whitney houston virtual tour

‘The Only Thing Missing Was Her, Physically.’ Inside the Whitney Houston Hologram Tour

By Ethan Millman

Ethan Millman

“Good evening, everyone, and welcome to Whitney Houston , very much live,” a holographic Whitney tells a small crowd of reporters in Los Angeles during a dress rehearsal for the late singer’s upcoming “An Evening With Whitney: The Whitney Houston Hologram Tour.”

While Houston has been dead for eight years, the creators behind the singer’s hologram tour are looking to give a new tour experience to her audience. “An Evening With Whitney” was designed with Whitney’s image in mind, Pat Houston, the singer’s former manager and head of the Whitney Houston estate, said. Whitney planned on giving a more intimate, unplugged-esque tour before she died. And while that never took place when she was alive, the production team behind the hologram has ensured her vision will happen posthumously.

“We had a discussion about her doing ‘Whitney Unplugged’ or some type of ‘Evening with Whitney,’ and that was really her idea,” Pat Houston said. “It’s a dream that was realized by her. So that’s the production. This isn’t something that we’re just putting together. This is something that she wanted to do, and I get very emotional watching this because it is so close to what she wanted. The only thing missing was her, physically.”

The tour, set to kick off February 25th in Sheffield, England, is the latest from Base Holograms, the company behind the recent Buddy Holly/Roy Orbison outing. While more hologram tours have sparked up in recent years, some critics are still quick to label the idea exploitative or creepy. But the Houston shows suggests that what seemed like one-off gimmicks when a virtual Tupac Shakur joined Dr. Dre and Snoop Dogg at Coachella may still become a mainstream entertainment medium.

But those banking on hologram features becoming mainstays still have a long hill to climb. Ticket sales were weak for the Holly/Orbison tour, averaging at just over half of tickets sold at each venue, according to Pollstar. The tour’s two lowest-selling shows sold just 36% of their available tickets. Frank Zappa’s hologram tour, which also took place in 2019, fared slightly better, selling a lukewarm 66% of tickets per show. Still, Houston is by far the biggest-selling artist to have their likeness tour as a hologram – she’s No. 19 in all-time sales according to the Recording Industry Association of America – which could make her shows a bigger draw.

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The show is the result of five years of discussion, Base Hologram Productions CEO Marty Tudor said. Once the project got off the ground, it took another year to make it.

The dress rehearsal showcased about two-thirds of the show, which will feature a live band and dancers choreographed by Fatima Robinson, who previously worked with Houston. The show will give audiences many of the singer’s biggest hits, including “I Wanna Dance With Somebody (Who Loves Me),” “I Have Nothing” and her beloved rendition of Dolly Parton’s “I Will Always Love You.” The hologram also performed Steve Winwood’s “Higher Love,” a 1990 cover that gained traction well after Houston’s death when Norwegian DJ Kygo remixed it last year .

Pat Houston said fans should come into these shows simply to appreciate Whitney’s music and see something new rather than to expect an exact recreation of one of her live concerts. 

“It’s primarily just paying homage to her legacy. How many times can you just hear the same song over and over? This is a new way to experience the music,” Pat Houston said. “Realistically, it’s all about the Whitney experience. She preferred doing small shows, and it was something she couldn’t really do when she was alive. People need to understand, no one is trying to recreate our Whitney. This is a show to celebrate her music and introduce her to people who never got to see her live.”

Still, the show is designed to be as close to the real thing as possible, Tudor said. But the technology still needs improving to truly obtain that goal; the holograms are two-dimensional, which severely limits the show’s stage dynamics, and a particularly scrutinizing eye can still see an occasionally translucent holographic image from certain angles.

But the show is peppered with small details to try and heighten a sense of realism. Producers have “Whitney” wear multiple detailed outfits, from a bright orange jumpsuit to a more frilly gold dress. Whitney’s hologram looks wet when they pour rain on her, and there’s the occasional virtual fan outburst yelling “I love you Whitney!” While a deceased artist’s hologram could come across dystopian to some, Tudor said that done tastefully, he sees these hologram shows as homages.

“It’s a complicated mix of disciplines if you will,” Tudor said. “I could’ve made Whitney fly around stage if I wanted to, but she didn’t. One of the things that’s really critical is we want to be authentic. To me, it’s creepy and eerie if you make the artist do something they never would’ve done. But if you are authentic and live within the rules of who they were, this is a celebration of her legacy.”

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Whitney Houston Hologram Concert to Come to Las Vegas in October

By Selome Hailu

Selome Hailu

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Whitney Houston ’s estate has announced that “An Evening With Whitney: The Whitney Houston Hologram Concert,” a new residency at Harrah’s Las Vegas, will begin on Oct. 26.

The concert will feature the virtual image and voice of the late singer backed by a live four-piece band and background singers and dancers performing “all the hits,” according to a promotional video. This event has been in the works since at least 2019, when the estate first announced its partnership with publishing/management Primary Wave . Primary Wave acquired 50 percent of the estate’s assets, and the singer’s former manager and sister-in-law Pat Houston shared plans for a hologram tour, an album of unreleased tracks and a musical. 

Despite questions about the ethics of using hologram technology to engage with the dead, Pat Houston has repeatedly shared confidence that Whitney would have appreciated the event. “In 2011, Whitney and I discussed her idea of an intimate, unplugged concert tour. It was a project we called ‘Whitney Unplugged’ or ‘An Evening with Whitney,'” she said via press release. “While Whitney’s no longer with us, her voice and legacy will live on with us forever. ‘An Evening with Whitney’ is another chance for us to relive and celebrate the talent that we were so lucky to receive for more than three decades and we’re excited to bring this cutting-edge musical experience to the fans who supported the pop culture phenomenon that was Whitney Houston, because they deserve nothing less.” Pat Houston is the executor of the singer’s estate.

The project is a collaboration between Houston’s estate and Base Hologram, whose CEO Brian Becker added in the statement, “It’s an honor to be able to help add to her legacy with this project and present her incomparable talent in a way that will resonate with longtime fans and new generations alike. If you were lucky to see Whitney perform live, this is an opportunity to see her again. If you weren’t so lucky, this is the closest you may ever get to experiencing what it was like.”

Tickets for “An Evening With Whitney: The Whitney Houston Hologram Concert” will go on sale Friday, July 23 at 10 a.m. PT via TicketMaster .

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Whitney Houston Hologram Tour Announces First Dates

In partnership with the Estate of Whitney E. Houston, BASE Hologram has revealed the first slate of tour dates for the upcoming hologram production An Evening With Whitney: The Whitney Houston…

By Taylor Mims

Taylor Mims

In partnership with the Estate of Whitney E. Houston , BASE Hologram has revealed the first slate of dates for the upcoming hologram production An Evening With Whitney: The Whitney Houston Hologram Tour.

The trek will kick off in Mexico between Jan. 23 and Feb. 9, followed by dates in U.K. and Europe, hitting England, Scotland, Ireland, The Netherlands, Belgium, Switzerland, Germany and more.

