Imagine going to a concert to see the original Beatles, Lynard Skynard or Stevie Ray Vaughn perform with live musicians and holograms of the deceased. How would it feel to capture the magic that many of us never got to experience the first time around? You may be able to answer this question very soon.

Here comes a hologram world where the performance of the artist has been captured and presented by hologram science. The impressive technology was first invented in 1862 by Henry Dircks and was later used to make a ghost-like figure appear animated. It has been greatly improved over the years to such a degree that in 2017, tours featuring holograms of Frank Zappa, Roy Orbison and Ronnie James Dio have been announced for next year. Will people buy tickets for this and what will a show be like? Will we embrace this new use of the technology or will it feel creepy and be rejected?

Try to wrap your head around the fact that your favorite musician, albeit deceased, may rise from the ashes and arrive at a theatre near you. Is it the dawn of a brave new world or just weird?? Let’s take a deep dive and see for yourself.

Most of us remember the hologram of Princess Lai being projected from R2-D2 during a Star Wars movie. Some may have heard of a hologram performance of the late rapper Tupac during the Coachella Festival in 2012. Others will recall a performance by Cirque de Soleil that featured a hologram of Michael Jackson. The technological advances now are giving rise to the idea that deceased musicians can be reincarnated as holograms and hit the road to perform at a theatre near you. Are you excited or repulsed? What if you could see a performance by Jimi Hendrix, Kurt Cobain or Jim Morrison complete with a live back-up band? Would you pay to see that show?

If the technology works well, what’s to stop several separate tours of the same musicians from traveling throughout our world, maximizing profits for their investors. As musicians get older, the idea of 100 show, continent hopping tours don’t appeal to them. As revenues from album and CD sales have dwindled, few could blame artists’ families from getting behind a show that features the deceased on stage via a hologram.

One of the pioneers of marrying this technology with musical performances is Eyellusion (eyellusionlive.com). They will be producing both the Ronnie James Dio and Frank Zappa tours in the near future, if they actually materialize. Many musicians who played with Zappa were approached to play in the band backing up the Zappa hologram. To date, a few musicians who originally agreed to participate on tour have backed out, notably Adrian Belew. It is rumored the surviving members of Roy Orbison’s band have agreed to back up Roy’s hologram. But what if the family agrees to give their blessings and a band of auditioned artists support the hologram? Is this the ultimate tribute band or the worst idea you have ever heard?

Speaking of the family, this opens up a new can of worms potentially. You see, a third party can’t just take over an artists’ image. When a performer dies, the rights to their name, image and likeness may or may not apply and these rights need to be secured again. I believe that states’ rights and laws may take precedent in each situation. There are also other rights issues that have to be resolved, notably trademark, performance and music composition, according to UltimateGuitar.com.

The CEO of Eyellusion, Jeff Pezzuti was quoted at UltimateGuitar.com, “The actual display of the hologram involves the use of an invisible film that is stretched at an angle with an LED projector, projecting an image onto it to create the 3-D effect and illusion. This is an incredibly complicated process.” Don’t try this at home, folks.

So, it appears safe to say that a hologram image of an artist won’t make it to a stage without the support of that artists’ family. If they give their blessings, will it be a bang or a bust? I wonder if its acceptance would be generational. Maybe those who lived during the artists’ times and may have seen them preform live might think that it is a bad idea. But those 20-40 years younger that never had any history with the artist might love the concept.

Personally, I am curious to see how these musical holograms will look and sound like. Today’s technology can make anyone sound amazing so I believe the bigger “sell” will be whether it captures our imagination with its’ energy and presence. I am skeptical but will try to keep an open mind.

I encourage your feedback to this blog as the audience varies in age but skews to the ‘north of 50 club’. Have you heard of these hologram tour possibilities and what are your thoughts? Will you buy a ticket and who would you like to see as a live hologram?

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