KISS’ hologram show requires a venue that is “built specifically” for it.
The glam metal group retired their live show in December, playing a final concert at Madison Square Garden in New York in December, but they surprised fans by debuting digital versions of themselves created by the teams behind the lucrative ‘ABBA Voyage’ hologram show.
And they are working behind the scenes to get the show up and running, with guitarist Tommy Thayer, 63, revealing they are weighing up which city will host the event, with Las Vegas a “strong contender”.
Speaking at the Keep Memory Alive annual Power of Love gala in Las Vegas this month, Tommy is quoted by The Sun newspaper’s Bizarre column as saying: “A show like this needs a theatre which is built specifically for the show, so we have to decide where it’s going to be. And there’s considerations about New York, Singapore, Dubai, London of course, but Las Vegas as well is a strong contender.
“And I’m a big fan of Las Vegas. This is where I live. So I can see something like that possibly happening here, but we’ll just have to wait and see.”
The ‘Rock and Roll All Nite’ group – completed by Gene Simmons, 74, Paul Stanley, 72, and 66-year-old Eric Singer – quit whilst they were still able to deliver their physically-demanding show.
Tommy explained: “We’ve just basically ended the touring.
“Gene, Paul Stanley, myself and Eric Singer have decided that because of the physicality of what KISS does, it’s a little bit different.
“It’s a heightened kind of a performance thing, and physically it’s even way beyond what the normal groups are doing.
“That’s why we’ve decided to kind of bow out when things are still really strong with the band and the band is still really hot,
“I applaud all the groups that are out there doing what they’re doing at an advanced age.”
They declared the avatars signal the start of a “new era” and Gene claimed millions of dollars are being pumped into the project.
Speaking during a Q+A at the Electric Lady Studios in New York, he told one fan: “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: “You can’t tell if they’re there, right there, like that.”
In a video posted online after their final concert, Gene explained: “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 [rhythm guitarist and co-lead vocalist] 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.”