50 years ago today – March 29, 1974 -  ABC’ In Concert aired KISS’ first national television appearance.

Take a trip down memory lane watching the legends perform three tracks from their self-titled debut, “Nothin’ To Lose”, “Firehouse”, and “Black Diamond”, featuring the iconic lineup of Paul Stanley, Gene Simmons, Peter Criss, and Ace Frehley.

KISS manager, Doc McGhee, is featured in a new interview with The Rock Experience With Mike Brunn. He sits down to discuss KISS continuing their legacy as avatars, box sets, selling the brand, the KISS Kruise, and more. Check out the interview below.

On the creation of the KISS avatars

McGhee: "We had been looking at things for five years. We had been looking at everything from when Tupac did that holographic thing at Coachella: We started looking at the technology that was available for us, and avatars were kind of available but... you could shoot an avatar, but then what do you do with it? We decided that until we knew what we were going to do, the technology was going to get better and better. We weren't even sold on the avatars; we were just sold on an extension of KISS, whatever that was. Then we ran into Pophouse (Entertainment), who did ABBA Voyage in London, and we went to see it about a year-and-a-half-ago and watched how they implemented the avatars, and it was amazing. It was absolutely what we wanted. It's taken us a long time, but now we've moved into that wortld."

After touring for half a century, KISS played their last show in Madison Square Garden on December 2nd, 2023. In the clip below, the band reflect on their experiences over the years and what KISS means to them - together with the team behind A New Era, they discuss everything from the band's early years to how their legacy will live on forever with the help of technology.

 

KISS made the announcement they would continue as digital avatars at the end of their final show. After the band left the stage, the virtual KISS performed "God Gave Rock And Roll To You". Check out the fan-filmed video below.

Paul Stanley: "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."

Gene Simmons: "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."

The KISS avatars were created by ILM (Industrial Light & Magic) and financed / produced by Pophouse Entertainment, who are responsible for the ABBA Voyage show taking place in London. Pophouse Entertainment was co-founded by ABBA's Björn Ulvaeus.