Ronnie Dio live review

Manchester Academy, 6th October 2000

Ronnie James Dio is one of the great voices of heavy metal. His brand of operatic melodrama first came to widespread attention with the three albums he recorded with Richie Blackmore's Rainbow in the late 70s, before he took on the near-impossible job of following Ozzy Osborne in Black Sabbath. After leaving Black Sabbath he embarked on a solo career that's now lasted the best part of twenty years.

Up to now I've never seen the great man live; I hadn't really followed his career in recent years until I picked up a copy of his then current album 'Magica' a couple of years back on the strength of a sample track on the free cover disk of 'Classic Rock' magazine. That album confirmed he was still a musical force to be reckoned with in the studio; I wondered whether he could still cut it live.

The support band were the Oliver/Dawson Saxon, one of the two rival Saxons on the live circuit (the other being Biff Byford's 'official' Saxon). They ran through a set consisting entirely of old Saxon songs, such as "747: Strangers in the Night", "Dallas 1pm" and of course, "Wheels of Steel" with a lot of energy and panache, and certainly had me flashing back to about 1981, even if the only genuine Saxons were the bass player and the rhythm guitarist.

Dio hit the stage on the dot of nine, and almost immediately dispelled any doubts. Ronnie's magnificent voice was on superb form, every bit as good as in the 70s and 80s; unlike some he's clearly looked after it. His band, still with former Rainbow bass player Jimmy Bain, was tight and energetic, and rocked the house. They ran through a set covering Dio's entire career, from Rainbow and Black Sabbath material such as 'Man on the Silver Mountain' and 'Heaven and Hell', four songs from his classic solo debut 'Holy Diver', and more recent work like 2000's excellent 'Magica' and the newly-released 'Killing the Dragon'. New guitarist Doug Aldrich was impressive, especially in the second half of the set where he tackled material originally performed by guitar greats Richie Blackmore and Toni Iommi. The set climaxed with 'Heaven and Hell' and the encores 'Last in Line' and 'Rainbow in the Dark', with most of the audience singing along to the surreal, mystical lyrics. Altogether a great show!

Official web site www.ronniejamesdio.com.