He also says that KISS are able to continue their legacy for “eternity” thanks to the new technology.
The band also has a “KISS world museum” in Las Vegas, KISS cruises, an upcoming movie and a cartoon show on them.
Also read: Drummer Jay Weinberg part ways with heavy metal giants Slipknot
There seems to be mixed reactions regarding the announcement. “They are coming with the AI music, they are coming with the 3D avatars and you have a choice to make – you can either support this kind of stuff and embrace it or you can go against it and stand up for live music,” a video on Brian Storm’s YouTube channel Rockfeed says, calling the announcement “bizarre”.
