A hologram of the late singer Ronnie James Dio will be embarking on a new world tour.

The ‘Dio Returns’ tour will be backed by musicians who have played with the man himself and will begin in European theatres this November. The hologram will perform differently each night and has previously made an appearance at the last year’s Wacken festival.

Wendy Dio told Rolling Stone, “In 1986, for the Sacred Heart Tour, Ronnie and I created the Crystal Ball with Ronnie filmed and speaking in a suspended crystal ball effect, done with back projection, which was the closest we could get to a hologram. Ronnie was always wanting to experiment with new stage ideas and was a big Disney fan. With this said, I am sure he is giving us his blessing with this hologram project. It gives the fans that saw Ronnie perform an opportunity to see him again and new fans that never got to see him a chance to see him for the first time. We hope everyone will enjoy the show that we have all worked so hard to put together.”

The hologram was designed by the company Eyellusion in partnership with the Dio estate. The audio is taken from a number of live performances throughout Dio’s long career and includes hits such as ‘Holy Diver’, ‘Heaven and Hell’, ‘Rainbow In The Dark’ plus many more. A live band will perform with the hologram in front of a stage similar to the Sacred Heart and Dream Evil tours.

Craig Goldy (guitar), Simon Wright, Bjorn Englen (bassists) and Scott Warren (keyboards), all of whom have made appearances as Dio Disciples, will be part of the band on tour. Tim “Ripper” Owens and Oni Logan will be joining them on selected dates.

Eyellusion hope to create more holograms of this kind in the future. Would you be up for seeing a hologram? If so who would you want to see? Let us know in the comments below!

Dio Returns Tour Dates

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