In my last blog post, we looked at how technology was revolutionizing concerts and how it was being used by the audience. Now, let’s look at the other side of the stage; the artist and production. Musical groups are gearing up with piles and piles of tech in order to bring their show to the spectacular level and sometimes even ethereal. Growing in terms of scale as well as sophistication, visuals are becoming an integral part of the concert scene. Technology has struck a chord in the concert business in a big way and here is one of the coolest of the cool innovations.
Bringing Legends Back to Life
Leaps and bounds in technology have made futuristic fantasies a present reality for the concert scene. Now holograms aren’t just used for communicating across the galaxy (obligatory Star Wars reference). Artists’ light-up likenesses are popping up around the world and wowing crowds everywhere. Even though these holograms aren’t fancy space communication gadgets, they’re still utterly amazing.
Pepper’s Ghost, a theatre trick from the 1800s, is the process that digital production companies are utilizing to project life-like forms on stage. The gambit uses an image projected onto a screen, invisible to the audience, which is angled in front of the stage. That image then appears to be on stage. It may sound simple, but making these projections say and do anything and everything under the sun isn’t easy. Renditions of artists take months of tweaking and tinkering to create.
INDIO, CA – APRIL 15: Rapper Snoop Dogg (L) and a hologram of deceased Tupac Shakur perform onstage during day 3 of the 2012 Coachella Valley Music & Arts Festival at the Empire Polo Field on April 15, 2012 in Indio, California. (Photo by Christopher Polk/Getty Images for Coachella)
The technology is quite impressive and designers have the capability to control the hologram’s movements and speech; a puppeteer of sorts. Here are a couple artists that have already beamed onto stages around the globe:
- Tupac
- Michael Jackson
- Elvis Presley
- The Black Eyed Peas
- The Gorillaz
- Hatsune Miku
Bringing back music legends from the dead seems to be the concert trend in the last couple years and one that will continue into the future. How cool would it be to see with your own eyes a performance from a legend that you have only heard because they died before you got the chance to see them?
Possibilities are seemingly endless for performances whether you see a resurrected star or a group member that couldn’t make it to the show. Back in 2011 Fergie and Taboo couldn’t make the NRJ music awards in France, so they gave a holographic performance instead.
Seeing past legends is one thing, but wouldn’t you want to see the real deal when going to a concert? Fans of Hatsune Miku would disagree. The Japanese pop sensation is completely digital. She’s not even real and she performs at sold-out shows! A digitally created pop singer with green hair has more fans than I do. Granted, I don’t have any fans, but still; a guy can dream. Apparently, Hatsune Miku isn’t the only Japanese software sensation. Piapro, a group managed by Crypton Future Media, Inc., consists of Miku and her other digitally created pop star friends. Piapro’s first character was created in 2004 and the cast continues to grow in number and popularity worldwide.
Holograms are undeniably cool and renditions of artists are becoming more and more impressive. I’m curious to see what the future holds, tangible or not. What do you guys think? Make sure to give us a like on Facebook and check out our labels here on Case Labels USA!
http://futuristmm.com/holographic-technology/holographic-technology-and-the-future-of-concerts/
http://musion.com/?portfolio=black-eyed-peas-holograms-at-nrj-awards-show
Image Credit:
http://johnrichardsjr.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/Tupac2.jpg
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