Kiss Continues Preparation for Vegas Avatar Show Featuring New Songs

Gene Simmons, bassist and co-founder of Kiss, has confirmed that the band has written new songs for its upcoming avatar-based show, planned for 2028 in Las Vegas.

According to Pollstar, the virtual-reality version of Kiss-introduced at the conclusion of the band's farewell tour in December 2023-will headline the new production. The show will feature digital avatars of the group created by Industrial Light & Magic, the visual effects studio founded by George Lucas. Pophouse Entertainment, the Swedish company known for producing the ABBA Voyage hologram show, will lead the project's rollout.

Simmons said the show will represent the band's iconic personas, such as the Demon and the Starchild. "It's going to be the iconic face personas, the Demon, the Starchild, and so on. Who you want to place into that lineup is up to you," Simmons said.

Kiss co-leader Paul Stanley said, "The avatar show will have all the classics through the years and some surprises." Simmons added, "You're going to get all that stuff, and also new songs." When asked for more details, Simmons said, "Exactly what that means, written by us. We have songs done."

Pophouse CEO Jessica Koravos told Pollstar that the avatars revealed at the band's 2023 farewell show were "an early prototype of the Kiss avatar concept." She said, "A lot has evolved since then-both in terms of creative concept for the show and avatar technology. We are now deep in development with a top-flight creative team headed by Thierry Coup. The team was on set last week testing out pyro effects against a new generation of LED screens to make sure we max out the Kiss signature flame throwing. The show concept is a 4D roller coaster ride through the hits, the comic book worlds and the personas of Kiss."

Stanley said the new project is unrelated to earlier experiments with hologram performances. "This has really no connection to some of the experimental holograms that were tried in the past, which were really very primitive. This will be virtually seeing us. My avatar looks just like me, not a cartoon or an artist's rendition. The great thing about being an icon is you can stay young forever."

Simmons said even calling the production a "show" might be an understatement. "It'll be less of a show and more of an experience, because as fantastic as virtual reality is-it fools your eyes-but your ears can hear what's going on around you," Simmons said. "So if, hypothetically, you see a dragon that breathes fire into your face, the visuals will give you that, but you won't feel the heat, so imagine all your senses are being attacked right along with the visuals."

Both Stanley and Simmons discussed the flexibility of focusing on the band's signature personas, which have been embodied by various members over the years.

"It's very interesting, because unlike other rock bands, we're not confined by their limitations," Stanley said. "We're basically Superman with a guitar and a Marshall amplifier."

Simmons said the avatar show represents a new beginning for the band. "The fans should start to think about this as not the end of anything," he said. "This is the phoenix rising out of the ashes. As a form of life, caterpillars aren't very impressive, but they survive, and then it looks like they're dying as they go into a cocoon. But then you get a beautiful butterfly that sprouts wings and goes to places and soars above that the caterpillar never imagined. This is not the end. This is the beginning."