Photo: Steve Jennings (Getty Images)
Dead musicians are coming back to life faster than you can say “The Walking Dead.” The music industry is using technology in the form of holograms to resurrect music gods such as Tupac Shakur, Roy Orbison, and Ronnie James Dio, all of whom have performed live shows.
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While raising the dead to sell concert tickets seems sacrilegious or at the very least greedy, fans are eating it up. Roy Orbison, or rather the digital version of the legendary rocker, is in the middle of a successful U.S. tour even though he died 30 years ago.
This technology-based concert cash cow seems more like the future than a disturbing trend which got us to thinking about what deceased musicians could become the next big hologram to go on tour.
Freddy Mercury
The smashing success of the Queen biopic Bohemian Rhapsody probably means that a Freddy Mercury hologram is happening sooner than later. And why not? The Rock ‘n Roll Hall of Famers are still touring. While former American Idol Adam Lambert has the chops, he’s no Freddy Mercury, not even a 4D version.
Amy Winehouse
The uber-talented “Rehab” singer was destined for two things — greatness and tragedy. Amy Winehouse was at the height of her career but at rock-bottom in her personal life, which is well-documented in the Oscar-winning documentary Amy. Fans who saw her at her worst would clamor to see a hologram version of her performing at her best.
Bradley Nowell
The Sublime frontman never got a chance to see his band’s breakout success because he overdosed while on tour just two months before the band’s self-titled album would become one of the definitive albums of the 1990s. We’re guessing that fans who never got to see the beloved Long Beach trio perform their hit songs (“What I Got,” “Doin’ Time,” “Santeria”) live would break out the board shorts and Coors Lights for a hologram reunion show. Although the remaining band members (drummer Bud Gaugh and bassist Eric Wilson) eventually regrouped as Sublime with Rome, diehards know that there is no real Sublime without Bradley.
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Aaliyah
Chris Brown featured a hologram version of Aaliyah back in the 2013 video for “Don’t Think They Know,” but a touring version of the R&B princess who died in a 2001 plane crash would “Rock the Boat” and make us stop chirping about Beyonce for a hot second at least.
Kurt Cobain
A hologram version of the King of Grunge would never happen. Absolutely not. Well, it actually did happen on South Park.
Ian Curtis
The Joy Division singer is another sad case of the “gone too soon” syndrome which has haunted the music industry. Although the rest of the British band formed the even more successful New Order, who wouldn’t pay big bucks to see the old band back together performing “Transmission,” “Love Will Tear Us Apart,” and countless other cult favorites?
Notorious B.I.G.
Tupac got his hologram so it’s only right that Biggie would get his. Big Poppa rarely performed live so a hologram tour would be “Juicy.” Get on it, P. Diddy.
Prince
Given that the Prince estate has opened the vault to the rock icon’s unreleased music material, it’s only a matter of time before a hologram version of him is making the concert hall rounds.
