KISS Officially Retires From Live Touring, Reveals Digital Avatars to Begin ‘New Era’

Legendary rock band KISS has officially retired from live touring, but they’ve revealed that a “new era” of the band is now beginning. On Saturday night, KISS gave their final concert performance at Madison Square Garden in New York City, closing out their The End of the Road farewell tour. During the band’s encore, per the AP, KISS revealed their digital avatars performing “God Gave Rock and Roll to You.”

Speaking in a roundtable interview about the new direction for KISS, frontman/guitarist Paul Stanley said, “What we’ve accomplished has been amazing, but it’s not enough. The band deserves to live on because the band is bigger than we are. It’s exciting for us to go the next step and see KISS immortalized.” Bassist Gene Simmons added, “We can be forever young and forever iconic by taking us to places we’ve never dreamed of before. The technology is going to make Paul jump higher than he’s ever done before.”

KISS was founded by Simmons and Stanley in 1973, with Ace Frehley joining as lead guitar and Peter Criss playing drums. Frehley and Criss have exited and returned to the band throughout the years, but neither are currently in the band. KISS has written and recorded 20 studio albums — not counting the four solo albums each member recorded in 1978 — since their self-titled debut in 1974, with the most recent being 2012s Monster.

As of 2018, KISS had sold roughly 75 million albums worldwide, making them one of the highest-selling rock bands of all time. The band has also delivered more than three dozen tours since its inception. The End of the Road World Tour, which they have been on for a few years — due to having to take a break caused by the Covid-19 pandemic — marks KISS’ 35th overall tour.

Back in 2019, Stanley spoke with AZ Central about the band’s final tour and shared that he was very excited to kick it off. “It’s like I’m getting ready to go to the biggest party ever,” he told the outlet. “It’s a celebration and a time for both the band and the fans to congregate and acknowledge what we created together. Stanley added, “If anybody needs a validation or justification for their love of the band, this tour is it. And we’re so lucky to be able to, on our terms, decide that this will be the last tour.”