KISS announce first "avatar" tour for 2027

27 December 2023, 11:46

The veteran rock band have vowed to live on after retiring this year, with a special new show.

By Radio X

@RadioX

KISS have announced that their first avatar tour will take place in 2027.

The veteran rockers called it a day after their final End Of The Road concert at Madison Square Garden in New York on 2nd December.

However, they surprised fans at the end of the gig by debuting digital versions of themselves created by the team behind the successful ABBA Voyage hologram show - and it's now been revealed that plans are already under way for a virtual gig series.

A teaser clip posted to their social media channels announced: “50 years is a long time, and what the future holds is in the making."

The video also says: “2027 a show is coming.”

• Read more: KISS unveil avatars for "new era" at farewell show

Bassist and co-frontman Gene Simmons recently told fans the avatars will "get better", with millions of dollars being invested in the project.

During a Q+A at Electric Lady Studios in New York, he explained: “There’s so much being planned, even beyond my comprehension. But they’re spending, oh, about 200 million [dollars] to take it to the next level.”

He said of ABBA's first-of-its-kind show, he added: “You can’t tell if they’re there, right there, like that."

However, former KISS member Ace Frehley slammed the idea of the band using avatars.

The guitarist told Rock Antenne: “I don’t get this avatar thing that they’re gonna do.

“I saw some of it on a video on YouTube last night. It kind of looked like it was geared towards children. And it’s not rock and roll. I get up on stage without backing tracks, plug my guitar into a Marshall and go. That’s it. It’s always been that way and always will be.”

KISS declared the avatars the start of a "new era" in a video posted online after their final concert.

Simmons said: "We can be forever young and forever iconic by taking us to places we’ve never dreamt of before. The technology is going to make Paul [Stanley] jump higher than he’s ever done before ... If you think you are going to get rid of us then that's not going to happen."