The currently announced dates close out April 3 at the Palace of the Republic in Minsk, Belarus. The tour is expected to hit North American in the fall of 2020.

'You Want It to Be Authentic': BASE Hologram Details New Whitney Houston Hologram Tour

BASE Hologram has also released the first rendering of the Whitney Houston hologram which can be seen above.

“Whitney Houston was a talent beyond words, and her influence and artistry transcended all boundaries,” said BASE Hologram and BASE Entertainment CEO and chairman Brian Becker in a statement. “What we are creating here is a new type of theatrical concert experience designed to capture that magic. When she performed there was an unmatched level of charisma and emotion to it – that’s what we are going to bring to audiences and it’s an honor to be able to help add to her legacy with this project.”

“A hologram show is all about the imagination and creating a ‘wow factor’ that extends to an incredible experience to enjoy for years to come,” added Whitney’s former manager and president and CEO of The Estate of Whitney E. Houston,  Pat Houston . “Whitney is not with us but her music will live with us forever. We know we made the right decision partnering with BASE because they understand how important it is to produce a phenomenal hologram.”

Buddy Holly & Roy Orbison Joint Hologram Tour Announces Dates

The production will be helmed by acclaimed choreographer Fatima Robinson , known for her work on massive events and directing multiple award-winning music videos for such names as Rihanna , Kanye West and Mary J. Blige .

An Evening With Whitney: The Whitney Houston Hologram Tour will feature a live band, back-up singers and dancers set to digitally remastered arrangements of Houston’s classic songs.

This show joins BASE Hologram’s currently touring properties Roy Orbison & Buddy Holly: The Rock ‘N’ Roll Dream Tour and Maria Callas ‘ Callas in Concert. A full list of tour dates can be found at basehologram.com .

January 23 – February 9, 2020 – Mexico (additional information to come soon). February 27, 2020 – M&S Bank Arena 2 Arena – Liverpool, England February 28, 2020 – Apollo – Manchester, England February 29, 2020 – First Direct Arena – Leeds, England March 1, 2020 – SEC Armadillo – Glasgow, Scotland March 2, 2020 – P&J Arena – Aberdeen, Scotland March 3, 2020 – Bord Gais Theatre – Dublin, Ireland March 4, 2020 – Arena Birmingham – Birmingham, England March 5, 2020 – Bournemouth International Centre – Bournemouth, England March 6, 2020 – Motorpoint Arena – Cardiff, Wales March 7, 2020 – Brighton Centre – Brighton, England March 9, 2020 – Royal Concert Hall – Nottingham, England March 10, 2020 – Hammersmith Apollo – London, England March 12, 2020 – Bozar – Brussels, Belgium March 13, 2020 – AFAS Live-  Amsterdam, Netherlands March 14, 2020 – Capitole –  Ghent, Belgium March 19, 2020 – Samsung Hall – Zurich, Switzerland March 20, 2020 – Admirals Palast – Berlin, Germany March 22, 2020 – Stadhalle F – Vienna, Austria March 23, 2020 – Inchebo Expo Arena – Bratislava, Slovakia March 25, 2020 – Forum Black Box – Copenhagen, Denmark March 26, 2020 – Folketeatret – Olso, Norway March 28, 2020 – Cirkus -Stockholm, Sweden March 30, 2020 – BKZ Oktyabrisky – St Petersburg, Russia March 31, 2020 – Kremlin Concert Hall – Moscow, Russia April 2, 2020 – Palace Ukraine – Kiev, Ukraine April 3, 2020 – Palace of the Republic – Minsk, Belarus

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Everything We Know About The Whitney Houston Hologram Concert In Las Vegas

It has been nearly 10 years since iconic star Whitney Houston died tragically (via Britannica ). But fans of the "I Will Always Love You" singer are about to see her in concert again — kind of. As Variety reports, a residency featuring Houston's hologram is coming to Las Vegas at the end of October.

"An Evening With Whitney: The Whitney Houston Hologram Concert," will combine a virtual image of the "Bodyguard" actress with her voice, and the production, which is being put on by her estate, also plans to enhance the performance with a live four-piece band, as well as backup singers, and dancers.

This is not the first time this technology has been used, with Time noting holograms of late performers Tupac Shakur and Michael Jackson have performed for audiences before — the former at Coachella in 2011, and the latter at the Billboard Music Awards in 2014. Nonetheless, Houston's hologram concert has Twitter seeing red.

Twitter sees red while Whitney Houston's estate defends the hologram concert

On Twitter , reaction to Variety 's story about Houston's hologram residency was a mix of angry and disgusted. "Just NO!!!" one person commented. Another fan said, "the family couldn't let her rest in peace... this is friggin' horrible." Someone else quipped, "Whitney has been working non-stop ever since she passed away." But on a more serious note, a fan tweeted, "She didn't consent to this." "So wrong. So many levels," another Twitter user commented, while someone else blasted the family, writing, "PURE GREED! It is being done by her estate, her own family. The grift will never end. So gross and disrespectful."

Meanwhile, Pat Houston, the executor of the singer's estate, and her sister-in-law, said in a statement, "In 2011, Whitney and I discussed her idea of an intimate, unplugged concert tour. It was a project we called 'Whitney Unplugged' or 'An Evening with Whitney'" (via Rolling Stone ).

The former manager went on to say in the statement, "While Whitney's no longer with us, her voice and legacy will live on with us forever. 'An Evening with Whitney' is another chance for us to relive and celebrate the talent that we were so lucky to receive for more than three decades and we're excited to bring this cutting-edge musical experience to the fans who supported the pop culture phenomenon that was Whitney Houston, because they deserve nothing less."

The Whitney Houston hologram concert will showcase her entire career

For those who are not offended by the notion of Houston performing as a hologram, Rolling Stone reports the residency will be "lengthy" — running through April of next year — and take place at Harrah's in Las Vegas.

The outlet notes the concert was planned for a 2020 start date, but Covid-19 thwarted that. However, folks over in Britain have already had the chance to see the controversial show, as it debuted across the pond last year. Rolling Stone further reports that the concert features Houston during all stages of her illustrious career, which began back in 1983 when she made her TV debut on "The Merv Griffin Show" (via Biography ). Clive Davis signed her ASAP (via The New York Times ).

Just two years later, her first album, "Whitney Houston" came out, and well, it was insanely successful, featuring her first number one hit, "Saving All My Love For You" (via History ). She would go on to have 11 number one hits, including "I Wanna Dance With Somebody," and "So Emotional" (via Insider ).

To be fair, although many on social media are not in favor of the hologram concert moving forward, some fans on Twitter are excited for the residency, with one person tweeting, "AMAZING TECHNOLOGY! We are Very Lucky!"

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The Whitney Houston hologram tour review: fans are overcome by emotion at 2020’s most controversial gig

Manchester Apollo, Friday 28: cheering for an avatar feels like saying "Thank you" to a self-service check-out, but fans' rapture can't be denied at the posthumous An Evening With Whitney Houston

“Good evening everyone and welcome to Whitney Houston – very much live!” gushes the controversial Whitney Houston hologram, performing at the Manchester Apollo eight years after the global icon’s death. “There’s going to be a lot of love coming off the stage tonight! We’re going to be giving you the best we’ve got!”

