Review Summary: When one of the most revered voices in heavy metal gets angry.
In 1993, despite the surprising success of
Dehumanizer, Ronnie James Dio decided that he was done with Black Sabbath's bullshit, and decided to leave them again. The reason was simple: he was worried that Sabbath were going to try to replace him again, this time with original singer Ozzy Osbourne. The biggest sign of this to him was that Sabbath were going to try to open for Ozzy on his then-current solo tour. Naturally, this pissed him off, so he left again, and the result of this was his criminally underrated 1993 solo record
Strange Highways. Gone were the synthesizers of the 1980s and gone was the cheesy feel of the tracks; in their place came fantastically angry personal songs. Dio was pissed the fuck off, and his lyrics and vocal performance (which showed some bark and fire not shown in previous releases) reflected this. And so naturally, this made its way into the tour, and thankfully, we have an existing document-
Live in London, where Dio gives his most fiery and ferocious vocal performance yet.
Recorded live at the Hammersmith Apollo in London, Dio blasts his way through an 18-song set that is heavy on new (at the time) material, and less heavy on the 1980s keyboard-laden gems. There is also a healthy amount of Black Sabbath material, and
Holy Diver classics- in fact, the concert begins with "Stand Up and Shout", which is arguably one of the best ways anyone can start a concert, and it's a rousing rendition that sets the tone for the rest of the night. As mentioned above, there's tons of bite and anger in his voice throughout much of the gig, and it's just thrilling. The then-current band, which featured frequent collaborator Vinny Appice on drums, Tracy G on guitars, Scott Warren on keyboards and Jeff Pilson on bass, rip their way though a predictably energetic setlist, but Tracy G deserves recognition for proving himself to be a worthy successor to Rowan Robertson- he had some pretty damn big shoes to fill, but he rose to the challenge, and manages to nail the songs to a T.
Perhapst the greatest thing about
Live in London is how truly dynamic the setlist is. For a setlist that makes heavy focus on the then-new
Strange Highways record, Dio makes use of some of everything here- Black Sabbath material, stuff from the 1980s, new material, etc. The only things that prevent it from being a perfect setlist is the lack of representation of Rainbow-era material, but all is forgiven when the rest of the set is very perfectly paced and well-arranged for the most part. In addition, while the
Strange Highways material appears, sometimes they are a bit too lumped together, and having those songs all in a row can seem to be a bit excessive, that whenever some of the
Holy Diver or
Dream Evil songs show up, they are welcome. That isn't to say, of course, that they aren't good, because they're great, and full of eerie riffs and vocal melodies. Even the classic material has a nice seasoning of anger and rage over it thanks to Dio's newfound rage and Tracy's perfectly bluesy/hard rockish style of guitar playing. Especially when you consider that at this point in time, Heavy Metal was being phased out in favour of Grunge, and many bands had been going the way of Metallica, it's impressive that Dio was among the many not to lose his faith in Metal, and the devoted London crowd show their undying love for this dark horse, always something so inspiring to hear.
Overall, while it may not be necessary for Eagle Rock entertainment to keep digging out all these posthumous live releases,
Live In London is still a worthwhile addition to your Dio collection, and a very good repersentation of one of the most overlooked eras of Dio's long career. For those looking for a darker side of the rainbow, this release is something you cannot resist.
