According to blabbermouth.net, rock band KISS has released a short video announcing a show that features the band’s avatars are coming in 2027. Kiss’s captions on the short clip say: “50 years is a long time, and what the future holds is in the making.” The technology being used for KISS‘s avatars were originally developed for ABBA’s Voyage show in London, will allow KISS stay on the road while enjoying retirement.
According to BBC News, the KISS avatars will see the band appear as fantasy based superheroes who are eight feet tall, breathing fire and shooting electricity from their fingers, while floating above the audience. No further details have been announced yet for the band’s plan with the band’s avatars.
Regarding the avatars, Pophouse CEO Per Sundin states: “We’re going to figure it out after the tour. Is it a KISS concert in the future? Is it a rock opera? Is it a musical? A story, an adventure? These four individuals already have superpowers. We want to be as open as possible.”
The avatars will now be available for live shows around the world and in digital online settings, which some people collectively refer to as the metaverse. KISS will reportedly become the first American band to go fully virtual and stage its own avatar show.
Following the news about KISS’s virtual characters performing their first concert, former KISS guitarist Ace Frehley has claimed he will be compensated for use of the spaceman avatar: “I get paid for the usage for merch and stuff. And I would consider this avatar stuff a merchandise ploy. But I just saw something the other day on Youtube that Gene Simmons is having second thoughts about the whole avatar thing. ”
The guitarist adds: “But who knows with those guys, every day is a different story with those guys. And to be totally honest with you, I really don’t follow what they do very closely because I’m more involved with my own career.”
Each member of KISS had designed his own makeup. Drummer Peter Criss relinquished the rights to his “Catman” character when he left and Frehley maintains that he licensed his. Frehley also claimed in 2014 that he was due to get the rights back soon, a claim Paul Stanley called a “fantasy.”
Photo Credit: Gary Moratz