Dio concert review; August 15th, 1994 by Kossu

The following is a review of a concert on the Strange Highways US tour, originally posted to alt.rock-n-roll.metal.

From: kossu@aol.com (Kossu)
Subject: Re: Dio Tour Arrives in SF Bay Area
Date: 16 Aug 1994 13:31:02 -0400

Review of Dio concert
The Edge, Palo Alto, CA 8/15/94 (sold out)

Fog and flashing red spotlights were the precurse of Dio's performance. Some intro song was playing during the fog (E5150?); it was hard to distinguish. The sound system at the Edge was somewhat poor from my vantage point (near the bar) since it was difficult to hear the guitar very clearly once the show started. Dio came out with his voice in usual top form. This guy can still belt it out!

Later on there were guitar and drum solos, and something of a bass solo where Vinnie and the bassist jamming 4 a while. Again, because of the sound system it was hard to hear if they were any good (except 4 the drum solo, which was). It was a joy to watch Vinnie work. Very disciplined - a master of understatement. Also, the bassist had excellent stage presence and was trying to show off some Slayer-style hair twirling during his part of the solo.

High points of the show were "Stand Up and Shout" and "Last in Line", with LIL the better of the two and the *entire* crowd into it. At times Dio seemed a bit hurried between songs, but in general was good with gesture banter with the crowd during the songs. A few people were stage diving, but there was no pit. Dio didn't play any songs from _Dehumanizer_. (I really wanted to hear "Sins of the Father")

Low point was during "Give Her the Gun", which *rocks* on the album, but during the show the bottom seemed to fall out when they got to the guitar solo part of the song.

I did not see the two opening bands; Comic Opera(?) and Rules of Prey. The whole concert seemed to be too short - it began at 9:00 p.m. and was over by 12:20!

Overall I'd give the show an 8 out of 10 rating IMHO.

Here is the set list in order(to the best of my recollection):

• E5150 (?)
• jesus, mary, & holy ghost
• strange highways
• evilution
• stand up and shout
• rainbow in the dark
• pain
• don't talk to strangers
• give her the gun
• holy diver
• heaven and hell (end 1/3 of song)
• mob rules
• last in line
• we rock (encore)