• Get involved.
    We want your input!
    Apply for Membership and join the conversations about everything related to broadcasting.

    After we receive your registration, a moderator will review it. After your registration is approved, you will be permitted to post.
    If you use a disposable or false email address, your registration will be rejected.

    After your membership is approved, please take a minute to tell us a little bit about yourself.
    https://www.radiodiscussions.com/forums/introduce-yourself.1088/

    Thanks in advance and have fun!
    RadioDiscussions Administrators

Roy Orbison Hologram

T

TheBigA

I just saw a feature about a new tour that brings together the music of the late Roy Orbison with a hologram of the performer. It's being organized by Roy's son Alex, who oversaw the music and imaging of the show.

http://video.foxnews.com/v/5834534527001/

It strikes me this could be done with a lot of popular artists who are now deceased. I'm actually surprised that the Elvis estate hasn't done this.
 
TheBigA said:
I just saw a feature about a new tour that brings together the music of the late Roy Orbison with a hologram of the performer. It's being organized by Roy's son Alex, who oversaw the music and imaging of the show.

http://video.foxnews.com/v/5834534527001/

It strikes me this could be done with a lot of popular artists who are now deceased. I'm actually surprised that the Elvis estate hasn't done this.
Click to expand...

It sounds like a really creepy idea. Orbison has been dead for 30 years. Who would buy such an obvious fake?
 
KeithE4 said:
It sounds like a really creepy idea. Orbison has been dead for 30 years. Who would buy such an obvious fake?
Click to expand...

As the piece suggests, there's still an audience for the music. They've taken great pains to recreate his performance style. He wasn't a very active performer. He pretty much stood in one place and sang. No reaching out to shake hands with the people in the front row. But sure, bringing back the dead is a creepy thing. But it's kind of what the oldies format is built on.
 
TheBigA said:
As the piece suggests, there's still an audience for the music. They've taken great pains to recreate his performance style. He wasn't a very active performer. He pretty much stood in one place and sang.
Click to expand...

Then Conway Twitty's estate must be watching the holo-Roy tour with some interest, because Conway was a country music icon with a very similar performance style. Holo-Conway could do significant box office business if the Orbison tour proves successful.

The important thing about both Orbison and Twitty was that their backing bands were just ... there. Nothing flashy, no real give and take with the singer. The hologram approach, IMO, wouldn't work with Merle Haggard or George Jones, both of who had very talented bands and let them do their thing during shows often, especially Merle and his Strangers. Just putting either one of them out there in hologram form with a generic backing instrumental track wouldn't re-create the complete atmosphere of a live show.
 
Last edited:
CTListener said:
Then Conway Twitty's estate must be watching the holo-Roy tour with some interest
Click to expand...

If they could get past the legal infighting. This Orbison show is being run by one of his two surviving sons. Roy's widow died 7 years ago. Don't know if she approved it before she died.
 
KeithE4 said:
So what comes next -- holograms of Orbison, Tom Petty, and George Harrison along with the real live Jeff Lynne and Bob Dylan, "reuniting" the Traveling Willburys? :D
Click to expand...

Or Holo-George and Holo-John with living members of that other band George was in! Or Holo-Jim and Holo-Ray with the surviving Doors -- they could bill it as the "Holo, I Love You" Tour!
 
KeithE4 said:
So what comes next -- holograms of Orbison, Tom Petty, and George Harrison along with the real live Jeff Lynne and Bob Dylan, "reuniting" the Traveling Willburys? :D
Click to expand...

Why not? I bet Jeff would do it if he could get the estates to approve. Dylan probably not.

Consider how many people pay money to see "The Beach Boys" with Mike Love. One actual member and no Brian, Carl, or Dennis.

Would you rather see fake Temptations or holograms of the real singers?
 
TheBigA said:
Why not? I bet Jeff would do it if he could get the estates to approve. Dylan probably not.
Click to expand...

Have to agree there.

Consider how many people pay money to see "The Beach Boys" with Mike Love. One actual member and no Brian, Carl, or Dennis.
Click to expand...

IIRC, Bruce Johnston, who may not be an original Beach Boy but he's close enough, is in Love's band as well. It was Brian and Al Jardine that were bounced.

Would you rather see fake Temptations or holograms of the real singers?
Click to expand...

Neither. Old videos on YouTube are good enough for me. And they're the real thing, from when they were in their prime -- not reconstituted geezer-bands with one or two original members or creepy holograms of dead people.
 
TheBigA said:
Would you rather see fake Temptations or holograms of the real singers?
Click to expand...

I went to a Temptations/Four Tops show in 1994. Both were excellent performance-wise, but the Temptations were just one member from their hitmaking years and a bunch of young guys who hadn't been born yet when some of the songs they sang that night came out. At least the Tops still had Levi Stubbs and he was still in good voice. That I knew I'd be seeing and hearing Levi was the only reason I bought tickets to that show. If the Tops had been only Duke Fakir and three Faux Tops, no way I would have gone.
 
KeithE4 said:
IIRC, Bruce Johnston, who may not be an original Beach Boy but he's close enough, is in Love's band as well. It was Brian and Al Jardine that were bounced.
Click to expand...

That's correct.

KeithE4 said:
Old videos on YouTube are good enough for me. And they're the real thing, from when they were in their prime -- not reconstituted geezer-bands with one or two original members or creepy holograms of dead people.
Click to expand...

I see dead people. I was at the LBJ museum recently where they have an animatronic LBJ. I'm not kidding. He will occasionally scratch himself. That's a lot creepier than watching a hologram of Roy Orbison sing.
 
TheBigA said:
I see dead people. I was at the LBJ museum recently where they have an animatronic LBJ. I'm not kidding. He will occasionally scratch himself. That's a lot creepier than watching a hologram of Roy Orbison sing.
Click to expand...

That sounds great! Did they have an animatronic Him and Her (the Johnsons' beagles) for LBJ to hoist by the ears?
 
CTListener said:
That sounds great! Did they have an animatronic Him and Her (the Johnsons' beagles) for LBJ to hoist by the ears?
Click to expand...

I think they were part of Lady Bird's exhibit. What's creepy is looking at the animatronic LBJ and have him look right at you. And blink his eyes.

That's not a problem with Orbison, thanks to the dark glasses.
 
TheBigA said:
I'm actually surprised that the Elvis estate hasn't done this.
Click to expand...
Wife got to see Elvis (on jumbotron, singing) backed by the TCB band, performing live. She saw this performance more than once, from what she told me. This was in the '90s, I think. It was the only way that she could have ever seen Elvis performing "live." I am guessing that EPE is okay with this.
 
What do you think? How much will the ticket cost? In your opinion, on such a show. It would be good to see the legend of past years.
 
Status
This thread has been closed due to inactivity. You can create a new thread to discuss this topic.
Back
Top Bottom