JEFF PILSON SAYS RONNIE JAMES DIO WOULD HAVE APPROVED OF HOLOGRAM
16th August 2017



ronnie james dio

Former Dio bass player Jeff Pilson has said that Ronnie James Dio "would have approved" of his controversial hologram, which is due to go on tour in November.

Created by Eyellusion, the hologram made its debut at last year's Wacken Open Air festival as Dio Disciples closed out the event.



Eyellusion recently announced the first batch of dates for 'Dio Returns: The World Tour', featuring the hologram singing to songs played by some of Ronnie's former bandmates.

Pilson was interviewed by Music Mania podcast and was asked for his opinion on the hologram:

"I haven't actually seen it in person, but I've seen some pretty interesting pictures and I saw a video for a moment, and it actually looked really cool to me. I thought they did a great job on it.

Again, I haven't seen it in person, but from what I've seen, it looks pretty amazing."

The former Dokken and current Foreigner bass player, who who was a member of Dio from 1993 to 1997 and again from 2004 to 2005 continued:

"Ronnie loved technology, and I think, deep down, he would have loved the thought that that could have happened. And knowing him, 'cause he was quite an imaginative guy, he probably did imagine that something like that could happen. And honestly, I think Ronnie would have approved."

Pilson was backed up by former Dio drummer Simon Wright, who wrote the following on his Facebook page:



Initial tour dates now announced are:

November 30th: The Circus – Helsinki, Finland
December 3th: Fryshuset – Stockholm, Sweden
December 4th: Rockefeller Music Hall – Oslo, Norway
December 6th: Progresja – Warsaw, Poland
December 13th: Bikini – Barcelona, Spain
December 15th: Escenario Santander – Santander, Spain
December 17th: Arelene Romane – Bucharest, Romania
December 20th: Trix – Antwerp, Belgium
December 21st: 013 – Tilburg, Netherlands

The 'Dio Returns' tour will also make stops throughout Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, France, Germany, Japan, Mexico, New Zealand, Paraguay, United Kingdom, Venezuela and other countries, with dates to be announced. The tour is expected to come to the United States in spring 2018 and play festivals globally during the summer.

The Ronnie James Dio hologram will perform for the majority of the show, treating fans to an alternating setlist that will feature songs such as 'Rainbow In The Dark', 'We Rock', 'Neon Nights', 'King Of Rock & Roll', 'Man On The Silver Mountain', 'Heaven & Hell', 'Holy Diver' and many more.

The tour will feature Dio's actual live vocals with the Dio Band playing live. The band features Craig Goldy on guitar, Simon Wright on drums, Scott Warren on keyboards and Bjorn Englen on bass. Tim 'Ripper' Owens will also perform with singer Oni Logan also joining on select dates.

ronnie james dio

Ronnie's widow Wendy, who managed Ronnie throughout his career and is overseeing every aspect of the tour said:

"Working with Eyellusion over the past year-and-a-half to turn our dream of this tour into a reality has been absolutely incredible. No one has ever been able to put together a show and tour like this and we like to think of Ronnie smiling down as we continue to find new ways to share his music with all generations of fans.

"We cannot wait to be able to finally bring this incredible experience to Ronnie's fans around the world."

Jeff Pezzuti, CEO and founder of Eyellusion said:

"We've really only given Dio fans a small taste of what they're going to see on this tour. We are creating a completely new hologram of Ronnie, designing an amazing light show and continuing to add more dates around the world to make sure that as many fans as possible get an opportunity to take part in this experience."

Eyellusion's holograms and live productions are supported by a team of live music and special effects veterans, including Wendy Dio, who leads industry relations, former Motörhead manager Todd Singerman, who supports artist relations and Kenny Aronoff, world renowned live and studio drummer, who supports business development and technical live production efforts.

Chad Finnerty at Digital Frontier FX is Eyellusion's exclusive content creation partner, working directly with clients to bring every project vision to the live stage while legendary Hollywood digital effects executive Scott Ross advises Eyellusion on overall content creation for all productions.