The Prague Symphony Orchestra performs for the public yesterday at Shanghai Urban Music Lawn in Huangpu District. The outdoor concert took place on the opening day of this year's Shanghai International Arts Festival. A host of arts events will be held daily on the lawn through November 16. (Photo:Shanghai Daily/Wang Rongjiang)
Once dubbed the "King of Pop," the late Michael Jackson might next year perform in Shanghai, albeit in hologram form, the head of a U.S.-based production company said yesterday.
Speaking at a forum to mark the opening of this year's Shanghai International Arts Festival, John Textor, chairman of Pulse Evolution, said the show would be 90 minutes of music and dance featuring the superstar who died in 2009 after four decades as one of the world's best-loved and most successful performers.
The digital show would be directed by Jimmy King, who was a key figure in several of Jackson's tours before his death, Textor said.
The event would not be a world first, however. In 2014, the Jackson hologram performed "Slave to the Rhythm" — a song that became a posthumous hit — at the Billboard Music Awards.
The beauty of holograms is that they allow fans to reconnect with performers they would otherwise never be able to see, Textor said.
"What was wonderful about the (Billboard) show was that when I looked at the audience I saw people crying," he said.
"They were making a connection with Michael Jackson ... nobody was wondering about the technology behind it," he said.
Textor said he is currently looking for a local partner to help make the Shanghai show a reality.
"Michael is still really popular in China, so I think there would be a huge market for a digital show," the manager of a local production company told Shanghai Daily.
This year's Shanghai International Arts Festival runs until November 16.
