The third annual Bowl For Ronnie Celebrity Bowling Tournament, benefiting the Ronnie James Dio Stand Up and Shout Cancer Fund (diocancerfund.org), took place on Friday, October 6th at Pinz Bowling Center in Studio City, California.

In an interview with Eric Blair for The Blairing Out With Eric Blair Show, former Dio keyboardist Scott Warren discusses Dio Returns: The World Tour, which will feature a hologram of Ronnie James Dio reunited with the late rock star’s former bandmates from the Dio band.

Asked how he feels about performing with a hologram, he reveals: "How do I feel about it is a really good question, because it raises some moral issues. Just because we can do this, does that mean we should? And we really had to think about it. My conscience is like, 'Would Ronnie have wanted this?' And absolutely. I think if he would have known about it in his last months of life, he probably would have gone down to the studio and filmed himself to make it happen.”

Eric Blair also spoke with bassist Bjorn Englen about the hologram tour. Find out what he had to say below:

Live music’s premier hologram production company, Eyellusion, recently revealed initial dates for Dio Returns: The World Tour, which will make more than 80 stops around the globe, kicking off in Helsinki, Finland on November 30th. It marks the first tour of its kind, breaking new ground just as Dio did throughout an accomplished career as a lead singer and songwriter in defining bands such as Rainbow, Black Sabbath and Dio.

Initial tour dates:

November
30 - The Circus - Helsinki, Finland

December
3 - Fryshuset - Stockholm, Sweden
4 - Rockefeller Music Hall - Oslo, Norway
6 - Progresja - Warsaw, Poland
13 - Bikini - Barcelona, Spain
15 - Escenario Santander - Santander, Spain
17 - Arelene Romane - Bucharest, Romania
20 - Trix - Antwerp, Belgium
21 - 013 - Tilburg, Netherlands

The Dio Returns tour will also make stops throughout Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, France, Germany, Japan, Mexico, New Zealand, United Kingdom, Venezuela and other countries, with dates to be announced. The tour is expected to come to the United States in spring 2018 and play festivals globally during the summer.

The Ronnie James Dio hologram will perform for the majority of the show, treating fans to an alternating set list that will feature songs such as “Rainbow In The Dark”, “We Rock”, “Neon Nights”, “King Of Rock & Roll”, “Man On The Silver Mountain”, “Heaven & Hell”, “Holy Diver” and more.

In August 2016, Eyellusion surprised fans when it debuted the Ronnie James Dio hologram at the Wacken Open Air heavy metal festival in Germany. The hologram was also tapped to open the 2017 Pollstar Awards, wowing bookers and promoters in attendance and creating excitement for the forthcoming tour. The Dio Returns tour will feature Dio’s actual live vocals, with the Dio band playing live, featuring Craig Goldy on guitar, Simon Wright on drums, Scott Warren on keyboards and Bjorn Englen on bass. Veteran metal vocalist Tim Ripper Owens will also perform, with singer Oni Logan also joining on select dates.

“Working with Eyellusion over the past year and a half to turn our dream of this tour into a reality has been absolutely incredible,” said Wendy Dio, who managed Ronnie James Dio throughout his career and is overseeing every aspect of the Dio Returns tour. “No one has ever been able to put together a show and tour like this and we like to think of Ronnie smiling down as we continue to find new ways to share his music with all generations of fans. We cannot wait to be able to finally bring this incredible experience to Ronnie’s fans around the world.”

“We’ve really only given Dio fans a small taste of what they’re going to see on this tour,” said Jeff Pezzuti, CEO and founder of Eyellusion. “We are creating a completely new hologram of Ronnie, designing an amazing light show and continuing to add more dates around the world to make sure that as many fans as possible get an opportunity to take part in this experience.”

Eyellusion’s holograms and live productions are supported by a team of live music and special effects veterans, including Wendy Dio, who leads industry relations, veteran rock manager Todd Singerman, who supports artist relations, and Kenny Aronoff, world renowned live and studio drummer, who supports business development and technical live production efforts. Chad Finnerty at Digital Frontier FX is Eyellusion’s exclusive content creation partner, working directly with clients to bring every project vision to the live stage. Legendary Hollywood digital effects executive Scott Ross advises Eyellusion on overall content creation for all productions.