In a cover story for the May 2026 issue of Pollstar magazine, KISS leaders Paul Stanley and Gene Simmons discussed the upcoming avatar-based KISS show, which is tentatively scheduled to launch in Las Vegas in 2028. The as-yet unnamed KISS experience will be the first major entry into the U.S. market for Pophouse Entertainment, the Sweden-based music investment firm co-founded by ABBA‘s Björn Ulvaeus.
Launched in 2014, Pophouse, which is behind “ABBA Voyage”, closed its debut fund, Pophouse Fund I, in March 2025, raising over $1.3 billion to invest in music catalogs and IP. KISS‘s deal with Pophouse, reported to be worth over $300 million, saw the company acquire the band’s song catalog, name, image and likeness rights — including their iconic face paint designs — and their artist share of master recordings and publishing rights.
Asked by Pollstar writer Katherine Turman which eras of KISS will be represented in the avatar show, the current lineup or the original lineup, Simmons: said: “It’s going to be the iconic face personas, The Demon, the Starchild, and so on. Who you want to place into that lineup is up to you.” As for which songs will be included in the show, Stanley said: “We will have all the classics through the years and some surprises.” Simmons added: “You’re gonna get all that stuff, and also new songs.”
After Turman asked for clarification as to which “new” songs will make an appearance, Gene said: “Exactly what that means, written by us. We have songs done.”
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.
Pophouse CEO Jessica Koravos told Pollstar: “What the crowd got to see at MSG was an early prototype of the KISS avatar concept. A lot has evolved since then — both in terms of creative concept for the show and avatar technology. We are now deep in development with a top-flight creative team headed by Thierry Coup — the team was on set last week testing out pyro effects against a new generation of LED screens to make sure we max out the KISS signature flame throwing. The show concept is a crazy 4D roller coaster ride through the hits, the comic book worlds and personas of KISS.”
KISS will reportedly become the first American band to go fully virtual and stage its own avatar show.
Back in December 2023, Simmons said that “about 200 million” dollars was being invested into the KISS avatar show.
This past March, Stanley praised the much-anticipated KISS avatar show, telling Rock Of Nations With Dave Kinchen And Shane McEachern: “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.
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.”
In a May 2025 interview with Billboard, then-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 would debut 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.”
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