After wrapping up their final jaunt recently, Gene Simmons and his bandmates are expected to return to the stage in the form of avatars for a new tour in 2027.
- Dec 25, 2023
AceShowbiz - KISS' first avatar tour will be held in 2027. The veteran rockers retired after their final "End of the Road" concert at Madison Square Garden in New York on December 2, but surprised fans at the end of the gig by debuting digital versions of themselves created by the teams behind the lucrative "ABBA Voyage" hologram show, and it has now been revealed that plans are already under way for a virtual gig series.
"50 years is a long time, and what the future holds is in the making," a teaser clip was captioned. The video also stated, "2027 a show is coming."
Bassist and co-vocalist Gene Simmons, 74, recently told fans the avatars will "get better," with millions of dollars being invested in the project.
During a Q+A at Electric Lady Studios in New York, he told one fan, "There's so much being planned, even beyond my comprehension. But they're spending, oh, about 200 million [dollars] to take it to the next level." He said of ABBA's first-of-its-kind show, he added, "You can't tell if they're there, right there, like that."
It comes after former KISS member Ace Frehley slammed the "Rock and Roll All Nite" group's avatars. The 72-year-old guitarist told Rock Antenne, "I don't get this avatar thing that they're gonna do."
He continued, "I mean, I saw some of it on a video on YouTube last night. It kind of looked like it, you know, was geared towards children. And it's not rock and roll. I get up on stage without backing tracks, plug my guitar into a Marshall and go. That's it. It's always been that way and always will be."
KISS declared the avatars the start of a "new era" in a video posted online after their final concert. Gene said, "We can be forever young and forever iconic by taking us to places we've never dreamt of before. The technology is going to make [rhythm guitarist and co-lead vocalist] Paul [Stanley] jump higher than he's ever done before ... If you think you are going to get rid of us then that's not going to happen."
