Ronnie James Dio hologram to make its first 2017 appearance

Six months after it made its debut at Wacken Open Air in Germany, Eyellusion’s digital version of Ronnie will appear at the 28th annual Pollstar Awards on Thursday (2nd February) at The Novo in Los Angeles during a performance by Dio Disciples.

As well as the live performance, Ronnie’s widow Wendy and Eyellusion’s Jeff Pezzuti will discuss the hologram at a Pollstar Live! talk called The Hologram Experience.

After the Ronnie hologram belted out ‘We Rock’ at Wacken, Wendy, who also manages Dio Disciples, made no secret of the fact she intended to take it on tour.

She said in August: “When I first experienced the full production of Ronnie performing with his band as a hologram, I couldn’t believe my eyes and ears.

“With Eyellusion, we have been able to get Ronnie back up on stage where he belongs, ensuring that his music and memory live on. I want Ronnie’s fans around the world to share this experience.”

Now, in a fresh interview with the Talking Metal podcast, Jeff Pezzuti says that the tour will include different eras of Ronnie James Dio.

"For the tour, he's going to have different looks. (The Wacken hologram was) somewhere around '88, the 'Dream Evil' era. For this next tour, we're going to be somewhere later than that for certain songs and maybe earlier than that for other songs."

He added: "Ronnie will be involved in each show (on the tour) from probably six to seven songs a night that he will be singing on. Some of the ones we can expect are 'We Rock', 'Holy Diver' and 'Rainbow In The Dark'."

Ronnie James Dio died from stomach cancer in May 2010. He was 67.