Legendary American glam metal band Kiss announced on Sunday that digital avatars will now represent musicians in the entertainment world, using a method developed with ABBA.
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Pophouse Entertainment, a Swedish branding and entertainment company, said in a statement that Kiss “marks the end of its physical existence by entering the digital world.”
She emphasized that “the group’s transformation into an avatar will ensure their immortality, while pushing the boundaries of rock and roll performances, as Kiss did throughout their career.”
The band wrapped its latest “End of the Road” tour on Saturday at Madison Square Garden in New York.
At the end of the concert, their “avatar” performed a song, then an image of the four avatars appeared on the screen with the “Kiss” logo and the phrase “The beginning of a new era.”
Known in particular for their hit song “I Was Made for Your Love,” pyrotechnic effects and bombastic makeup, the New York group has sold more than 100 million records worldwide during its 50-year career, according to Pophouse Entertainment.
Vocalist Paul Stanley (age 71) and bassist Gene Simmons (age 74) were the only remaining founding members.
The avatars introduced on Saturday put the musicians in the shoes of superheroes, “a glimpse into one of the many and varied ways in which Kiss will live out the future as a digital artist through his avatars,” the Swedish community explained.
The digital avatars were created by ILM, the special effects company founded by George Lucas.
“We will be able to be forever young, forever creative, and go places we never dreamed of,” Gene Simmons said in the press release. “Technology will allow Paul (Stanley) to jump higher than ever before.”
Pophouse Entertainment has already developed a show in London by Swedish disco group ABBA, in which the quartet is represented by digital avatars beamed into holograms, notably playing “Mamma Mia” and “Gimme! Give Me! Give Me!” (Man After “Midnight” and “Dancing Queen”.
Based on its success, the exhibition has been expanded and plans are being considered to export it to other places in the world.
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