Gary Flockhart: Let sleeping rock stars lie in peace

AFTER its buzzed-about performance at the Coachella festival, we were told last week that the hologram of Tupac Shakur is now set for a full-scale tour.

This week, it’s been said that a hologram of the late Michael Jackson could soon tour alongside his brothers in the Jackson 5.

What next? Buddy Holly, Marvin Gaye, Bob Marley... the possibilities are endless.

And after that... The Beatles, The Doors, Queen...

Or how about the ‘27 Club Reunion Gig’ featuring Jimi Hendrix, Janis Joplin, Jim Morrison, Kurt Cobain and Amy Winehouse?

And when there are no more dead rock stars to dig up?

Easy. Attention can then turn to recreating iconic events from the past such as Live Aid and Woodstock.

The Tupac show (interestingly, the Tupac ‘hologram’ isn’t really a hologram but rather a clever optical illusion technique known as ‘Pepper’s Ghost’, first used in 1862) led some to predict that the future of live music will suffer terrible consequences as a result of numerous dead icons making ‘comebacks’.

That’s highly unlikely.

Why? Because as impressive as the Tupac hologram looked, it was bloody expensive to make.

An estimated £6.3 million in fact.

So while many fans would happily fork out big bucks to see the likes of Elvis back on stage (presumably the young, hip-swivelling Elvis rather than the old and bloated one), any future shows are likely to be big one-off events rather than full tours.

Me, I find the whole thing a bit creepy. Let the dead lie and all that.