As avatar Whitney launches into ‘Saving All My Love For You’, the woman next  to me erupts into tears. Some fans are so taken in by the digital phantasm, they wave at ‘her’. At points, words can’t quite do justice to how unusual tonight is – the dictionary is waving a white flag.

An Evening With Whitney Houston has been endorsed by Houston’s estate, but early reviews of the first night in Sheffield were splenetic, with reports that audiences had taken to heckling, which feels like a very 2020 “Sue, you’re shouting at a hologram!” moment. But this didn’t deter the crowds from turning out in droves to Manchester; some I spoke with have come as far afield as Poland. Like many here, Oliver – celebrating his 17th birthday – was too young to see IRL-Whitney when she was in her prime. He doesn’t feel it’s macabre – or “ghost slavery” as one critic memorably dubbed it.

“It’s just trying to introduce her to a younger audience who didn’t actually get the chance to see her,” he argues. And then he’s off to buy a commemorative hoodie.

It’s a sentiment echoed by 35-year-old Daniel, resplendent in a vintage Whitney tour T-shirt. “Part of the excitement of this is not knowing what to expect,” he says. “I don’t think it’s disrespectful. When legends have died, people will go and see tribute acts of them – so how is this any different? This is letting her music live on and I know that before she died, she was planning a tour of smaller theatres – this is just fulfilling her last dreams.”

Part of the anticipation comes from the show’s inherent novelty value. Will it be like virtual pop idol Hatsune Miku but for boomers? When the recreation finally arrives – singing her cover of Steve Winwood’s ‘Higher Love’, the track that was sampled by Kygo for the producer’s 2019 single – it’s technically impressive and full of loving touches like her carrying her trademark handkerchief. But this can’t compensate for the ‘uncanny valley’ effect – where you end up gazing at a fake human with the eerily baffled expression of a dog encountering a frog.

Your phone camera can’t focus on her because it knows it’s not an actual person. At times, she resembles a Mortal Kombat 11 character. Backed by a real band and flesh-and-blood choreographed dancers – who have the double-edged-sword effect of adding some dynamism to a show which can feel static while also emphasising how unreal the hologram looks in comparison– she disappears and re-materialises in different costumes and hairstyles Star Trek transporter-style, and performs during a storm during ‘Run To You’, seemingly sodden from the rain.

Because it’s obviously a pre-recorded singing voice taken from live performances, there’s no spontaneity, no interaction, no sense of drama over whether she’ll hit the high note. While Houston’s stunning, soulful vocal pyrotechnics cut through the artifice, it’s often more interesting to watch how the crowd reacts to the hologram than what’s onstage. They clap after each song (which initially feels akin to saying “Thank you” to a self-service check-out). By the time ‘I Wanna Dance with Somebody (Who Loves Me)’ rolls around, they’re up out of their seats and moving with abandon. Some even suspend disbelief enough to cry a euphoric, “G’wan Whitney!’.

Whitney always strove for perfection: this is the idealised Disney-version fans see in their mind’s misty eye, and some have even claimed that tonight has helped them wash away memories of her disastrous 2010 tour, where she appeared drug-ravaged and raddled. The atmosphere is that of a communal live album listening party meets mass raucous hen do. Take the moment, during ‘I Will Always Love You’, when Whitney’s vocal pauses for tension and dramatic effect: fans drunkenly finish the lyrics before she does, with multiple karaoke renditions competing with each other and sounding like a fire on Noah’s Ark.

You do run the gamut of emotions. There’s a joy in hearing iron-clad bangers such as ‘It’s Not Right But It’s Okay’, and there are moments of supreme weirdness (at one point, lightning shoots from her fingers like Emperor Palpatine). There’s also a sense of unease – such as when during ‘The Greatest Love of All’, the replica croons: ‘ Whatever they take from me / They can’t take away my dignity ‘, which perversely takes on another level of meaning. This evening may be well-intentioned, and doesn’t feel entirely like the cynical cash cow some have presented it as, but it’s worth wondering whether a woman who seemed to have so little control over her life is facing a similar challenge in death.

But as she sinks into the stage like holographic quicksand waving (with the crowd surreally waving back) after an encore of ‘I’m Every Woman’, the faithful here have few complaints – and it’s touching how much they’ve emotionally invested in something which is a cross between Madame Tussauds and a jukebox stage show musical.

Beaming, Daniel – 35 – enthuses: “You accept it’s a hologram – a bloody good hologram – and it’s the next best thing to seeing her. We got up off our seats and started dancing. We actually thought she was there at one point. At the end, you applaud and then you have that moment when you think: ‘What am I applauding for?!’ We had a discussion after the first few songs, saying, ‘Well, it’s for Whitney but we’re also applauding the musicians and everyone else involved.’”

In a homemade Whitney t-shirt, Kimberley, 30, raves: “What made it emotional for me – I started crying at one point – was I actually believed she was there. I forgot it was a hologram. It felt like an honour and a tribute to her. The technology has given me an experience I would never have had.”

The Whitney Houston hologram played:

‘Higher Love’

‘Saving All My Love For You’

‘All The Man I Need’

‘I Have Nothing’

‘I Wanna Dance With Somebody (Who Loves Me)’

‘It’s Not Right But It’s Okay’

‘I Believe In You And Me’

‘Run To You’

‘My Love Is Your Love’

‘The Greatest Love Of All’

‘Exhale (Shoop Shoop)’

‘I Will Always Love You’

‘Queen Of The Night’

‘I’m Every Woman’

• Related Topics
• Whitney Houston

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Inside Whitney Houston’s posthumous hologram tour

Photograph by Rob Verhorst via Redferns

The late singer is currently touring Europe as a ghostly digital reincarnation. It’s not right, but is it okay? Houston’s hologram stylist tells us more.

Words: TJ Sidhu 3rd March 2020

Whitney Houston is currently touring the UK, belting out popular hits like I Will Always Love You (1992), It’s Not Right But It’s Okay (1998) and Million Dollar Bill (2009) to crowds of adoring fans. We all knew Houston was a superstar. But even for her that’s some feat, given that she died eight years ago.

Following her especially tragic 2012 death in the bathtub at Los Angeles’ Beverly Hilton hotel, her memory and her legacy are being perpetuated by An Evening with Whitney: The Whitney Houston Hologram Tour , a 25-date digital reimagination currently doing the rounds in Europe.

This ghost-in-the-machine – or, on-the-stage – production is the latest posthumous performance victory lap for a dead legend. Late hip-hop OG Tupac Shakur made a ghostly appearance in a  Supreme campaign last month , big-voiced balladeer Roy Orbison also performed ​ “ live” in raves from beyond the grave. Meanwhile, a controversial Amy Winehouse hologram tour has been in the works since its 2018 announcement and is still yet to materialise. Sixteen-year-old Japanese pop sensation Hatsune Miku, though, is neither dead nor alive. She was born a hologram and has existed as a virtual character since she exploded in 2007. But what’s it like on the inside of a concert tour where the headline act exists as a trick of the light? Timothy Snell knows. The celebrity stylist and costumier is overseeing the signature Houston looks that ​ “ she” is ​ “ wearing” on the holo-production.

