Today, the estate of Roy Orbison announced that the beloved singer/songwriter will mount an extensive North American tour this year. “Wait,” you might ask, “You mean the Roy Orbison that’s been dead for like 30 years?” Yes, that Roy Orbison—in hologram form. Dubbed In Dreams: Roy Orbison in Concert — The Hologram Tour, the run will pair a holographic likeness of Orbison with “newly recorded, never-before-heard, digitally remastered arrangements of his classics” for a tech-assisted audiovisual trip down memory lane.
The new 28-date North American tour follows the premiere of the BASE Hologram-crafted digital Orbison this past spring in Europe. The Roy Orbison hologram run will begin on October 1st at Oakland, CA’s Fox Theatre and make its way across the country before finishing out with a run of shows in Florida from November 16th–19th. The estate-sanctioned hologram show will also mount the first-ever hologram residency at Branson, Missouri’s Andy Williams Moon River Theatre in 2019.
The issue of musicians’ estates producing holographic performances by dead artists has been debated for several years now—at least since the time a Tupac hologram popped up at Dr. Dre and Snoop Dogg‘s 2012 Coachella set and caused everyone to lose their collective shit. Since then, the idea of resurrecting dead icons for holographic performance has been a strange-but-real new space in live music production.
This new development has been met with understandably uneven feedback. Some artists and artist estates seem to be jumping at the idea of the simulated performances. The Zappa Family Trust, for example, is in the process of producing a Frank Zappa hologram tour right now, with dates reportedly to be announced for late this year. Not everyone was happy with that decision, but it’s surely interesting enough to sell tickets to thousands of curious fans.
Ahead of this year’s Super Bowl, drama arose surrounding the reported plan to use a Prince hologram during Justin Timberlake‘s Halftime Show, with many disgruntled fans pointing to an old interview in which Prince had called the concept of hologram jams with dead artists “demonic.” Justin didn’t end up using a Prince hologram, but rather a large projection (who knows whether that was always the plan or not?). The tribute garnered a lukewarm reception. While it was surely sincere and heartfelt, even Timberlake himself seemed unsure what Prince would have thought of it in a post-game interview with Jimmy Fallon.
The whole incident further highlighted the precarious nature of the new hologram trend. Sure, it’s a cool concept, but is it right to communicate through the body and voice of an artistic icon if it’s not really their mind in control? Does that really matter? The hologram issue will likely remain a heated debate among music lovers for as long as it stays relevant—or at least until we’re all replaced by holograms and uploaded to the Cloud…or whatever.
Until then, you can go watch the Roy Orbison hologram get its Princess Leia on this fall, or spend that time arguing with your friends about why you refuse to buy into the holo-hype. See a full list of dates below. For more info, or to grab tickets, head here