KISS avatars go on tour after Paul Stanley, Gene Simmons retire
WHEN KISS’ veteran rock stars take the stage for the last time after a 50-year career, they’ll hand their legacy over to three-dimensional avatars that will continue playing after they retire.
The band agreed to let avatars created by George Lucas’s visual-effects company Industrial Light & Magic perform “God Gave Rock and Roll to You” as a final song at Madison Square Garden in New York on Saturday.
In this vein, lead singer Paul Stanley and bandmates Gene Simmons, Eric Singer, and Tommy Thayer have something in common with Swedish pop group ABBA. The group is in discussions to let their avatars continue to tour in a deal with Pophouse Entertainment Group AB, the company behind ABBA Voyage. Details are yet to be ironed out.
The band is known for its electrifying live performances, having recorded 44 albums that have sold more than 100 million copies combined.
“What we’ve accomplished has been amazing, but it’s not enough,” Mr. Stanley said in a taped video shared with Bloomberg. “The band deserves to live on because the band is bigger than we are.”
Their digital personas are featured as younger-version fantasy-based superheroes with spectacular powers — including a fire breathing Mr. Simmons with dragon wings.
ABBA Voyage has sold more than 1.9 million tickets, according to Pophouse Chief Executive Officer Per Sundin. The shows rake in more than $2 million a week for performances featuring three-dimensional renderings of Agnetha Fältskog, Björn Ulvaeus, Benny Andersson, and Anni-Frid Lyngstad, which perform the group’s past hits including “Dancing Queen” and “Fernando.”
A KISS avatar tour will likely take two-to-three years to organize. Before a show materializes, the avatars may also appear on other platforms like gaming, metaverse, or “a totally new vehicle in the entertainment business,” Per Sundin said.
“We couldn’t do this with any artist. It needs to be a band with legacy, with really dedicated super-fans,” Sundin said in an interview. What also makes Kiss so well suited for an avatar version are the members’ strong characters, he said. “Their makeup. They have their personalities. There are even Marvel magazines about them where they have superpowers.” — Bloomberg
