After concluding their latest tour, “End of the Road”, with a spectacular show at Madison Square Garden, New York, the band Kiss announced a new chapter in their story. Paul Stanley and Gene Simmons, founders of the musical group, have confirmed that they will no longer hold live shows, but will continue to perform in an innovative way: through avatars created with artificial intelligence (AI).
During the announcement, made at the end of the last show of the tour, fans were surprised by the replacement of the musicians with their digital avatars, who played the last song of the tour, in the encore: “God Gave Rock And Roll To You”. Since then, the band has been updating their move to virtual tours on social media. In one of the available videos, singer Paul Stanley stated: “The band will never stop, because the fans own it. The world owns the band. The band deserves to live, because it is bigger than us.”
Images of the process of capturing the musicians’ facial expressions, which will be used in the digital avatars, were also shared on Kiss’ social networks.
The initiative is not new and follows in the footsteps of ABBA, who launched a holoshow in 2022 after recording a new album. The performance was pre-recorded, with the group mapping out their movements, in the same way Kiss does now. And, it is worth saying, the presentations were a success with the public.
This is expected to be a growing trend in the entertainment market, which was ushered in with holographic shows of late artists, such as Whitney Houston, Tupac Shakur, Frank Zappa and Roy Orbison. What is new is the interest of living artists in technology, which further evolves with their participation in the creative process.
While Hollywood has gone on strike over fears that actors will be replaced by digital avatars, the music industry is going in the opposite direction, aiming to keep rock’n’roll playing all night, or rather, for eternity.
Source: Terra
Earl Johnson is a music writer at Gossipify, known for his in-depth analysis and unique perspective on the industry. A graduate of USC with a degree in Music, he brings years of experience and passion to his writing. He covers the latest releases and trends, always on the lookout for the next big thing in music.
