Wendy Dio, the widow and longtime manager of the late Ronnie James Dio, has recently shared her thoughts on the controversial hologram of the legendary metal singer that toured the world in 2016 and 2019. In several interviews, Wendy revealed that the hologram project was an “experiment” that received a mixed response from the fans and that she is not planning to use it again in the future.
The Ronnie James Dio hologram was created by a company called Eyellusion and made its debut at the Wacken Open Air festival in August 2016 in front of more than 75,000 fans. The hologram production used audio of Ronnie’s live performances from throughout his career, with the Dio band playing live, consisting of Craig Goldy on guitar, Simon Wright on drums and Scott Warren on keyboards, along with Bjorn Englen on bass. Also appearing with them were ex-JUDAS PRIEST singer Tim “Ripper” Owens and former LYNCH MOB frontman Oni Logan.
During a recent appearance on an episode of “Interviewing The Legends With Ray Shasho,” Wendy said about the current status of the hologram: “[The hologram] worked for a while. It was 50-50 — [50 percent of the] people loved it, 50 [percent of the] people hated it. It was done. It was an experiment. We did it. I think it worked out fine at the time. But I’m not doing that again. We are planning to go out with [official Dio tribute band DIO] DISCIPLES next year, but I’m gonna use video of Ronnie and different eras from whatever pieces we have and it’ll be just a walk down the memory lane again with different stuff for Ronnie with the band playing. So, yeah, I’m working on that. We’ll have special effects with it. And hopefully it’ll be a good show.”
The hologram tour was meant to be a tribute to the iconic vocalist, who died in 2010 at the age of 67 from stomach cancer. However, not everyone was impressed by the idea of seeing a digital representation of Ronnie on stage. Some fans felt that the hologram was a morbid cash-grab that exploited the singer’s legacy, while others appreciated the chance to see him perform again in some form.
