Rock Band Kiss Plans to Join the Avatar Concert Trend

They can’t rock n’ roll all night and party every day anymore. But their avatars can, maybe even profitably so.

After 50 years of performing, world-renowned shock rock group Kiss just played its final show, but the members say the show will go on in a way that allows the musicians to go easy on the facepaint and tour buses.

Pixelated Glory

The current lineup of Kiss, who are all now in their 60s and older, plan to replace themselves with 3D avatars created by George Lucas’ special effects company Industrial Light and Magic. Instead of seeing Gene Simmons and Paul Stanley in the flesh, concertgoers will watch giant screens with digitally de-aged, heightened, almost superhero versions of the actual band members. Simmons, who’s always dressed with a demonic pastiche, will be depicted with giant bat wings and breathing fire.

To purists, it might sound like the cringy holographic Tupac at Coachella more than a decade ago, but recent examples of this type of experience have proven quite successful:

• Swedish pop band ABBA launched ABBA Voyage last year, with the show making more than $2 million a week, Bloomberg reported.
• The ABBA arena, which holds just 3,000 people, its effects rig, and a live 10-piece band, were custom-made for the show. And the entire arena can be flattened, packed up, and easily moved to the next town. The system also allows for multiple showings a day, like a film screening.

The Death of Live Music?: Don’t hate us, Kiss purists, for the ABBA comparison, but the avatar concept should work for other aging acts who have built massive followings. Instead of a punishing tour schedule, musicians can re-record songs at their own pace — while wearing motion-capture suits — and then have those performances shown to different audiences. If a young, spry guy like Drake hops on the avatar bandwagon in the next few years, then we’ll know the tune has changed.