After being shuttered for 10 years and going through a multi-million dollar renovation, the East County Performing Arts Center in El Cajon was transformed into The Magnolia. With this grand re-opening came heavy promotion of its upcoming events beginning in September and the third show to occur was this one. When I saw the advertisement the show was dubbed “Roy Orbison & Buddy Holly: Rock ‘N’ Roll Dream Tour” and went on to describe the show as a “cutting edge holographic performance – Roy & Buddy’s remastered vocals accompanied by a live band.” Intriguing to say the least and a no-brainer as it was the closest thing I would ever come to seeing a live performance of these two legends.
Since I stumbled across this show before tickets went on sale I was afforded the opportunity to buy tickets right when they went on sale, which ended up yielding 7th row seats for Ingrid and I. The first thing I noticed as we walked into the 1,200-seat venue was the overall age of the crowd. This was definitely an “Alaska cruise” of shows and I was relatively sure someone in this crowd might break a hip before the night was over.
I had seen this same technology in action at a Nine Inch Nails show previously but they used it for atmosphere instead of the re-creation of a single person. Essentially there was a super thin see-through screen across the front of the stage that the hologram was projected onto and a live band played behind the screen that consisted of a traditional rock ensemble of two guitar players, a bassist, and a drummer that were accompanied by two female backup singers and a keyboardist. The musicianship was off the charts as the timing had to be spot on to match the hologram versions of both Roy Orbison and Buddy Holly.
As soon as Roy Orbison appeared as if he had just been hoisted onto the stage from below I was mesmerized. It was very easy to suspend disbelief because of the level of detail in the hologram itself as well as the fantastic musicianship. Until this production I had forgotten what a gem of a voice Roy had but quickly remembered as his holographic doppelganger ran through some of his greatest hits like “Only the Lonely,” “You Got It” and “Oh Pretty Woman.”
Just like that Roy turned to dust and out came Buddy Holly. His hologram captured his happy essence as a performer doing songs such as “Peggy Sue,” “Oh, Boy!,” “That’ll be the Day” and my favorite Buddy song “Everyday.” It is very sad to think that he was only 22 years old when he died and begs the question of how much the musical landscape would have been different if that plane had not crashed.
After each legend had his turn in the spotlight there was a short intermission followed by another mini-set from each. Each set was interlaced with movie type footage of interviews with prominent people that knew these two and pictures aplenty. The most memorable of these interviews was Tom Petty who said that he was recording with Roy within 30 minutes of meeting him and they came to be really good friends. Then he shared a moment where Roy leaned over to him and said, “hey I brought in a couple Cherry Cokes” like they were some kind of contraband.
There is no substitute for a great live performance but damn did this come close. Bravo to the producers of this production for putting together something really special.