These include updated versions of her iconic looks from the past: an ​ ’ 80s leather jacket, white vest and blue pedal-pusher jeans in one sequence; a gold, floor-length gown fit for a five-octave-singing diva in another; a similar gown but embellished with garish glitter in yet another. Even death can’t stop a diva’s multiple costume changes.

“ Initially I thought: how is this going to work?” admits Snell. ​ “ But I didn’t look at it as ​ ‘ Whitney’. I looked at it as an experience of Whitney.”

To be fair, he should know. Snell has experience working with what we might call Actual Whitney. He styled her for multiple Grammy Awards appearances, and says his working relationship with the singer went as far as her telling him: ​ “ You feel like family to me.”

Which begs the question: what would his family member make of him facilitating an exploitative professional afterlife in which she had no say? And isn’t it just, you know, weird ?

“ She’s no longer with us and we can’t bring her back,” he says, ​ “ So I looked at it as creating an art experience – an art installation, if you will.”

Snell often mentions the ​ “ experience”. Simply, for him, the end goal was to give fans a second chance to listen to Houston and watch her ​ “ perform”. Of course, there is no talk of cash. The whole thing is a work of art as opposed to a hand-rubbing business venture.

Critics aren’t seeing the ​ “ experience” quite the same way. The Guardian gave it a two out of five star rating and called it a ​ “ ghoulish cash-in” . The BBC questioned the ethics of the tour, asking: ​ “ Whatever happened to the notion of Rest in Peace?”. One Twitter user questioned whether the late singer’s onscreen resurrection looks like ​ “ Toni Braxton in a wig,” while Entertainment Weekly simply termed it ​ “ tacky reproduction” .

All that said: from a straight-up fashion perspective, isn’t this undeniably – or, even, morbidly – fascinating? While a stylist for a concert tour would work with the living, breathing, dancing talent in the rehearsal room and onstage, Snell’s hologram venture is less playing dress up, more Ctrl+X + Ctrl+V.

“ It was important that when people looked at the hologram it looked like you were really at a Whitney show,” he states firmly. ​ “ It was [also] important that the clothing represented what she actually wore onstage.”

• “ It’s not for everybody, but you’re not looking at Whitney Houston. You’re looking at an experience.”  “ It’s not for everybody, but you’re not looking at Whitney Houston. You’re looking at an experience.”  “ It’s not for everybody, but you’re not looking at Whitney Houston. You’re looking at an experience.”  “ It’s not for everybody, but you’re not looking at Whitney Houston. You’re looking at an experience.”  “ It’s not for everybody, but you’re not looking at Whitney Houston. You’re looking at an experience.”  “ It’s not for everybody, but you’re not looking at Whitney Houston. You’re looking at an experience.”  “ It’s not for everybody, but you’re not looking at Whitney Houston. You’re looking at an experience.”  “ It’s not for everybody, but you’re not looking at Whitney Houston. You’re looking at an experience.”  “ It’s not for everybody, but you’re not looking at Whitney Houston. You’re looking at an experience.”  “ It’s not for everybody, but you’re not looking at Whitney Houston. You’re looking at an experience.”  “ It’s not for everybody, but you’re not looking at Whitney Houston. You’re looking at an experience.”  “ It’s not for everybody, but you’re not looking at Whitney Houston. You’re looking at an experience.”  “ It’s not for everybody, but you’re not looking at Whitney Houston. You’re looking at an experience.”  “ It’s not for everybody, but you’re not looking at Whitney Houston. You’re looking at an experience.”  “ It’s not for everybody, but you’re not looking at Whitney Houston. You’re looking at an experience.”  “ It’s not for everybody, but you’re not looking at Whitney Houston. You’re looking at an experience.”  “ It’s not for everybody, but you’re not looking at Whitney Houston. You’re looking at an experience.”  “ It’s not for everybody, but you’re not looking at Whitney Houston. You’re looking at an experience.”  “ It’s not for everybody, but you’re not looking at Whitney Houston. You’re looking at an experience.”  “ It’s not for everybody, but you’re not looking at Whitney Houston. You’re looking at an experience.” 

Houston’s style evolved dramatically throughout her 30-year career. The flamboyant jumpsuits, padded shoulders and cinched blazers in the ​ ’ 80s gave way to the recognisable off-duty airport snaps featuring baggy ​ ’ 90s silhouettes of ski jackets, tracksuit bottoms and teeny-tiny sunglasses. The turn of the millennium saw Houston transform into a simpler style: embroidered blue jeans, ribbed turtlenecks, floor-length jackets and knee-high boots.

“ I would do a lot of research by putting together storyboards of what she wore in the ​ ’ 80s, ​ ’ 90s and the early 2000s. [I’d then] put together a capsule collection of how the clothing would work with the songs that were chosen. You start with the sketches, the storyboarding, and then the design.”

Interestingly, though, styling for a hologram doesn’t necessarily give the stylist more freedom to experiment. Digital Whitney is placed against a black background, meaning everything she wears has to include bright pops of colour so as to not fade. Houston’s hair was lightened, too.

And while Houston wasn’t especially known as a dancer on stage, creating an as-life-like hologram meant capturing small details to amplify the performance. Snell mentions a scene where the singer wears a fringe dress.

“ We wanted to create something that had a lot of movement. It was important because Whitney didn’t dance a lot [so we had to] create dresses that would illuminate and that would move for her.”

All things considered, then, could we be looking at the future of styling? Or, one of them?

“ It definitely leads to a new experience of styling,” agrees Snell. ​ “ I think it’s great that you could stand there, push a button and change the colour of a gown, eliminate this, add that. We would never have had the opportunity to change [things] so quickly when you have people sewing and doing the work.”

Ultimately, though, real stars still need real costumes sewn by real people. As Snell acknowledges: ​ “ It’s not for everybody, but you’re not looking at Whitney Houston. You’re looking at an experience.”

And for some – Whitney obsessives, tech early adopters, pop culture rubberneckers – An Evening with Whitney: The Whitney Houston Hologram Tour might still provide The Greatest Love of All.

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Whitney Houston Hologram Tour Nears First Show 8 Years After Singer's Death: 'Now Is Just the Right Time'

"This is something that she wanted to do," said Whitney Houston's sister-in-law and former manager, Pat Houston

Whitney Houston is about to take the stage again, eight years after her death.

On Tuesday, Feb. 25, An Evening With Whitney: The Whitney Houston Hologram Tour will play its first show in Sheffield, England, with additional U.K. stops set through April 1.

Combining cutting-edge visual effects to project Houston’s image centerstage, the show also features a live band and backup singers and dancers. The singer — who died in February 2012 at age 48 — is brought to life using archival images and recordings painstakingly compiled for an immersive and innovative live experience.

