Dio concert review; April 26th, 1997 by Jeff

The following is a review of a Dio show of the third North American leg of the Angry Machines tour, originally e-mailed to me.

From: J666ACDC@aol.com
Subject: Buffalo Show
Date: Mon, 28 Apr 1997 01:21:42 -0400 (EDT)

The following is a review of the Dio show at Ogden street concert hall in Buffalo, NY, April 26th, 1997

They let everyone in about 10 after seven. My brother and i went immediatley to the stage and we were in the first row center stage. After eveyone had bought their beers and everything the concert floor was filling up( it was general admission). My dying Bride came out about 8 o'clock and played a pretty good set. I counldn't hear the vilon player to well over the heavy guitars. Some people were there with My Dying Bride t-shirts on and knew all the words to the songs. I never heard of them before so i was surprised that some people knew who they were. There were like ten people who left after thier set was done. Boy did they miss a hell of a show by Dio.

The place was pretty filled i say about 1500 people showed up. Dio's intro music began and chants of "DIO!, DIO!" came from the crowd. The band then entered the stage to a loud roar form the crowd. The opening song was JESUS, MARY & THE HOLY GHOST. This song really got the crowd going. After that they went immedialtely into STRAIGHT THROUGH THE HART. After that DIO spoke to the crowd then he did DON"T TALK TO STRANGERS and then HOLY DIVER. These two song the crowd went nuts for.

Then Vinne Appice did his drum solo which was very good. When Vinne ponded the drums it sounded like thunder. Then DIO and everyone came back out and they did HEAVEN & HELL. Which was one of the best recieved songs of the night. He included the "big black shape" verse. Then DIO announced the next song DOUBLE MONDAY. This song was well recieved by the crowd. It let me know that people are buying DIO's new stuff. Then he started yelling at the crowd to stand up. he yelled that a few more times and then said STAND UP AND SHOUT and they went into that one which rocked the place.

Then there was the bass solo. I think the guy did a good job. Then they did HUNTER OF THE HEART. After that they did MISTREATED. Dio had mentioned before the song that Blackmore had originally recorded this song with deep purple and liked the song so much he did it with Rainbow. Then they did CATCH THE RAINBOW.

Next was Tracy G's guitar solo. Who's this guy trying to fool? He can't play for crap. Since i was in the front row i could see very well what he was doing on the giutar. All he did was hold his hands on on part of the neck and played the strings with the other. He moved his hand every so often the make it look like he was actually doing something. His guitar solo reminded me of when i would jam a bunch of rythmeless cords on my guitar.

Then they did LAST IN LINE. This song had to be the most well recieved of the night. Then they left the stage. Then came back out. The first encore song was RAINBOW IN THE DARK which brought the crowd into a frenzy. Then he did THE MOB RULES. By this time the crowd got so nuts that i had got pushed back a few feet cos everyone was going closer to the stage. DIO continued to get the crowd even more nuts with the next song. Which was THE MAN ON THE SILVER MOUNTIAN. Then he did LONG LIVE ROCK N ROLL. Then left the stage once again. Everyone was chanting "DIO!" so they came back out again and did WE ROCK. This had to be one of the best songs to end a show with.

This show rocked everyone's ass off. The crowd was loud and had their fists in the air the whole time. DIO was pointing at people rasing his fist in the air and very often gave the crowd the sign that everyone does at a concert with the index and pinkey finger. I've been to tons of concerts put have no idea what the sign means. In between songs DIO would Point at everyone and clap and shake hands with people. He pointed and claped at me a few times. He seems to be very greatful to his fans. I think he is more greatful to his fans than anyone i've seen. He was complemeting the crowd very ofter between songs on how loud and rocking we all were.

This was my first DIO concert.No regrets about going. The only let down was he didn't do my favorite song from him ALL THE FOOLS SAILED AWAY. Who knows maybe next time he'll do it for me.

Rock On,
Jeff