Former Dio guitarist Doug Aldrich believes that Ronnie James Dio would be “pissed” at the idea of a hologram of himself.
Dio died of stomach cancer in 2010 at the age of 67, but production company Eyellusion created a hologram of the late rock and metal icon with the blessing of his widow Wendy – and it made its debut at Wacken Open Air in 2016.
Since then, the hologram and live band Dio Returns have toured across the US and Europe – but Aldrich doesn’t think Dio would have appreciated the move.
He tells the White Line Fever podcast: “I would like to see it myself, just to see it. I love hearing those songs, I love Ronnie, so that would be cool.
“But I think Ronnie would be pissed. Ronnie would be, like, ‘Come on, let me be dead in peace!’ Ronnie was a no-frills guy. He was not down for stuff like that.”
Aldrich goes on to say that Prince’s former guitarist Wendy Melvoin feels the same way about seeing a hologram of the late pop icon.
He continues: “At the Super Bowl, they had a half-time thing with Prince. A curtain came down and there was a projection of Prince. It was 300ft tall. It was really cool, I thought.
“My neighbour is the old guitar player for Prince, Wendy and I said, ‘What do you think Prince would think about that?’ She goes, ‘He’d hate it!’
“But I thought it was great so I’d love to see the hologram thing. I just hope they get it to be bigger than life because that’s how Ronnie was.”
Speaking previously about the hologram of her late husband, Wendy Dio said: “All the criticism is fine. Everybody has the right to criticise, but look at it and see it first before you criticise it.
“Most of the people that criticise it haven’t seen it and they don’t even know what to expect. It’s a whole experience that we take out.”