“Now is just the right time,” Pat Houston, the Grammy winner’s sister-in-law and former manager, told the Associated Press . “In the spirit of Whitney, I know we’re doing all the right things right now.”

The show is produced by BASE Hologram, sanctioned by the Whitney Houston Estate, which revealed plans for the tour last spring. With a number of the music legend’s hits, the show is described by Pat as a setlist Houston dreamed of performing.

“This is something that she wanted to do,” said Pat. “I get very emotional watching this, because it is so, so close to what she wanted. The only thing missing is her, physically.”

To pull off the lifelike hologram, the team at BASE used techniques similar to what Lucasfilm and Industrial Light & Magic visual effects artists utilized to put late Star Wars actress Carrie Fisher back onscreen in 2016’s Rogue One .

“It’s lengthy, it’s tedious, it’s a big, complicated process, but I think it worked,” BASE Hologram CEO Marty Tudor told AP.

Choreographer Fatima Robinson, in order to arrange the dance routines for the show, pored over footage of Houston’s show-stopping performances to nail her every move.

“Whitney didn’t dance a lot, but when she did do her little moves, they were so perfectly Whitney,” Robinson told AP. “We did lots of studying her behavior in her videos. We would study her movements, and find the best moments in some of the live videos that just really embody her.”

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North American dates for the hologram tour have not been announced, though they are expected to follow later in the year.

Whitney’s estate canceled a previous attempt at staging a hologram resurrection of the singer back in 2016. When Christina Aguilera was set to perform alongside the digital Houston on an episode of The Voice , the venture was halted due to effects that weren’t yet up to par.

“Holograms are new technology that take time to perfect, and we believe with artists of this iconic caliber, it must be perfect,” Pat said at the time. “Whitney’s legacy and her devoted fans deserve perfection. After closely viewing the performance, we decided the hologram was not ready to air.”

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In the spirit of Whitney: Houston Hologram tour set to begin

FILE - In this Sept. 15, 2004 file photo, recording artist Whitney Houston performs at the 2004 World Music Awards at the Thomas and Mack Arena in Las Vegas. Houston is about to appear on the concert stage again. Eight years after her death, five years after the show was conceived and a year after production began, a holographic Houston will embark on a European tour starting Feb. 25, with U.S. dates expected to follow. The singer’s sister-in-law and former manager Pat Houston says it’s the right time for a revival, and says it’s a show Whitney Houston would’ve wanted. The concerts will feature a projected Houston performing most of her biggest hits, including “I Will Always Love You,” with real backup dancers and a live band. (AP Photo/Eric Jamison, file)

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BURBANK, Calif. (AP) — Whitney Houston is about to appear on the concert stage again.

Eight years after her death, a holographic Houston will embark on a European tour that starts in England on Feb. 25 and runs through early April, with U.S. dates expected to follow.

“Now is just the right time,” said Pat Houston, the singer’s sister-in-law, former manager and the executor of her estate, which is producing the show in collaboration with BASE Hologram. “In the spirit of Whitney, I know we’re doing all the right things right now.”

Last week, a few dozen members of the media were given a dress-rehearsal preview in Burbank, California of most of “An Evening With Whitney: The Whitney Houston Hologram Tour,” which features a Houston projected onto a nearly invisible scrim on a stage with real dancers and a live backing band.

The concert set includes most of her biggest hits — “How Will I Know,” “Saving All My Love For You,” “I Will Always Love You,” along with some unexpected rarities, including a cover of Steve Winwood’s “Higher Love” that Houston first recorded three decades ago.

The show, which was first conceived five years ago, used a body double along with hundreds of hours of Houston performances and extensive CGI synthesizing.

“We created the hologram the same way they did Carrie Fisher in the ‘Star Wars’ movie ‘Rogue One,’” said Marty Tudor, CEO of BASE Hologram, which has previously revived performing versions of dead singers including Roy Orbison and Maria Callas. “It’s lengthy, it’s tedious, it’s a big, complicated process, but I think it worked.”

The ambitious performance is the modest brainchild of Whitney Houston herself, in at least one respect.

While on her final European tour, she had an “unplugged” section of her show, with a stripped down band and minimal fanfare. Houston liked that so much that shortly before her death at age 48 on the eve of the 2012 Grammy Awards, she expressed a desire to one day do an entire tour that way.

That concept became the model for the hologram concert.

“This is something that she wanted to do,” Pat Houston said after the media preview of the show. “I get very emotional watching this, because it is so, so close to what she wanted. The only thing missing is her, physically.”

On first appearance it’s clear how far holographic technology has come since previous iterations like Tupac’s holographic stint with Snoop Dogg at Coachella in 2012, with little of the flickering unreality audiences expect. Houston’s appearance in a gold gown looks magically realistic.

The limits are more apparent as the concert goes on, with the projection beam visible and Houston’s movements minimal, but those shortcomings are unlikely to bother the hardcore fans the tour is likely to draw.

Houston was never one for elaborate choreography or flashy moves anyway, and her small gestures — a quivering jaw on long-held notes, fluttering fingers for vocal flourishes, are all captured here.

“Whitney didn’t dance a lot, but when she did do her little moves, they were so perfectly Whitney,” said Fatima Robinson, who choreographed the show. “We did lots of studying her behavior in her videos. We would study her movements, and find the best moments in some of the live videos that just really embody her.”

The show still features plenty of dancing, via four backup dancers and two moving backup singers, all of whom occasionally interact with the hologram.

But Houston mostly preferred to let her voice do the work, and that part of the show works seamlessly, through a blend of studio takes and live performances. Close listeners may think they’re hearing the album version of a hit before it swerves into seemingly spontaneous moments that give it a live feeling.

The sound crew also found moments of between-song patter from Houston that were eternal enough to use for the new show.

“May God bless you and keep you, and let us pray for peace, and pray for the answer,” she says toward the end of the set.

The production may be most effective when it embraces its holographic possibilities — including having Houston swarmed in a shimmering shower of golden sparks during the climactic performance of “I Will Always Love You.”

Dressing the Houston hologram provided its own set of problems and possibilities.

“The first thing is, you can’t do black,” Timothy Snell, who oversaw the wardrobe for the show, said with a mock gasp. “And black and sparkles are your first go-to. But Whitney also loved color.”

Along with the gold gown, her outfits include a shimmering orange jumpsuit and a floor-length pink flowered coat.

“She liked to look sophisticated and timeless,” Snell said. “And those timeless looks really show up here.”

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The Whitney Houston of the 3D Hologram Tour Will Be Neither 3D nor a Hologram

A look at the latest dead-singer hologram tour technology..

If you’re a Whitney Houston fan, I have either good news or bad news for you: She’s going on tour! This week, entertainment company Base Hologram and Houston’s estate announced “ An Evening With Whitney: The Whitney Houston Hologram Tour .”

