Digital concerts have had a varied history with Damon Albarn’s Gorillaz pioneering the concept in the West and Japan’s Hatsune Miku continuing to sell out arenas in Asia. However, developments in 3D modelling technology in the last 10 years has given rise to an all new form digital concert. Perhaps most infamously, Coachella 2014 brought us Tupac resurrected and rendered in all of his early-2010s 3D glory. Although still essentially a projection on a large screen, the 2014 Coachella performance imprinted the hologram concert into the music zeitgeist. 

Fast forward ten years and we are now faced with a massive digital performance industry, whether that be entirely online events like Travis Scott’s Fortnite concert in 2020, or holographic arena shows like ABBA’s Voyage. While Voyage still works of the same technology as Tupac’s 2012 performance, all aspects of the process have been greatly improved: 3D modelling, motion capture, projection, lighting, and sound design have all been refined to a high degree in an attempt to convince the audience that they aren’t just looking at a big screen. Despite the band being as unlikely to return to the stage as Tupac, their digital renditions sold 1.4m tickets in its first year. 

Perhaps what hologram concerts need, to truly live up to their futuristic namesake, is a leap in technology. In comes Layered Reality, a UK based digital events specialist who have secured the rights to give Elvis Presley the Lazarus treatment. Layered Reality is a company that specialises in virtual reality (VR)  technology as a vehicle to tell immersive stories to participants. Although official material from Layered Reality is vague on the specifics of the Elvis experience, it appears that it will feature physical set and sound design used in combination with an augmented reality overlay (AR) viewed through a VR headset. 

In addition to this smorgasbord of technological bells and whistles, the digital Elvis will use AI models to generate new dialogue from the star. Speaking to the BBC, Layered Reality’s CEO, Andrew Guinness said: “The AI generates an authentic version of Elvis, born of original material, but it [also] allows you to do new things with him.” Much like the unofficial fan AI covers seen last year like ghostwriter977’s ‘Heart on my Sleeve’, Layered Reality will use old footage and recordings of Presley to train an AI program to mimic his voice. 

The experience is scheduled to take place in London sometime this year. Layered Reality offers a mailing list for those wanting to receive updates on specific locations and dates on their website. 

At the time, the assailant was reported to be in a white Cadillac, and pulled up alongside Shakur’s BMW at a set of traffic lights. The case was unsolved for 22 years, similarly to the shooting of the Notorious B.I.G. Mystery has surrounded the deaths of the two iconic rappers since, with various TV networks publishing series based around the death of the two legendary rappers- most recently Netflix with Unsolved: the Tupac and Biggie Murders.

The documentary is based around a recorded confession from rapper and Crips gang member Keefe D, recorded under immunity of prosecution, per the Daily Star.

“I was a Compton kingpin, drug dealer, I’m the only one alive who can really tell you story about the Tupac killing,” said Keefe on the recording. “People have been pursuing me for 20 years, I’m coming out now because I have cancer. And I have nothing else to lose. All I care about now is the truth.”

Keefe D confessed to being in the car with the shooter, but refused to name them due to “street code”. I just came from the back seat bro,” he added.

Kyle Long, the executive producer of the Netflix series, has stated that he believes that police need to be pursuing Keefe D in further connection to the murder. “He went live on television and confessed to being an accessory to murder and the Las Vegas PD, as far as I know, is doing nothing about it,” said Long. “I just think it’s outrageous.”