PAUL STANLEY and GENE SIMMONS talk about KISS avatars
“This is as real as I am, and I think it's gonna just blow people away”
18-03-2026
In a new interview with Rock Of Nations With Dave Kinchen And Shane McEachern, Paul Stanley praised the much-anticipated KISS avatar show, which is tentatively due to premiere in 2027. The technology being used for the KISS avatars, originally developed for ABBA‘s “Voyage” show in London, will allow KISS to stay “on the road” in retirement. Speaking about the various KISS-related activities he and fellow KISS founder Gene Simmons are still involved in, Paul said: ”Well, the band continues. Without touring, there’s so much in the pipeline. This avatar show that’s going to be in Vegas is gonna blow everybody’s minds. It’s not like what some people have called holograms and all this kind of experimental and kitschy stuff. This is seeing us. This is as real as I am, and I think it’s gonna just blow people away. And it extends the band that much further.
“There’s no reason for us to live within the boundaries of other rock bands,” Paul added. “They live within those boundaries because that’s all they can be. And it’s great, but we are not that — we’re KISS.”
The KISS avatars are being financed and produced by the Swedish company Pophouse Entertainment, which is behind “ABBA Voyage”.
Back in December 2023, Simmons said that “about 200 million” dollars was being invested into the KISS avatar show.
Unlike the “ABBA Voyage” show, which recreates a 1970s-era ABBA concert in a custom-built London arena, KISS‘s avatars that appeared at the band’s final concert in New York on December 2, 2023 were not as grounded in reality as ABBA’s digital replicas. Instead, according to BBC News, the KISS avatars that were previewed at Madison Square Garden band appeared as fantasy-based superheroes who are eight feet tall, breathing fire and shooting electricity from their fingers, while floating above the audience.
KISS will reportedly become the first American band to go fully virtual and stage its own avatar show.
In early 2024, Pophouse acquired KISS‘s publishing, recording royalties and trademarks, including both the band’s logo and its iconic makeup design. While terms of the Pophouse deal were not officially announced, Bloomberg and Associated Press said it was worth upwards of $300 million.
