The following is a review of the second Dio show of the second leg of Angry Machines US tour, originally mailed to me. Republished here with permission from the author. I had to edit the layout a little bit for better outlook on web, but all the information is still intact.
From: Jeff Muendel
Subject: REVIEW OF DIO SHOW L.A. 2/7/97
Date: 2/9/97
Dio played the new Billboard Live nightclub on the Sunset strip in Hollywood, California last Friday night. The club has a very high tech motif, including small televisions in the floor about every five feet. During the show, if you wanted a close-up of the band, you just looked down at the floor and there it was. They had live camera shots broadcasting nonstop.
Ronnie James gave, as usual, a flawless vocal performance. The band played "Jesus, Mary, and the Holy Ghost" and "Straight Through the Heart" before pausing. The crowd erupted in applause and the band actually looked relieved. Ronnie thanked the crowd and mentioned that he was glad that the typical Hollywood attitude of "show me what you've got - my band's better" hadn't shown up (As an LA musician myself, I can tell you that usually IS the attitude around here). This is the set as I recall it:
The highlights of the show I felt were Holy Diver And The Last in Line. Those two songs seem to stand out in my mind. Mistreated was great too, and must have been seven or eight minutes long. When the band went into The Mob Rules, fans started jumping on stage and diving back into the crowd. One guy got on stage and grabbed on to Ronnie. He was a big guy, but somehow Ronnie was able to throw him back into the crowd. When the lights went down, Pat Boone's version of Holy Diver came on over the PA, which I thought was a perfect way to end the show and clear people out. I think it shows that the band (and Pat Boone) has a sense of humor about itself.
The low points of the show were the drum and guitar solos. Screw the solos. Play more songs, or at least jam out some of the other songs.
After the show my friends and I went to the Rainbow next door to the Billboard Live for a few more drinks. We were quite tipsy, but the final nightcap was running into Ronnie James Dio on the way out of the club. He was very nice, shook our hands, and thanked us for coming to the show. What a guy!
One final note. The LA Weekly featured a great article on Ronnie James Dio in the 2/6/97 issue. It was written by Greg Burke, who was also one of the guys I went to the show with. You can read the article on the web at www.laweekly.com .
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