Tim "Ripper" Owens is once more defending the Dio Returns tour, which features a 'hologram' of highly-regarded metal vocalist Ronnie James Dio performing with a live backing band which consists of Ronnie's ex-Dio bandmates.
The Dio hologram was created by a company called Eyellusion and made its debut at the Wacken Open Air festival in August 2016 in front of more than 75,000 fans.
The Dio hologram (created by company Eyellusion, making its debut at the Wacken Open Air festival in August 2016) shows use audio of Ronnie's live performances from throughout his career, with the Dio band playing live, consisting of Simon Wright on drums, Craig Goldy on guitar, and Scott Warren on keyboards, and Bjorn Englen on bass. Appearing with the band are Owens and Lynch Mob vocalist Oni Logan.
During an interview on "That Jamieson Show", which aired last February, Owens talked about the hologram tour; "I like it. It's so amazing every night just to hear Ronnie's voice. And it's one of the most amazing shows ever," Ripper continues, "I'm up there singing a little bit less songs, but it's always pressure, 'cause every time I get up there, if I don't sing well, I know Ronnie's looking down on me, going, 'You son of a bitch.' Because he was like that. I feel like he would be yelling at me or something like, 'That's not right.' But it's great to do it. And I love hanging out with Simon and the guys."
Speaking about 'cash-grab' accusations levelled at Wendy Dio, Ronnie's wife and manager, who is also a powerful force in the Eyellusion company, Owens had this to say;
"The thing is Wendy Dio, she's just one of the most amazing people," Tim said. "She does so much for charity. She loses money doing this tour. People say, 'Really?' And I'm, like, 'Well, listen, if she didn't lose money, we'd be touring all the time.' She doesn't want to [lose money] — the goal is not to — but she's just trying to do something to make fans happy, just like Ronnie did. You know how cool Ronnie was — one of the most amazing guys ever — and Wendy does the same thing."
Two former members of the Dio band offered earlier comments in regards to the hologram tour, balking at the concept because they believe it would be against the late singer's desires to posthumously put together concerts using his powerful image and voice.
Last December, Tracy "G" Grijalva, who played for Dio from 1993 through 1999, said that the hologram "looks creepy" and resembles "a puppet." Nine months prior, Doug Aldrich, who joined Dio between 2002 and 2006, said in an interview with XS Rock that "Ronnie would probably not like [the hologram]. "He would probably be, like, 'This is not what I signed up for.' A hologram? It's not really what he would want to be. I'm just guessing, you know, that it's something that Wendy thought about and she decided that Ronnie would be fine with it. But I knew Ronnie well enough to know that he was very particular and he would prefer for them to let him just die and be in peace."
The "Dio Returns" set consists of seven tunes sung by the Dio hologram — and ten that feature Owens and Logan separately or together — encompassing material from Dio's lengthy career, including the work he did with RAINBOW and BLACK SABBATH.
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Written by Steve Knudsen
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