| DIO |
July 23, 2004 |
MADRID |
Legendary metal vocalist Ronnie James Dio was back in Spain for seven shows at the end of July. I attended the first one in Madrid and WOW! what can I say! He delivered a fantastic show that exceeded the highest expectations. An enthusiastic crowd, good sound and a band giving it their all on stage, all contributed to a memorable night.
Due to some technical problems the concert started almost an hour late, meaning the support band (Lujuria) had to cancel their show. We entered the venue at around 9 PM and there were already quite a lot of people present. The stage was decorated with the Holy Diver cover, and as soon as the lights dimmed and DIO walked on stage, the crowd went crazy. The crowd ranged from early teens to sixties, yet everyone in the packed house was really into the music. This gig brought out the best of Mr. Dio, many great songs from his Rainbow and Black Sabbath days and classics from the start of his solo career showed up there. I was very very happy with the set list, it was full of old songs that I just love!! These tunes have been around for such a long time that you would have thought that he would be tired of singing them over and over again, but this wasn't the case at all. He just sang them with so much heart and passion that easily he could have made us cry :_)
Needless to say the highlight of the concert was Ronnie J. Dio's voice. At 62 years old Dio still has one of the greatest voices in Metal. His vocals were absolutely impeccable throughout the near two-hour, 17-song set!! The rest of the band also played well, especially world-renowned bassist Rudy Sarzo (known for his work in Quiet Riot, Whitesnake and Ozzy Osbourne), who was absolutely amazing, jumping around the stage like a maniac with a big smile across his face the whole time. This installment of DIO also included long time drummer Simon Wright -also a veteran in the industry having played with AC/DC, John Norum and UFO-, Craig Goldie of Guffria on guitar and Scott Warren (Keel, Warrant) on keyboards.
The show started with the intro from "Killing The Dragon", and then the band launched into "King Of Rock'n'Roll". The audience reacted with much enthusiasm right from the first note of the concert. Next was "The Sign Of The Southern Cross" off Black Sabbath's "Mob Rules" album (1981), which was followed-up by Rainbow's "Stargazer". "Stand Up And Shout" from Dio's first solo album, the outstanding heavy metal album "Holy Diver", was next. And then there was the drum solo which featured Wright playing along to Tchaikovsky's "1812 Overture", in homage to the late Cozy Powell. The band debuted a new song, "The Eyes", from the forthcoming album "Master Of The Moon" that's coming out on August 30th. It's a slow to mid-paced tune which sounded heavy as hell and dark. During the rest of the set, DIO pulled off perfect renditions of "Don't Talk To Strangers" and "Rainbow In The Dark". Especially outstanding was the epic "Gates Of Babylon", one of my absolute favorite Rainbow songs, with its dark atmospherics. But the songs that got the best response were the classic rock & roll anthem "Long Live Rock'n'Roll", the groovy "Holy Diver", Rainbow's classic "Man On The Silver Mountain" and the heavy and melodic "We Rock" where you can't help but yell WE ROCK!. Fans were headbanging, waving arms in the air as well as screaming the lyrics from the bottom of their souls. The last song was Black Sabbath's "Neon Knights" which closed the show.
Overall, it was a great show and I enjoyed every minute. DIO put on one of the best live performances I have ever seen. LONG LIVE ROCK 'N' ROLL!! -Review & photos by Marina-
| DIO SET-LIST |
King Of R'N'R, Sign Of The Southern Cross, Stargazer, Stand Up And Shout,
Don't Talk To Strangers, The Eyes, The Mob Rules, Man On The Silver Mountain,
Long Live Rock'n'Roll, Rock'n'Roll Children, Gates Of Babylon, Rainbow In The Dark,
Holy Diver, Heaven And Hell, The Last In Line, We Rock & Neon Knights.
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