Warming up was a band called  Sideburn . (See the first two pictures below). I think they are Swiss. Their music is straight metal, reminding a lot to AC/DC, at least me. They played a full set, about 1 hour+ and offered a good stage show, good sound with two guitars and they got the crowd rockin'. Not exactly my glass of vodka, but qualitywise they were absolutely acceptable.

Then it was time for  Dio . Their show started exactly the way as when they were supporting Purple in Germany (see setlist on the left). And they were loud as always. Security even gave out free earplugs to the audience during their first songs. Having my experiences from the recent Dio / DP Germany tour, I stayed away from the Jimmy side this time because his stage amps blow your brains out and kick you right in the gutts! He is cranked up to the max. 

Well, I don't want to bore you by describing every song, I assume we all know them. What was outstanding? We got a Simon solo, like almost all the time, and also an extensive Doug solo. I just love his homage to Stevie Ray which he sometimes adds to it. And he always varies it.

I must say overall, the more I see him the more I get into his playing. I think he is pretty underrated or maybe can't show all his abilities due to the limitations of the style of Dio's music, I don't know.

I was happy to hear the "extras" such as Don't Talk To Strangers, Mob Rules, Fever Dreams, Lord Of The Last Day, The Last In Line and We Rock. Well, that's the advantage of seeing him when he is headlining. As I must state, he seems to be much more comfortable with that anyways, which is natural. But what I'm trying to say is, one can feel the difference in his acting on stage. He's just more secure from the very beginning on, doesn't have to convince the audience first because they came to see *him*. Makes life way easier and, obviously gives him a better mood, too. I don't want to blame it on that fact alone but I must say this was a great show, better than anything else I had seen on the shared tour with DP. And also, he/they were more relaxed backstage and made lots of time for meet 'n' great and had an extreme patience for autograph seakers. Ronnie signed really everything although it obviously hurt him big time. (He was suffering from a shoulder injury). He was just beeing the nice and humble great little man as always, a real sweetheart. (Still can't believe his dog hated him for 14 years.... but that's a different story and doesn't belong here).

Okay, before I let you go and see the pictures I want to thank Dora and Geri for their support.

God bless your hearts,

Ted Mechanic