On Saturday night, Kiss closed out the final performance of their 鈥淭he End of the Road鈥� at New York City鈥檚 famed Madison Square Garden.
But as dedicated fans surely know 鈥� they were never going to call it quits. Not really.
During their encore, the band鈥檚 current lineup 鈥� founders Paul Stanley and Gene Simmons as well as guitarist Tommy Thayer and drummer Eric Singer 鈥� left the stage to reveal digital avatars of themselves. After the transformation, the virtual Kiss launched into a performance of 鈥淕od Gave Rock and Roll to You.鈥�
The cutting-edge technology was used to tease a new chapter of the rock band: , the band is now interested in a kind of digital immortality.
The avatars were created by George Lucas鈥� special-effects company, Industrial Light & Magic, in partnership with Pophouse Entertainment Group, the latter of which was co-founded by ABBA鈥檚 Bj枚rn Ulvaeus. The two companies recently teamed up for in London, in which fans could attend a full concert by the Swedish band 鈥� as performed by their digital avatars.
Per Sundin, CEO of Pophouse Entertainment, says this new technology allows Kiss to continue their legacy for 鈥渆ternity.鈥� He says the band wasn鈥檛 on stage during virtual performance because 鈥渢hat鈥檚 the key thing,鈥� of the future-seeking technology. 鈥淜iss could have a concert in three cities in the same night across three different continents. That鈥檚 what you could do with this.鈥�
In order to create their digital avatars, who are depicted as a kind of superhero version of the band, Kiss performed in motion capture suits.
Experimentation with this kind of technology has become increasingly common in certain sections of the music industry. In October partnered with Soul Machines to create an autonomously automated 鈥渄igital twin鈥� called 鈥淒igital Mark.鈥� In doing so, Tuan became the first celebrity to attach their likeness to artificial intelligence technology that allows fans to engage in one-on-one conversations with Tuan鈥檚 avatar.
Aespa, the K-pop girl group, frequently perform alongside their digital avatars 鈥� the quartet is meant to be viewed as an octet with digital twins. Another girl group, Eternity, is made up entirely of virtual characters 鈥� no humans necessary.
鈥淲hat we鈥檝e accomplished has been amazing, but it鈥檚 not enough. The band deserves to live on because the band is bigger than we are,鈥� Kiss frontman Paul Stanley said 鈥淚t鈥檚 exciting for us to go the next step and see Kiss immortalized.鈥�
鈥淲e can be forever young and forever iconic by taking us to places we鈥檝e never dreamed of before,鈥� Kiss bassist Gene Simmons added. 鈥淭he technology is going to make Paul jump higher than he鈥檚 ever done before.鈥�
And for those who couldn鈥檛 make the Madison Square Garden show 鈥� stay tuned, because a Kiss avatar concert may very well be on the way.
Maria Sherman, The Associated Press
