The easiest way to do a post humous perfromance these days is by hologram.
And that’s exactly what Michael Jackson did at the Billboard Music Awards on Sunday night, taking to the stage (allbeit virtually) to perform new track Slave to the Rythym.
Accompanied by backing dancers and wearing his trademark trophy jacket ‘n’ loafers combo, holo-Jackson shimmied and moonwalked around the stage – although rumours are rife that it was actually a lookalike and not a very impressive bit of technology. Watch the video below and see for yourself:
But Michael Jackson was not the first artist to perform as a hologram on stage, oh no. Here are four other acts who appeared holographically…
Tupac (2012)
Prolly the most famous posthumous performance of all, Tupac appeared as a hologram on stage at Coachella festival in 2012 – although this weirded most people out at the time, tbh.
Elvis Presley + Celine Dion (2007)
The King always got in there before MJ, King of Pop, and that includes holographic appearances. This is a slightly bizarre pairing, of Celine Dion and Elvis on American Idol – but it’s actually quite moving, in a strange sort of way. And makes sense when you realise that American Ideal is owned by Core Media – who went on to create Tupac’s holo some five years later…
Robbie Williams, 2006
Proving that you don’t always have to be dead to do it, Take That didn’t let the fact that Robbie Williams was being a dick to hinder their original reunion tour in 2006. Instead, they simply beamed him via hologram to sing the opening part of Could It Be Magic. I was there for the London leg and, admittedly, was a) a bit emosh about all this and b) totally thought he might burst through the projection and make an appearance. Sadly not.
Jem and the Holograms, the 1980s
OK, clearly I’m clutching at straws now, but technically, Jerrica used to use Synergy (it was the 80s ok) to project the Jem hologram over her. So… #justsayin
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