Houston joins the ranks of several other megastars performing posthumously. Base also offers a Maria Callas tour and one with Roy Orbison and Buddy Holly, and it’s been working on an Amy Winehouse performance. Base’s competitors at Eyellusion are putting on a Frank Zappa tour this year. Both companies have been founded in the past few years—Eyellusion in 2015, Base in 2017—to usher in a new era of performance that “combines holographic realism with live entertainment,” creating “a real-life 3D production,” according to Base’s site. And several news outlets discussing the announcement have adopted similar language, calling the Houston rendering a “3D hologram.” While some fans have taken to social media to protest their celebrity’s likeness being used in such a way, I have a more pedantic bone to pick: The Whitney you’ll see on tour will be neither 3D nor a hologram.

Take what’s perhaps the best-known “3D hologram” performance: Tupac at Coachella 2012. That was actually a projection onto angled sheets of plastic, using an illusion called Pepper’s ghost, named after the scientist who popularized the method . “It’s like when you’re window-shopping and you see yourself in the store glass; it’s the same effect,” says Daniel Smalley, an associate professor of electrical engineering at Brigham Young University. That trick of light and reflection has been in use since the 1500s, says Smalley, and became especially popular among Victorian-era magicians and theater productions—so, not exactly cutting-edge technology. Essentially, what you’re seeing is a projected 2D image; the 3D illusion would quickly fall apart if you saw it up close or changed your viewing angle. Eyellusion’s Zappa tour uses this same basic method as well.

That Tupac performance planted the seed for Base Holograms, according to co-founder Marty Tudor. “I thought, this is really cool—why do just a one-off? Why not a whole evening?” But unlike Tupac’s performance, Houston’s image won’t rely on Pepper’s ghost. “We’re way past Pepper’s ghost,” says Tudor, though he didn’t provide other details about their proprietary technology. He did say, however, that the image is not a reflection and is a direct projection using a cutting edge, “military-grade” Epson laser projector. Whatever this projection is, Tudor confirms, it’s not 3D, though it may appear that way to the audience. “It’s what the projector does that makes it appear 3D,” he says.

When I asked Benjamin Klein, an associate professor at the Georgia Institute of Technology School of Electrical and Computer Engineering, whether he had any guesses about what methods Tudor’s team could be using instead of Pepper’s ghost, he was honest: “I think he’s almost certainly bullshitting you, but I could be wrong,” Klein says. “Of course, a magician never reveals his secrets, and this is, at the bottom, a magic trick.”

Smalley was similarly skeptical. “If they’re using any kind of projector, laser or otherwise, then the technology will undoubtedly be a 2D projection like Pepper’s ghost,” he says. Perhaps the proprietary bit is a special scrim, or projecting onto heated air or water vapor, Smalley says, “but all of these cases are just variations on the same theme.”

Whether you’re using Pepper’s ghost or something else, developing the celebrity image that gets projected is a computational feat. “The creation of the video projected probably involved a lot of digital manipulation,” says Klein. Tudor says that it takes between nine months to a year to develop a Base show, from script to tour, and that the team uses CGI to create a hologram “the same way you create people for the movies.” Creating Coachella Tupac, according to Wired , required artists to work “round the clock for two months in a room plastered with pictures of the rapper,” and he was only onstage a few minutes. The renderings and choreography for a full show would be an even heavier lift.

These touring celebrity renderings are also not true holograms. That’s because there’s a disconnect between what scientists call holograms and how the word hologram is used in pop culture. “What people think of when they hear hologram is Princess Leia from Star Wars —you project it and you see it from every direction,” says Smalley. But real holograms can’t be seen from a 360-degree view the way Leia can. They are, by definition, images on flat surfaces that look 3D by interfering with light beams that reflect off of that stable surface—one common example is the security sticker found on many credit cards. It’s much more difficult to create a real, moving hologram that looks 3D, though scientists are working on making those .

If you’re hoping for a bona fide Princess Leia situation, what you want is a free-space volumetric display. Smalley and his team made a teeny-tiny version of Princess Leia last year by using a laser beam to trap and rapidly heat one tiny particle of paper, allowing the scientists to manipulate its movements. Then, scientists illuminated that particle with rapid red, green, and blue light to create the illusion that you’re drawing an image—“like a sparkler on the Fourth of July,” says Smalley. There’s only so much you can draw with just on particle, so the images they’ve created are only a couple centimeters tall, and Smalley estimates researchers would need at least another 6,000 hours to scale up their methods to an 8-inch prototype, and probably at least another 6,000 hours for something human-size, “if that’s even possible,” he says.

Beyond posthumous tours, those volumetric displays could have other applications. Smalley says that air traffic controllers could keep tabs on 3D models of planes’ paths to prevent accidents, surgeons could perform image-guided surgeries with 3D renderings, or video conferencing could become much more realistic. And, of course, the adult industry is working on using volumetric images for more lifelike porn .

In the meantime, these projections will do just fine for a celebrity tour. “A hologram is overkill for what you need here, and if it looks good to you, then don’t worry too much about whether it’s 3D or not, ” says Klein. After all, you can have a 3D experience without the rendering of Whitney Houston you’re watching necessarily being 3D. Base shows include live musicians, singers, and dancers—the whole shebang. And Tudor emphasizes how real the projection appears, saying even he is fooled by it after seeing it hundreds of times. “Your brain cannot tell the difference,” he says.

Smalley agrees that whether the image is actually 3D or “Leia-like” seems moot for these performances. “There’s no reason to spend extra time, money, and engineering that no one will benefit from,” he says. “Though if you wanted to shake Whitney Houston’s hand, you gotta have it.” But even then, it would just be a trick of light; she might look convincing up close, but your hand would just go through hers.

Future Tense is a partnership of Slate , New America , and Arizona State University that examines emerging technologies, public policy, and society.

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Whitney Houston's Hologram Concert Is Coming to North America, & We're Not Sure How to Feel

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Have you seen The Bodyguard roughly one million times? Do you know every word to “I Have Nothing”? Well, you’re probably the kind of fan who’ll be pumped to know Whitney Houston’s hologram concert is coming to North America . Come April, the unique musical experience — which first premiered with a 24-city European run — will be making its way to Sin City for an extended engagement at Flamingo Las Vegas.

“In 2011, Whitney and I discussed her idea of an intimate, unplugged concert tour. It was a project we called Whitney Unplugged or An Evening With Whitney . While Whitney’s no longer with us, her voice and legacy will live on with us forever,” Pat Houston, the late singer’s sister-in-law and former manager/President and CEO of The Estate of Whitney E. Houston, shared in a statement. “ An Evening With Whitney is another chance for us to relive and celebrate the talent that we were so lucky to receive for more than three decades and we’re excited to bring this cutting-edge musical experience to the fans who supported the pop culture phenomenon that was Whitney Houston , because they deserve nothing less.”

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According to ET , the show will begin its North American run on April 14, and super-fans can try to grab tickets (while they last) once they go on sale March 6 at 10 a.m. PT/1 p.m. ET.

