Hologram Hell

About a month ago, there was a resurrection of sorts at a certain very famous music festival in California. Tupac was the name of the hip-hop great to rise from the dead and Coachella was the name of the festival. If you didn't hear about this, you must've fallen in a hole somewhere because it was everywhere in music circles. I have to say, while the moment was a crazy cool thing, I have some reservations about it. 

Tupac "Hologram" Shakur

The first thing about the hologram hitting the scene that really hit me was that this guy was dead, yet he totally looks real (at least on video!). I couldn't believe how real it looked when I first watched. After watching a few more times it became more apparent that it was a hologram, but it's still pretty impressive.


While the technology for this is pretty awesome, and no doubt this was a great moment by itself,  I can't get over the fact that if holograms become a major part of entertainment, live music is going to be taken over by the legends of the living dead. I love live music, so I think it's crazy that the technology for a hologram is there and being used in tandem with live music. Imagine Sir Paul and Ringo playing with the ghostly forms of Lennon and George? 


Now, this is where it gets tricky for me. Rolling Stone recently wrote an interesting article about the future of holograms in music. Jim Morrison and Jimi Hendrix rising from the dead too? I'd rather not.
The fact that the technology is there does not mean it should be used. If the technology is used to bring back stars of the past, I think it will only hurt their legacies, not boost them. 


The question of authenticity is also an important one for me. Why would I really want to go see a hologram (fake!) of the artists I love? Understandably this is the closest it gets to actually seeing these artists live, and that is a valid argument, but I would rather let the artists live on through their music and film and words than see an impression of one of them, no matter how close the technology can get the virtual picture of the artist down. Personally, I'd rather imagine Jim Morrison "walk right up to you, look you in the eye, sing right at you and then turn around and walk away," than have it actually happen and know it's not really Morrison. 


The whole idea of holograms as an exciting part of music entertainment just rings, well, hollow to me.