On May 16, 2010 we lost the metal god Ronnie James Dio at the age of 67 to a long battle with stomach cancer. To this day it is still considered one of if not the largest loss the world of heavy metal has ever faced. To try to ease the pain though, Wendy Dio (Ronnie's wife) has been working with a company called Eyelusion to make a full show hologram of Ronnie performing. However, after a short demo/premiere of it at Wacken last year Wendy has come under fire and received a great deal of criticism for it.
In an interview with Ultimate Classic Rock, she explains her feelings on and some of the realities of the situation, saying:
"I get called cash cow. Well, actually it’s costing us a hell of a lot of money. We didn’t need to do it, but we’re doing things that we always did. Ronnie did things for his fans, and we’re trying to continue doing that.
A lot of people don’t like the idea and some people do. It’s done with love for the fans. It’s for those who would love to see him on the stage again with his bandmates, and for those who never got the chance to see him.
We always tried to make a hologram, Ronnie and I. In 1986, those who saw the Sacred Heart tour saw that we did a rear projection of Ronnie’s head in a crystal ball, talking. Ronnie was always very very fascinated by Disney World and all the holograms that were in there. So I think he’d give his blessing to this. He was also an innovator in music, so why not an innovator in technology?"
The hologram won't fully be ready for a while yet, though. Wendy says:
“It’s a long process; it takes a long time. It won’t be ready until September or October – maybe this year, maybe not. But we’re working on that, and we’re hoping to put that out.”
While I kind of understand where Wendy is coming from and the good intent behind the hologram, I still don't fully agree with it (as I have mentioned in previous posts on the subject). I'm not going to try to stop people from enjoying it and might even go see it myself if the tickets don't cost too much, but it still seems like it could just be one more way for a record label to try to make money off a man's legacy without him actually needing to perform any more. It just seems a bit weird to me.
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