View this post on Instagram Here’s a peek into An Evening With Whitney: The Whitney Houston Hologram Tour! ✨ Opening night kicks off tomorrow in Sheffield, UK. See link in bio for all dates & info! A post shared by Whitney Houston (@whitneyhouston) on Feb 24, 2020 at 8:54am PST

So, you’re familiar with how this works, right? Created by BASE Hologram in partnership with The Estate of Whitney E. Houston, the show centers around a hologram of the late singer modeled after a body double that was then digitized to look like and mimic Houston herself. On top of that, the hologram has been synced with Houston’s live performances and studio takes. The end result is a concert experience featuring digitally remastered arrangements of Houston’s biggest hits.

And, yeah, we get it. Houston was one of the biggest music icons ever . Some of us grew up listening to classics like “I Wanna Dance With Somebody (Who Loves Me)” and “The Greatest Love of All” but were too young to ever see her in concert. How cool would it be to watch Houston (or her hologram, anyway) belt out those inimitable songs from the stage? I feel like if I took my mom to this, it would surely cement my status as her favorite child forevermore.

I would probably be in the minority if people who wouldn't mind seeing this Whitney Houston hologram pic.twitter.com/JI2opQKGSg — Luchiano🤦🏾‍♂️ (@Luchiano404) February 26, 2020

Having said that, though, wouldn’t it also just be kinda… sad? Houston died on Feb. 11, 2012 , at only 48 years old. It seems as though seeing a hologram of her singing on stage would be a stark — and, if we really being honest, maybe bizarre — reminder of her potential cut short.

Plus, we’re not entirely sure how we feel about the fact it’s potentially exploiting a woman who is deceased for profit. Houston had notoriously been exploited for her fame throughout her life; it feels a little unsettling that such a fate also follows her in death.

Regardless of whether you’re already saving the date to score tickets or feel like the whole thing is a shameful money grab, one thing’s for sure: Seeing a hologram of Houston in concert would be a mind-bending experience. If that sounds like your kind of night, you can get more info on tickets at WhitneyVegas.com .

Click here to learn more about the life and death of Whitney Houston .

Launch Gallery: Whitney Houston dead at 48

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Back to life, back to virtual reality as music stars return to stage as holograms

The Beatles live in the Cavern, Ziggy Stardust’s last outing at the Hammersmith Apollo, or Jimi Hendrix on the Isle of Wight: all these landmark gigs may soon await even fans who were not born when they took place. As the estate of the late Whitney Houston announced last week that the singer will be going on tour, in holographic form, the technological race to bring the most realistic live experiences to concert crowds has stepped up a gear.

Accusations of bad taste can still hang over these enterprises – and occasionally scupper them, as was seen earlier this year with the postponement of an Amy Winehouse hologram tour. But for the developers rushing to bring out new-era “live” effects, it seems that the only important issue is how good they look.

Jeff Wayne, the American-born creator of the hit album War of the Worlds in the 1970s, believes the race to stay abreast of technology and ahead of competition is crucial. When his new War of the Worlds live experience, which uses “volumatic capture” holograms as well as virtual reality and immersive theatre, launches this week, it will go up against alternative holographic shows from not just Whitney but opera diva Maria Callas, soon to be back after a holographic tour last year. The company behind these events, Base Hologram, is also taking Roy Orbison back out on the road with Buddy Holly in Britain in October, while rival Eyeillusion, founded in 2015, has just completed a series of Frank Zappa dates.

“The key thing for me is the integration of the technology with my musical score,” Wayne, 75, told the Observer . “ War of the Worlds has had many iterations since I wrote it, from live shows to computer games, but whatever I have done I have tried to be involved with the latest special-effect technology. But it has to stay true to the incredible story HG Wells originally wrote. That way I think you create something of value.”

Wayne argues that the result is “absolutely a live experience”, and, as he pointed out, he has a track record here, having recreated the late Richard Burton for the first stage shows based on Wayne’s album 13 years ago. “Of course, there is always a moral question, but in our case in 2006, Sally Burton, his widow, was fully supportive,” he said.

Whether all these special effects count as “real” holograms is hotly contested. Strictly speaking, a hologram is a 3D image caused by light beam interference, but the rise of artificial intelligence systems such as machine learning has blurred the distinctions. When Tupac Shakur, the late rapper, was resurrected at Coachella festival in California in 2012 , experts argued this was actually just a projection on angled sheets of plastic, a variation of an optical trick the Victorians knew well. The 2D technique known as the “ghost illusion” or “Pepper’s ghost”was first fine tuned by the London engineer Henry Dircks and the scientist John Henry Pepper. Creative technology expert Carl Guyenette, who has worked on the Harry Potter franchise, is helping Wayne create the new experience, and suggests that we have to be careful when using term “hologram”.

“In our show we are going beyond what people have seen before with volumetric capture that involves taking 30 frames a second and then using a computer algorithm to blend them into video,” he said. “It is all still about tricking the eye, just like ‘the ghost illusion’ of the 1800s, and we use this simpler effect in part of our show in homage to the Victorians. But what we have also created is a set environment you can walk through, like a giant ‘holodeck’. The eyes of our holograms can even follow you.”

Audiences for Eyeillusion’s Bizarre World of Frank Zappa saw a similar projection, although Base claims that its technique, to be used to create An Evening with Whitney in collaboration with the late singer’s sister Pat, will be closer to a full 3D image, complete with a band, backing singers and dancers. A failed attempt at a hologram incarnation of Whitney four years ago with another company, Hologram USA, and which had some fans grimacing, shows how important it is to get the imagery right.

Big returns on concert tickets may have pushed pop and rock to the front of the hologram race, but last week the Egyptian government announced that tourists will be able to meet a moving King Tutankhamun by the end of next year, rather than just stare at his artefacts. At the same time, the French bank BNP has announced this month that some of its financial transactions will now be carried out by holographic surrogates of its team members. Trialled in London, a system called Magic Leap, developed with a firm called Mimesys , is being rolled out.

“Holograms are definitely where it is all going,” said Guyenette. “It is going to be everywhere very soon. Not just the concert hall. Within even five years people will have them at home and will be able to ‘teleport’ themselves by hologram to interact with others, just like we FaceTime now.”

For Gennaro Castaldo of the British Phonographic Institute, the music industry’s place in this virtual world is exciting. He believes that promoters will keep seeing the value in bringing artists “back to life” and this can only be good for their back catalogues. He has some reservations, though: “It has to come across as authentic. There is probably a thin line between something that looks impressive and can blow you away and something that ultimately puts off fans. Also, while we have seen a reasonably positive reaction to hologram tours and events to date, we need to wait a little longer to gauge potential for long-term growth, a point when holograms are part of the ecosystem of the ‘live music experience’.”

Meanwhile, Castaldo can envisage a future when, harnessed to human imagination, this technology might allow us to watch a young Mozart perform.

Wayne, poised once more on the eve of his War of the Worlds , has another cautionary thought: “We don’t want to let the technology get in the way of the soul. It should be just one element. And as an Orbison fan I am yet to be convinced about going to see him perform a whole show. Maybe, if they can have him interacting with an audience again. For now I am happy with his music.”

• The Observer
• Virtual reality
• Whitney Houston
• Frank Zappa
• Maria Callas

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Hologram Tours are the Future of the Live Concert Experience...Should We Be Concerned?

