Former Judas Priest and Iced Earth vocalist Tim “Ripper” Owens recently addressed some of the backlash concerning the upcoming Ronnie James Dio hologram tour. The outing has received a fair amount of skepticism and the controversy is confusing to the vocalist.

Owens discussed the preemptive backlash of the tour, which will use projections of Dio singing with a live band, on the Everblack Podcast. Following the success of the Queen biopic Bohemian Rhapsody, which just crossed the $900 million mark, the singer tells Everblack he doesn’t understand why all the fans aren’t behind the tour.

“It's kind of funny, people all went and saw the Queen movie, where somebody is acting on somebody else who is dead. I don't get the concept. People are like, ‘People are going to make money from it.’ First of all, people make money from anything; that's what you do. Second of all, Wendy Dio spent a bazillion dollars just trying to make fans happy with this thing. She's not made a dime yet. She's lost a lot of money just trying to make fans happy.”

Owens urges that the Dio hologram show is a “great idea." He adds, “I'm doing it because I'm friends with Ronnie. His vocals are from the live version and the band is playing live. It's pretty cool… then I'm going to come out and sing a couple of songs, then Oni [Logan] will sing a couple of songs and the hologram will do some more."

He also questions why people would enjoy wax museums yet object to a hologram. "They would go to a wax museum and see a wax statue of Lemmy and think, ‘Oh my God, this is fantastic.’” He continues, “They'll say, ‘I love that Queen movie.’ Then they go, ‘It’s terrible you're doing this. Let Ronnie rest in peace.’ Listen, let them be mad.”

Owens adds, “If they would make a David Bowie hologram, I would go see it. If they made an Elvis [Presley] hologram, I'd go see it. I'd go see it because, first of all, I never saw Elvis and I never saw David Bowie. I'd want to go see how this thing is, the curiosity. I love the artists and I would love to see the show. I'm just doing it as a fan who is jumping in on something that is new."

The Ronnie James Dio hologram tour will kick off in Ft. Myers, Fla. on May 31. See all the tour dates here.

Head to the 9:25 mark of the interview below to hear Owens discuss the Dio hologram tour.

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