KISS members say goodbye at the final concert of the tour

New York
CNN
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The members of KISS played the final show of their farewell tour on Saturday night — but the band isn’t finished performing just yet.

The famous American rock band ended its “End of the Road” tour with a final concert, the culmination of fifty years of touring, at Madison Square Garden in New York.

Founders Paul Stanley and Gene Simmons as well as guitarist Tommy Thayer and drummer Eric Singer took to the stage, performing classic tracks like “I Love It Loud” and “Beth.”

At the end of the show, the musicians left the stage – their digital avatars taking their places to perform “God Gave Rock And Roll To You”.

The band too Video released on their official YouTube channel which features the musicians wearing the motion capture suits used to create their digital avatars, as well as the avatars themselves performing and breathing fire.

“The band deserves to continue because the band is bigger than us,” singer Paul Stanley says in the video.

The avatars were created through a partnership with Pophouse Entertainment Group, According to a press release from the company. The Swedish company says that KISS is the first American band to adopt digital models.

“The band’s transformation into avatars will ensure they are immortalized, pushing the boundaries of rock ‘n’ roll performance, as KISS has done throughout their career to date,” the press release says. Pophouse also said that KISS will continue to perform digitally “for decades to come.”

The avatars were created by George Lucas-founded visual effects company Industrial Light & Magic, according to the press release.

“We can be forever young and forever creative by taking us places we never dreamed of,” Gene Simmons said, according to the release. “Technology will make Paul jump higher than ever before.”

KISS follows Swedish band ABBA, who have held their own concerts featuring digital characters. Pophouse says it has worked with ABBA as well as Avicii and the Swedish House Mafia.