In 2012, fans were shocked when a virtual tupac appeared at coachella. since then, hologram tours have become a prominent component..

Powered by an overhead projector, tilted piece of glass and mylar screen, Tupac Shakur was received with an eruption of cheers as he yelled "What the fuck is up Coachella?" to tens of thousands of spectators in The Palm Desert. The rapper's posthumous comeback, nearly 16 years after his death, kicked off with a rendition of "Hail Mary.”

Tupac Shakur’s likeness "graced" the Coachella stage via hologram as part of a headlining performance alongside Dr. Dre and Snoop Dogg. The performance was visually stunning. The hologram looked exactly like Pac and had the same mannerisms as the legendary rapper. Naturally, the performance erected reactions and commentary during the set and in the days, weeks, and months that followed. The conversations were multi-faceted, but much of the initial chatter surrounded the possibilities of a fully-fledged holographic Shakur tour routed across the United States and internationally. Dr. Dre instantly refuted such claims. "Get it right. I want to get rid of all the rumors out there. This was not done for a tour," he said. However, when asked about a future tour including a hologram of Shakur, he said: "we'll see."

Coachella 2012 brought with it a spectacle that transcended the Empire Polo field stages and became a permanent fixture in hip-hop culture and a reference-point for concert events to follow. A Shakur hologram tour has yet to occur. But the usage of holograms has only grown. 

Two years after Tupac's Coachella appearance, Michael Jackson appeared as a hologram at the Billboard Music Awards performing " Slave to the Rhythm ." His inclusion, like Tupac's, was met with conflicted opinion. Lindsey Webber, Vulture's Associate Editor at the time, expressed confusion with Jackson's appearance via Twitter, whereas recording artist Trevor Moran noted that the performance was "rad."

In the years that followed Coachella 2012, the mainstream music market has experimented with the ever-evolving holographic technology to enable 3-D experiences that employ the use of virtual artist appearances. The use has extended to artists both dead and alive — from the recent announcement of a Whitney Houston hologram tour to beamed appearances from Chief Keef . 

In addition to providing posthumous performance, holograms have also been integrated to attempt to resolve instances where artists are unable to perform publicly due to legal obstacles like bans in particular territories. Chief Keef stands as the largest case-study in this terrain. Having already briefly appeared as a three-dimensional picture during his Stop the violence benefit concert in Hammond, Indiana, plans to extend the use of his likeness were officially unveiled in August of 2018 . In collaboration with Hologram USA, Sosa was set to start the Chief Keef and the Icons of American Music tour at the Hammersmith Apollo based in London. In a press release accompanying the tour announcement, his strategic rationale behind the tour was disclosed . "Chief Keef will beam in live to the shows to deliver his message of peace and anti-violence, despite having been banned from entering the UK and the city of Chicago," the release read.

To date, the tour hasn't happened.

Despite slow traction in western markets, the holographic-touring space has manifested into a lucrative market in the East. Debuting in 2007, Hatsune Miku exists as a form of Moe Anthropomorphism, created by Crypton Future Media in Japan. Donning pixels of bright blue hair and programmed charm, the figurative creation has opened for Lady Gaga and been used as a muse for Marc Jacobs’ designs. Miku was initially conceptualized as a voice synthesizer but has evolved into a successful virtual Japanese pop star. In February 2016, South Korean act Jaejoong managed to fill theatres in Tokyo with 10,500 fans who watched him perform as a hologram. Miku and Jaejoong are proof that space for this format of live-showing is viable and already happening on a large-scale. 

More recently, plans for posthumous touring — as opposed to one-off performances — have also accelerated. The late Frank Zappa (who voiced an interest in putting on hologram shows prior to his death) came back to life this year through The Bizarre World of Frank Zappa , a three-dimensional, holographic experience launched across America and the UK that was met with vastly positive reviews from fans and the likes of Rolling Stone . A similar conception was planned for Amy Winehouse and announced in 2018 by both her estate and BASE Hologram. But earlier this year the tour was put on hold due to " unique challenges and sensitivities " that arose during creation.

Even with specific examples of the complexities of orchestrating posthumous hologram tours, the trend continues to be explored. Whitney Houston's estate is the latest to announce their addition to the archetype with An Evening With Whitney . Choosing to also partner with Los Angeles based BASE Hologram who, according to their website , specializes in the production of “ unique non-replicable holographic productions designed to tour with live artists or stand alone,” Whitney’s estate plans to launch the tour in early 2020. With preview images from production already released publicly, it appears as though the tour will likely debut with little to no teething problems. 

While the difficulties associated with hologram touring are new to the market, the associated shortcomings are indicative of a wider soft-spot that is as old as the music industry — the monetization of dead artists. The estates of Prince,   Michael Jackson , Elvis Presley, and Avicii have all released posthumous material with the inevitable gain of revenue for doing so. In most cases, the families of the deceased are consulted on the release of material. Avicii’s family, for example, announced the release of his last album in 2018 highlighting it as “a collection of nearly finished songs, along with notes, email conversations and text messages about the music.” 

Despite this, and partnerships from estates where hologram concerts have been planned, some can argue that the use of technology and posthumanism has gone too far. The release of music usually involves the incorporation of actual audio — like in the example of Avicii — and real experiences with deceased artists. Commenting on the authenticity of albums released after an artists' passing, journalist Ann Powers spoke on Michael Jackson's Xscape album in 2014. 

"Over the long term, an artist's legacy changes time and time again, and everything we hear from someone like Michael Jackson is going to help us understand him better." This is likely a sentiment  Amy Winehouse's father, Mitch Winehouse, would agree with. Although the hologram tour centered around the late singer has been canceled, for now, Winehouse said that the possibility of a tour presented  “a chance to show the real Amy at her best."

In contrast, virtual-reality led tours are a far cry from reality. They merely paint a make-believe conception that's built on what the artist was — not what they could've been. It also gets into the ethics of posthumous tours, where a vast majority of the dead acts who have either publicly performed or toured to date as a hologram never publicly expressed the desire to do so while alive. Even with the consent of said person's estate, the complexities of this area of business have been expressed on numerous occasions in recent months. The right to publicity is a legal framework that exists in territories such as North America and varies from state to state. ABC reports that in California, this framework — giving someone the right to profit off of someone's likeness — is valid for 50 years post-death, whereas in New-York, this right ends at death. 

Posthumous incarnations of this are only an evolution of this paradigm, with enclaves of stan-bases and fanbases already invested in the extension of an artist's likeness beyond the grave. Acts such as Roy Orbison, selling out on average 1,800 seats per show, ultimately establishes a space for these extremes. The pursuit for profit will not only guide creators to innovate solutions around the law but will allow them to succeed in such efforts. As the persistence to elevate the ability to generate profit in this realm expands, it appears that creators may stray further away from actual thoughts, ideas and touch from the artists of whom they are trying to curate in the process.

Nicolas-Tyrell is a freelance music and culture journalist and podcaster from London with bylines at HYPEBEAST and Clash Magazine. Follow him @ iamntyrell

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