PAUL STANLEY On KISS's Much-Anticipated Avatar Show: 'This Is As Real As I Am, And I Think It's Gonna Just Blow People Away'

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 (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET):  "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."

In a separate interview with Ultimate Classic Rock, Simmons said about the KISS avatar show: "We're gonna blow your socks off in a way multiple times more exciting than the Sphere. People who go to Vegas to see a show in the Sphere are awed by the massive scale of everything. There's nothing wrong with the Sphere, [but] I'll go out on a limb and make sure people understand this [the KISS avatars] is gonna make that seem like popcorn fart. It'll be mind-blowing."

According to Gene, the KISS avatar show will "attack the senses as well. If you see a dragon coming in to scoop you up and it breathes fire, there will be fire all around you, and you'll feel the heat. The fire, the brimstone, the coffee, you'll be able to smell it. We attack the senses instead of virtual reality, which only attacks the eyes."

Simmons added that the avatar show will be staged "all around the world" and not just in Vegas.

The KISS avatars are being financed and produced by the Swedish company Pophouse Entertainment, which is behind "ABBA Voyage".

During a question-and-answer session at last year's "KISS Kruise: Landlocked In Vegas", Stanley said the prospect of performing at the Sphere in Las Vegas didn't appeal to him because he felt the technology that is used overshadowed the music.

"From the time the Sphere opened, people would say to us, 'You guys are a natural for the Sphere,'" Stanley said at the time. "I'm not really so sold on the idea because KISS has always been about being larger than life, and at the Sphere, the band is on a postage stamp. For my money, I think you don't even need a live band there. People are watching the screens, which are amazing — what's being programmed, the content, is incredible, but I want the band to matter. You forget that there's a band on that little stage, so I'm not really sure how we would do it."

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 a May 2025 interview with Billboard, Pophouse CEO Per Sundin was asked if the KISS virtual show would take place at the Sphere. He responded: "No. The Sphere is a fantastic building, a fantastic venue, but for the type of avatar concert we are planning with KISS — which is something else — we are looking at more intimate sites. I've been to the Sphere four times [to see U2 live, a video replay of a U2 show, Anyma and THE EAGLES]. The first time I saw U2 at Sphere, the visuals were amazing, but I didn't feel emotionally connected. Bono is a preacher. He has something to say to the world, and I didn't find he was in the right element. I saw U2 virtual [a recording of a prior Sphere performance], and Bono was more of a preacher there. With U2 [both times], I asked people, 'Did you go for U2 or did you go for the Sphere?' Two-thirds said they went there for the Sphere."

In September 2024, Stanley was asked by Billboard's "Behind The Setlist" podcast about the reports that the KISS avatar show will debut in 2027 in Las Vegas. Paul said: "What I can tell you is that the technology that's being used, which is a furthering of the technology used on the ABBA show, has to be installed and basically a building has to be built around it. So this isn't something where you're in Kansas City today, and tomorrow you fly with your projector to do it. It demands an arena, so to speak that's really solely used for a show like this. But it's not something that can play on Wednesdays and Thursdays or Saturdays and Sundays, and then something else is in there during the week."

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.