AV Magazine AV Magazine 
Rock band KISS have unveiled ‘immortal’ digital avatars which will carry on their performances when band members are no longer able to tour.
The avatars made their debut, performing the encore to the final show in a four-year End of the Road tour. This show took place at Madison Square Garden in New York on Friday.
The end-of-show avatar performance was created in partnership with Pophouse Entertainment Group, the lead investor and production partner in Abba Voyage, the London-based holographic show which has sold more than 1.9 million tickets and which reportedly grosses $2m a week.
The KISS avatars were created by Industrial Light & Magic (ILM) which captured the band’s faces and body movements. ILM is a visual effects company founded by George Lucas, a filmmaker who created the Star Wars and Indiana Jones franchises, which has also worked on the Mandalorian series.
The creative director on the KISS avatar project was Thierry Coup, chief experiential futurist at JOCOUP Creative and formerly senior vice president and chief creative officer at Universal Destinations and Experiences.
KISS has been performing for more than 50 years and has sold more than 100 million records worldwide. The band has already performed several farewell tours but this may well be the last of them all.
An article in Verge describes the KISS avatar performance as being based on translucent screens with shots of the band projected on to them.
For more information:
Have your say
or a new account to join the discussion.