The Long Haired Country Boy is hitting the stage once again.
With this Fourth of July marking America’s 250th birthday, cities all across the country are going all out and bringing out the biggest names for their massive Independence Day celebrations.
But a concert from Charlie Daniels, who passed away in 2020, might be the most impressive of the birthday parties for our country.
Daniels unfortunately passed away at the age of 81 back on July 6, 2020 following a hemorrhagic stroke at his Nashville area home. But thanks to technology, the “Devil Went Down To Georgia” singer will be making his return to the stage to headline this year’s 4th of July celebration in Fort Campbell, Kentucky… or at least a Charlie Daniels hologram.
“The Legend of Charlie Daniels” tribute concert will feature a hologram created by 8 Track Entertainment, who worked closely with the Daniels family in bringing the country music legend back to life.
According to Charlie Daniels Jr., he was hesitant at first, but wouldn’t commit if it wasn’t done right:
“I only agreed to it with the understanding that this could not in any way look strange, creepy or unnatural. If it looked like a bad Disney audio animatronic figure, then I was out, but the work-in-progress 3D models has been very promising, and continues to improve with each new model.”
The hologram will be brought to life by having someone in a motion-capture suit mimic Daniels’ movements, which his son says will include everything down to the way he held his fiddle:
“I will be highly critical to make sure it is as authentic as possible.”
Of course a military base is the perfect place to debut the new show, given Charlie’s intense patriotism and love for his country and our military:
“Dad always said, ‘From an early age I realized that only two things protected America, the Grace of Almighty God, and the United States Military.’”
The show will also feature Aaron Tippin, Eric Lee Beddingfield, as well as the 101st Airborne Division Band, and Daniels Jr. is careful to stress that this will be different from other hologram shows that we’ve seen in the past featuring artists like ABBA:
“What the show is NOT is the ABBAtars ABBA Voyage show where the entire show is motion captured performing images of the band from their heyday in 1979.
With The Legend of Charlie Daniels, the hologram of Dad will be used more sparingly …
While we may be able to present the hologram of Dad in various eras at some point, the decision was made to concentrate on his look in the later years of his life, in which he was still vibrant and energetic for an octogenarian.”
Of course we’ve also seen various other artists resurrected as holograms in the past, including Tupac making an appearance at Coachella all the way back in 2012, and Roy Orbison going on a hologram tour back in 2019.
As for Charlie Daniels, there haven’t been any plans announced yet to take the hologram on tour, but it’s not something his son is ruling out:
“After the July 4th show, if there is a demand for it, there could be more performances. We may stick to the military bases for 2026, but we hope to be able to put the show on the road in 2027.”
Technology is incredible.