Dio

Manchester Academy

Saturday 15 October 2005

I can't for the life of me understand why it has taken me over two years to write this review. It was an excellent concert from one of the all time rock greats, but for some reason I just never seemed to get round to it as something more urgent always managed to come up to demand my attention and reviewing this concert again got put on the back burner. Indeed, the only thing that has made me pull my finger out even now is that I have just been to see Mr Dio in a concert in another of his guises, Black Sabbath (09.11.07) and it hardly seems right to do a concert review on that until I have finally got this one out of the way.

To start with then, as is traditional: a brief history of Dio, and why it is important that I go and see him.

Following the original heyday of traditional hard rock in the early to mid seventies, there was a period where things got very tepid. Led Zeppelin were still around, but seemed to have run out of steam and only brought out records or toured intermittently. Deep Purple had line up changed themselves out of existence. Black Sabbath were still technically in existence, but the later albums with Ozzy Osbourne were dreadfully tired and bloated: a sad shadow of what they were meant to be about. The scene was dull and torpid and in dire need of new life. On one level, the Sex Pistols and the birth of punk brought this about. But what about traditional heavy rock - surely it couldn’t wither and die just yet?

The answer was no, it certainly couldn't, and Ritchie Blackmore, the erstwhile guitarist of Deep Purple had the solution. He formed his own group, Rainbow, and the ace in the pack was the American singer, one Ronnie James Dio.

Their second album, "Rainbow Rising" from 1976 is one of the all time classics, ranking only just below "Led Zeppelin II", "Black Sabbath" and "Deep Purple In Rock" in the rock hall of fame pantheon. More than that, it was the album that single handedly kept rock music going towards the late seventies, it was the main inspiration behind the "New Wave Of British Heavy Metal", and thus by implication, a very major influence on everything that has come sense. Good as Ritchie Blackmore was, the genius behind early Rainbow was the estimable Mr Dio - because after doing the business with Rainbow, he went on to prove his worth with Black Sabbath and then with his own group.

His connection with Black Sabbath covers two classic studio albums, a live album and another studio album many years later. The classic Black Sabbath line up is with Ozzy Osbourne of course, but the Dio era line up is a classic line-up in its own right, and apart from anything else, I think it is the biggest single influence on other classic groups, most notably Iron Maiden.

Of course, good things tend not to last too long in the rock music universe: in particular, the egos of the likes of Messrs Dio, Blackmore and Iommi tend not to make comfortable bedfellows for very long. The first solo album by Dio the group was "Holy Diver" in 1983, and this is where this concert review kicks in in earnest!

After the above introduction, it stands without saying that I couldn’t possibly think of missing a Dio concert under any circumstances: he is one of my all time rock heroes, I have all the main albums and I am a huge fan. A considerable bonus was that he was due to play the whole of the "Holy Diver" album, what joy! It worked out well, but set a not totally sound precedent, which later reached its nadir when Iron Maiden force fed us the whole of their new album from start to finish: no mistake, it's a fine album, but it has hardly had time yet to evolve into "classic" status - but I digress!

I thus booked up my ticket with huge anticipation, and with only one reservation, I was not let down.

The venue was a new one to me, basically it was a student union gig. It's a great pity that he couldn’t do the Apollo or the MEN Arena, but the irony of Dio's career seems to be that he will always be the bridesmaid and never the bride: the names of Rainbow and Black Sabbath would probably be big enough to make a big impression at such venues, but Dio's probably doesn’t. Anyway, no matter, I liked the venue, there was a more intimate atmosphere, and from what I can remember, the sound quality was very good. I stood at the front, which had undoubted benefits, but on the negative side, I could have done without the stage diving. I suppose that's students for you though!

My only complaint, and it's a big one, was that no Rainbow stuff was played, which was a travesty given what I said above about the seminal importance of the "Rainbow Rising" album. I can't say why it was left out: it can't have been for "artistic" reasons, because it is brilliant stuff. I can only guess that it must be due to legal problems emanating from Mr Blackmore.

The missing Rainbow material was a shame, but it didn't ruin the evening because there was an ample plenitude of other brilliant stuff. The highlight of course was the whole of "Holy Diver" in the middle of the set. I don't think it was played in the exact running order as per the record: a nice touch, otherwise why bother coming out for a concert when you could much easier just put the CD on at home? It was amply flanked on either side with huge helpings of Black Sabbath and other solo stuff. It was so good that it could actually have been Black Sabbath!

Finally, a word about the man himself. Mr Dio is certainly quite diminutive, but, as if I didn't already have a strong inclination, the evidence of this concert proves conclusively that he surely possesses the most powerful voice in the history of rock - enough to shake buildings. Considering that he must be approaching 70 it's a miracle that he can get about and sing as well as he does, not to mention do those world famous mysterious wizard gestures.

Last thing before I go - "Dio" isn't his real name of course, but it takes supreme confidence in your own ability to have the bare faced cheek to call yourself "God"!!

14.11.07