Dio Hologram Creators Rethinking Singer’s Image
The creators of the Ronnie James Dio hologram are currently reworking the projection so that it better resembles the late metal icon, said the singer's widow and manager, Wendy Dio.
The hologram has already drawn mixed responses during a recent tour of Europe, but she believes more work is required before a North American road trip. “We took the hologram tour out in Europe to see if there was a market for it, because this is all very new,” Wendy told The Metal Voice. “It's a new technology, and a lot of people are naysayers; some people think it's good, some think it's bad. So we wanted to see if there was actually a market for it. We took it out across Germany, Spain, Budapest, London, Belgium and Holland, and it was very, very well received."
You can watch the interview below.
Wendy Dio said “kids were crying to me and saying, 'Thank you so much for bringing Ronnie back to us.' And I think it was great for people that have been there and seen Ronnie before and wanted to see him back onstage [and also] for the kids that never got the opportunity to see Ronnie. It was a good test, we did very well, but there's things I need to perfect on Ronnie.”
Describing herself as “very critical,” Dio said the face of her late husband on the hologram needed some work. "His eyes and his eyebrows are not quite right to me," she noted. "So we're back on the drawing board right now. And we're hoping it will go out again probably the beginning of next year, and we will hit Canada and America. But it has to be right first.”
She added that she understood fans’ concerns about the hologram show, which features the Dio projection along with real-life former members of his band, plus singers Tim ‘Ripper’ Owens and Oni Logan. “Look at it and see it first before you criticize it," she said. "Because most of the people that criticize it haven't seen it and they don't even know what to expect. It's a whole experience that we take out.”
In the same interview, Wendy reported that an autobiography that Dio left unfinished when he died in 2010 was likely to be completed and published next year.