Gene Simmons has officially left the building with the band KISS retiring from touring. Simmons’ family is sharing the love and celebrating the accomplishment. Taking to social media, Simmons’ wife and children praised his accomplishments.
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On Instagram, Simmons’ son Nick posted a picture of Simmons, in full KISS garb, surrounded by his family. Nick wrote, “We’ve always been your biggest fans, pops. congratulations on your final shows at MSG.”
Similarly, Simmons’ daughter also shared the same photo with a black heart. Meanwhile, Simmons’ wife Shannon shared a picture of the family in color with Simmons holding his tongue out. It was important for Simmons to include his family in this moment.
KISS decided to hang up their instruments at Madison Square Garden in New York City. In an interview with Blabbermouth, KISS guitarist Tommy Thayer opened up about the band’s final performance.
“I thought it was a fantastic night. I felt really good about it,” he said. “This is a celebration. But most importantly, this is Gene and Paul’s night. This has been their baby for 50 years, and I think everybody was really feeling that. I mean, it’s Kiss and everything too, of course, but this is about Gene and Paul tonight. This is their encore and their night.”
However, it’s not necessarily the end of the line for KISS. The band will outlive its members in a lot of ways. As the human members of the band made their final bow, they introduced digital avatars that will take up the mantle for them moving forward. The band has gone digital with these avatars designed to continue their legacy.
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Exactly what that looks like remains to be seen, but it appears that KISS plans for these avatars to hold concerts, performing their music in their stead.
“We want to go out on top with people talking about it in mythical, legendary terms,” said frontman Paul Stanley in a behind the scenes documentary. “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.”
Of the digital avatars, Simmons said, “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.”
[Photo by: Instagram/Gene Simmons]
