Thanks Kade!
I remember the Defenders tour. I didn't go, but that came in the spring of 1984. I actually saw Van Halen in March of 1984. (interesting TAC Fact: VH played two nights in Providence, March 17 & 18th. I saw the second show on the 18th. Though I would not meet her until 1996, it turns out The Future Lovely Mrs. TAC saw the show on the 17th!).
Anyway, my parents wouldn't' let me go to both shows, and VH was the clear priority. Once we got VH tix, JP was out. VH was only my 3rd concert, as I was 15 at the time. A friend of mine who didn't get VH tix went to JP instead and tried telling me how much better JP was. Sore loser!! Great White opened the Defenders show here.
Anyway, as I was listening to this today,
...I was thinking a lot about those days. Even though this Dio live album is from 1993, I was thinking about how much of my high school years were dominated by Ronnie Dio. I saw The Last In Line tour in August of '84 (Twisted Sister opened). I mean, I remember listening to the local Metal radio show when they premiered the Holy Diver album. The played Stand Up And Shout and Straight Through The Heart. I'll never forget that.
Anyway, while I was listening, I was thinking how much I missed Dio in my musical life. I graduated in 1986, and listening to Dio really helped to make those years special. I just can't count how many times, we'd be hanging at the beach or cruising around blasting Dio.
Which brings me to 1993 Dio. After Lock Up The Wolves, the Dio camp went silent. I figured he found a great young guitarist in Rowan, and the must be working on something great. A couple years later, I see Strange Highways on an Import List. WTF?? A new album from Dio? Not even released in the US?? Strange Highways has a buch of really cool songs, but the rest is kind of ho hum. But of course compared to Angry Machines, it's a masterpiece. But who the F is Traci G? And what kind of F'n name is Traci G?? I thought he blew. He was even a huge step down from Craig Goldie, and that's saying something.
Listening to Live In London, he absolutely butchers the beautiful solo from Holy Diver, as well as the underrated solo from Mob Rules. What a f'n mess. But this is still a high energy performance and a cool album.
Topic: The Official Hard Rock / Classic Metal Music Discussion and Memorabilia Thread! (Read 901795 times)