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KISS
KISS might be done performing in person, but they’re going to keep on rocking out as digital pixels for years to come … something they just announced at their last show this weekend.
The legendary band played their last gig Saturday night at Madison Square Garden — this as part of their ‘End of the Road’ farewell tour … which marked their final live performance ever. Or so everybody thought, anyway — ’cause they say they’re keeping the party going.
Rather than continue to sing and dance themselves, Gene Simmons and co. are gonna let their AI counterparts do it for them … in the form of computerized avatars that can keep on playing shows quite literally forever. It’s called Kiss Online … and it marks their new era.
The whole thing might sound goofy, but it’s actually a trend that legacy bands are starting to embrace more and more — including ABBA, which has recently trotted out their own digital avatars in full concert … and playing to packed crowds, no less.
The guys simply put on motion capture suits and recorded a full-blown concert of theirs … which can then be repurposed and re-aired for years to come … with cool effects and stunts they wouldn’t normally be able to do on their own (especially at their age).
The KISS avatars actually came out onstage Saturday during an encore … and performed ‘God Gave Rock and Roll To You” … but they only did so onscreen, as opposed to appearing as full-blown life-size holograms. Time will tell if those holograms will debut at some point.
Anyway, it’s certainly the end of an era and the beginning of a new one. As you can imagine — there’s mixed reactions to the news … some hate it, others are fine with digital KISS.
It also serves as yet another reminder that we are very much living in the future right now … with the way tech/AI is going — more and more stuff like this is going to be introduced.
Welcome to the new world … where you can rock and roll all nite and everyday, ’til the end of time.