My Opinion on the Holographic Show Craze

Jimi Hendrix burning his white Fender Stratocaster at the Monterey Jazz Festival on June 18, 1967.

John Lennon, Kurt Cobain, Janis Joplin, Jim Morrison, Freddie Mercury, George Harrison and Jimi Hendrix.

What do all those names have in common? They are all dead. Do I wish I were able to see them perform live? Of course! Do I want to see a hologram version of them on stage? Absolutely not.

These hologram shows are getting way to out of hand. It is an excuse for the overly business fraction of the music industry to exploit famous, and infamous, rock star’s images for money. Also, don’t you think it is a little disrespectful? They are all already resting in peace, why rouse their spirits (or their holographic spirits, more likely).

I have recently written an article for Dualshow accounting Marilyn Monroe’s and Elvis Presley’s future holographic performances. In addition, I have heard rumors of a possible Jim Morrison and Jimi Hendrix hologram in the works. Hell, even Usher is using holographic back up dancers in his latest tour!

What is going on these days? Yes, technology is so advanced lately that we can just use holograms whenever we want, but how could anyone feel comfortable watching a performance by someone who has been dead for the past 40 years?

Tupac was a huge success at this year’s Coachella Music Festival in California, but this is suitable for a one-time spectacle.  Let’s bring holograms forward in a different platform. I wouldn’t say no to a holographic computer, for example.

I am begging the music world to stop this madness. It only depresses me thinking of the futile attempts at emulating the fire these musicians brought forth with their every performance. That, my friends, is something a hologram cannot imitate.

I have compiled a list of live performances you would have only been able to see with the real rock stars. Let’s ditch the holograms and let real film footage take us through time. 

The Who performing "My Generation" on the Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour in 1967. This is the famous performance where (hilarious) drummer Keith Moon detonated explosives in the bass drum. Rumors circulated that Pete Townshend received permanent damage to his hearing. This performance reiterated the Who's reputation as a pioneer of the "instrument destruction stage show."

Before the Doors were set to perform on the Ed Sullivan Show in 1967, show executives approached Jim Morrison, requesting he change the "Light My Fire" lyric from "girl we couldn't get much higher" to "girl we couldn't much better." Of course, scandalous Morrison did not, and Ed Sullivan proclaimed he would never invite the Doors back to his show. Morrison's reply? "So what. We just did the Ed Sullivan Show."

This is live footage from the 1969 Woodstock Festival, where Jimi Hendrix was the headlining act. During his two hour long set (the longest in his career) he played an electric rendition of "The Star Spangled Banner." There is high speculation as to whether this was fashioned to be anti-American or a statement on the unrest in American society at the time. Regardless, it was a salient highlight of his short career.

I think it is quite obvious why I included the Beatle's Ed Sullivan performance of "I Want to Hold Your Hand." Even my grandparents can recall where they were for the 1964 spectacle and the widespread worldwide reaction they received. The Beatles were the new "it band" and would hold that title until the band's end in 1969.  They calmed post-Kennedy America, and henceforth brought a change to the world's musical landscape.  

Here is the Rolling Stones playing "Sympathy for the Devil" at their infamous Altamont concert in 1969. This free concert brought forth one death and perhaps the beginning of the end to the freewhellin' sixties. The Stones hired the motorcycle gang, the Hell's Angeles, to act as security guards during the free gig. Rather than monetary compensation, the Angeles received beer. Slightly drunk, a gang member got into a scuffle with 18-year-old Meredith Hunter while she attempted to climb up onstage. Needless to say, she was stabbed and died. A blip in the Rolling Stones career, this performance will be in the books for years to come.