Because it’s 2017 and we can’t bear the thought of not having dead rock stars on hand 24/7, the hologram of late metal legend Ronnie James Dio has confirmed that it will soon tour Australia.
‘Dio Returns: The World Tour’ is set to kick off in Helsinki, Finland this November, before hitting Australia, New Zealand, Japan, Europe, South America, the US and more, and will feature the late rocker’s former bandmates Craig Goldy (guitar), Simon Wright (drums), Scott Warren (keyboards) and Bjorn Englen (bass).
The Aussie dates and venues are still to be announced, but tour promoters say the Dio hologram will “perform” for the majority of the show (with Dio’s recorded live vocals), with feature spots from singers Tim ‘Ripper’ Owens and Oni Logan on select dates.
The tour will include an alternating setlist of tracks like ‘Rainbow In The Dark’, ‘We Rock’, ‘Neon Nights’, ‘King of Rock & Roll’ and ‘Man On The Silver Mountain’.
The Dio hologram made its live debut last year, and footage of its first performance later emerged online.
The hologram has been developed by a company called Eyellusion, who have been working closely with Dio’s widow, Wendy Dio.
“Working with Eyellusion over the past year and a half to turn our dream of this tour into a reality has been absolutely incredible,” she says.
“No one has ever been able to put together a show and tour like this and we like to think of Ronnie smiling down as we continue to find new ways to share his music with all generations of fans. We cannot wait to be able to finally bring this incredible experience to Ronnie’s fans around the world.”
Meanwhile, Eyelussion CEO Jeff Pezzuti says the company is currently creating “a completely new hologram of Ronnie”, along with “an amazing light show”.
“We’ve really only given DIO fans a small taste of what they’re going to see on this tour,” he says.
Dio died of metastasised stomach cancer in May 2010, aged 67, but you can still watch him in action (in hologram form) below.
