FRANK ZAPPA Hologram Tour Band Lineup Announced

Live music's premier hologram production company Eyellusion today announced that a who's who of Zappa fan favorite musicians will support "The Bizarre World Of Frank Zappa" hologram tour set to hit music venues in late 2018. Longtime and legendary Zappa players Ray White, Mike Keneally, Scott Thunes, Robert Martin and Joe "Vaultmeister" Travers are set to perform as the show's touring lineup; they will be joined along the way by Steve Vai, Warren Cuccurullo, Ian Underwood, Vinnie Colaiuta, Napoleon Murphy Brock, Arthur Barrow, Ed Mann and more. Hours of never-before-seen Zappa performance footage from the early seventies will form the basis of the "can't miss" concert spectacle. Eyellusion is producing the tour in close cooperation with the Zappa Family Trust and made the announcement at the annual Pollstar Live! event, where it is nominated for an award in the "tech enhancement of the year" category.

"As a futurist, and hologram enthusiast, Frank fearlessly broke through boundary after boundary as an artist and in honoring his indomitable spirit we're about to do it again, 25 years after his passing," said Ahmet Zappa, EVP of business development for Eyellusion and co-trustee of the Zappa Family Trust. "This mind-melting show we're putting together celebrates the music, often surreal imagery and humor synonymous with Frank. We will be pushing the limits of what anyone has seen holographically on stage before in a live venue. Circumstances, objects, places and subject matter from Frank's songs and imagination will be brought to life for the first time on stage. We are anthropomorphizing Frank's music, so his own hand-drawn illustrations, classic imagery from his album artwork and characters from his songs can all interact and perform on stage. And let's not forget, Frank himself will be rocking his fans, alongside his bandmates like nobody's business.

"My father and I actively discussed 3D and 'holography' and it was a concept he actively engaged in. He actually devoted half a chapter of his 'The Real Frank Zappa Book' (1990) to this subject. This is a love letter and a journey celebrating the genius artistry of Frank Zappa. On a personal note, I feel like I am finishing something my father started years ago."

In 1974, Frank Zappa transformed his Los Angeles rehearsal space into a sound stage and cranked out a passionate, trademark performance seen only by the camera operators in the room who captured every last bizarrely beautiful moment. This footage, locked away in the Zappa vaults for 44 years, will serve as the basis for what will be the world's most ambitious hologram tour to date, blending live footage of Frank with outrageous visuals that offer a striking view into his complex musical works. Dates for "The Bizarre World Of Frank Zappa" performances will be announced in the coming months.

"When we debuted rock's first live hologram experience in 2016 and saw the reactions of mesmerized fans in the crowd, we knew we tapped into something huge," said Jeff Pezzuti, CEO of Eyellusion. "We've been working tirelessly since then to create live music experiences that people could previously only dream of, drawing full capacity crowds along the way. Until now, it would have been unheard of for fans to imagine being treated to a lost Frank Zappa performance backed by more than a dozen of the iconic musicians that played with him throughout his career. But this is why Eyellusion was founded — to make the impossible come to life before the eyes of fans, while preserving the legacy of music's most important artists so it can be passed down to future generations."

Eyellusion recently wrapped the European leg of its "Dio Returns" tour featuring a hologram of the late Ronnie James Dio backed by the DIO DISCIPLES band. The tour played to sellout crowds, ripping through Germany, Poland, Spain, Romania, United Kingdom, Netherlands and Belgium. 2018 dates will be announced soon.