Liberace Hologram to Tour World
Original article taken from rollingstone.com
A Liberace hologram is set to tour the world with a debut performance scheduled to take place in Las Vegas, though no dates have been announced yet, The Guardian reports.
The company behind the new endeavor, Hologram USA, is working with the full support of the Liberace Foundation, and they say they’ll be rolling out a “slate of [further] celebrity resurrection projects” over the next 30 days.
Crafted by some of the same people behind the Tupac appearance at Coachella in 2012, this cyber Liberace will be put to work, performing a “full-scale, long-running” show and even interacting with the audience. “You’ll feel the warmth from his heart, the sparkle of his eye and the pure lightning from his fingertips,” Jonathan Warren, chairman of the Liberace Foundation, said in a statement.
The Liberace Foundation loaned Hologram USA heaps of footage and artifacts that allowed them to create their hologram, which, technically, isn’t a hologram. Rather, the technology – the same used for the Tupac performance – is rooted in Pepper’s Ghost, an illusion developed in the 1860s, that’s been honed with advanced software and projection techniques. Hologram USA claims to own the system’s only North American license.
“This is a major step in the evolution of this medium for entertainment,” said Hologram USA’s Alki David, who recently proposed a similar Amy Winehouse hologram that was rejected by the late singer’s father. David went on to boast that the show will be so “lifelike” that “the room will be filled with all of the great singer’s charm and charisma.”
Hologram USA’s promise of more digital tours should come as no surprise: Since the debut of the Tupac hologram, a number of other deceased artists have been resurrected for special occasions. In May, a holographic Michael Jackson moonwalked across the stage during the Billboard Music Awards; digital renderings of Eazy E and Ol’ Dirty Bastard took the stage during the Rock the Bells tour in 2013; and Freddie Mercury joined Queen for a special special performance of the West End musical We Will Rock You in 2012.