The "Dio Returns" hologram show on Sunday, June 2 at The Palladium in St. Petersburg, Florida is canceled. Due to the size and scope of the production, the show cannot go on as planned. The booking agents are working closely with the producers of the tour to find a new date at an alternative venue. Tickets purchased will be refunded at point of purchase. As an alternative, the "Dio Returns" organizers are offering patrons the opportunity to attend the Orlando show on Saturday, June 1. Tickets purchased for the Palladium show will be honored at The Plaza Live. The new Ronnie James Dio hologram kicked off a month-long U.S. tour last night (Friday, May 31) at Barbara B. Mann Performing Arts Hall in Fort Myers, Florida. The Dio hologram production uses audio of Ronnie's live performances from throughout his career, with the DIO DISCIPLES band playing live, consisting of Simon Wright on drums, Craig Goldy on guitar, and Scott Warren on keyboards, along with Bjorn Englen on bass. Also appearing with them are former JUDAS PRIEST singer Tim "Ripper" Owens and ex-LYNCH MOB frontman Oni Logan. In his review of last night's show, Fort Myers News-Press writer Charles Runnells wrote: "Hologram Dio never really felt real. His mouth didn't quite sync with Dio's recorded, awe-inspiring vocals (lifted from various live Dio concerts). His movements looked too herky-jerky, manic and non-stop to feel life-like. And the whole thing lacked that hard-to-nail-down but immediately recognizable spark of life. It didn't help that the hologram was set all the way to the back of the stage, behind the band, making the always short Dio appear even shorter and almost elf-like (hey, he did play in a band called ELF)." The legendary heavy metal singer died in 2010 at the age of 67 from stomach cancer. His hologram made its debut at the Wacken Open Air festival in August 2016 in front of more than 75,000 fans. After the tour's initial seven-date run was completed in December 2017, Ronnie's hologram underwent "some changes" before the launch of the 2019 leg of the "Dio Returns" world tour. Hologram production company Eyellusion, which created the Dio hologram, recently signed with the Agency for the Performing Arts (APA), represented by agency partner Steve Martin.
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