Kiss Mark Anniversary of Final-Ever Show with New Video Recap

One year on from their final live appearance, New York rock outfit Kiss have celebrated the anniversary of their split with a new video recap of their last show.

The final performance – which took place on Saturday, Dec. 2, 2023 – saw the veteran group return to New York City’s Madison Square Garden for the final date of their protracted End of the Road farewell tour.

“One year ago, today – December 2, 2023 – The last KISS Tour ever reached The End Of The Road with one final epic performance at Madison Square Garden in New York City!” the group wrote on social medoa. “Re-live the magic of that night with this awesome MSG concert recap.”

Across 23 tracks, the band waved goodbye to their legions of fans with a fitting set full of their famous hits and live favorites – complete with their trademark stage spectacle. The concert was also streamed live via PPV.COM, and now Kiss have shared a new video capturing footage of the band before the 20,000-strong crowd.

Notably, Kiss’ final show was accompanied by the news that the group intend to live on as digital avatars after their split. The band made the surprise announcement at the end of the show, with vocalist/guitarist Paul Stanley telling fans “your love, your power, has made us immortal”.

“The new Kiss era stars now!” he added.

Kiss’ avatars were created by George Lucas’ Industrial Light & Magic, in partnership with Sweden’s Pophouse Entertainment Group, according to the Associated Press. The companies previously collaborated on the ABBA Voyage show in London, a virtual concert performed by the Swedish pop group.

“Kiss could have a concert in three cities in the same night across three different continents. That’s what you could do with this,” Pophouse CEO told the AP.

Though specifics were not made clear at the time, the band announced only weeks later that their digital appearances would kick off in Las Vegas 2027. ““It’s a must-see, go-to experience,” Stanley told Billboard’s Behind the Setlist podcast this year. “It’s beyond anything that anyone else has contemplated.”

“We’re creating something that’s not a concert,” he added. “The idea of a hologram — and it’s not a hologram, but that term seems to get thrown around a lot — but the idea a simulated concert is not what we want to do. Frankly, I would find that boring.”