The band may be over, but the brand has a future

Kiss ended their final tour—and presumably their careers—in spectacular fashion as the End of the Road Tour wrapped at New York City’s Madison Square Garden on Saturday (Dec 2nd). After a two and a half year delay due to the pandemic, the band said their final goodbyes as humans.

But while frontman Paul Stanley, bassist Gene Simmons, drummer Eric Singer, and guitarist Tommy Thayer may be stepping out of their platform boots for good, Kiss will live on in a new way. A post-show holographic experience featured an animated Kiss singing “God Gave Rock ‘N’ Roll to You II,” leading me to presume the forthcoming announcement will be related to a foray into virtual reality. Perhaps a team-up with Meta, or a holographic show similar to that which ABBA put on in London. A QR code was displayed on the screens, taking fans to the Kiss website which shared a countdown to midnight ET along with “The end is only the beginning. Don’t miss out!”

The announcement unveiled that Kiss has been immortalized and reborn as an avatar to rock forever as the group’s encore. The avatars were created by George Lucas’ visual effects company Industrial Light & Magic (ILM) using their advanced performance-capture technology, gathering every nuance of each band member’s face and body performance in exact detail. Swedish company PopHouse Entertainment, which produced ABBA Voyage, is producing and financing the virtual Kiss venture.

“The future is so exciting, we can live on eternally,” Simmons states in a video.

“The band deserves to live on because the band is bigger than we are,” Stanley adds.

Fans can watch a 30-minute conversation with the band, PopHouse, and ILM about the project and claim their digital token by registering on the band’s website.

The set on the final night was nearly the same as last night, which your humble (crazy) traveling music reporter (concert junkie) reviewed in full.

No, Ace Frehley and Peter Criss didn’t show. And, frankly, any disappointment is on the fans for expecting it despite what the band, Criss, and Frehley have said in breathless answers to the multiple times they’ve had to answer that question.

The rock icons truly went out on their terms. The spectacle was live-streamed on pay-per-view to every country on Earth because Kiss would never go out in any way other than the biggest way possible.

Hosted by former Spotify Global Head of Rock Allison Hagendorf, the PPV event featured behind-the-scenes footage, a look back at Kiss’ takeover of New York this week, and interviews from a stage in the middle of the Garden.

Hagendorf teed up the big post-show announcement. She also spoke with guests including Criss Angel, rock anthem composer Desmond Child, Simmons’ kids Nick & Sophie Tweed Simmons, along with Paul Stanley’s son Evan. Evan’s group Amber Wild opened for his dad’s band for the last 15 dates of the tour.

Two incredible nights at the most legendary venue in all of entertainment with the most legendary band in arena rock as an era in music ended.

As I spent the day enjoying the magical atmosphere of NYC at the holiday time of year, it occurred to me that as a music reporter—and sorry, not sorry for ending like this—I could not have asked for a better KISSmas present. It was also cool that Live Nation handed out commemorative golden tickets after the show.