SouthSideoftheSky Rainbow in the dark!

I saw Dio live in Copenhagen a few years ago when they headlined a 'mini festival' with three bands. The other two were Uriah Heep and Asia (the John Payne-version). I actually came there primarily to see Uriah Heep, but while I was slightly disappointed with Heep's performance, Asia, and especially Dio, were very positive surprises. Dio opened their set with Rainbow's Tarot Woman! And they played a great extended version of Sabbath's Heaven And Hell together with some of the best Dio songs. Possibly the best concert I have ever been to (with the possible exception of Jethro Tull this year)! The band consists of Jimmy Bain on Bass, Simon Wright on Drums, Doug Aldrich on Guitar, and Scott Warren on Keyboards. The latter is at the front of the stage and often in the sound too which is great!

This excellent live album, also available on DVD, presents a full show with mostly very good songs. They open here with the title track from the then new Killing The Dragon album. I love that song! Next up is a brilliant medley of Dio's own Egypt (The Chains Are On) and the Black Sabbath classic Children Of The Sea. There are, however, also some weaker songs primarily from that same Killing The Dragon album; Push, in particular, is a rather uninteresting song and Rock 'N' Roll, though good, could easily have been given a better title and chorus. I have never been a fan of Stand Up And Shout from the Holy Diver album, but they do a competent version of it here. After these three songs the show once again gets back on track with the superb Don't Talk To Strangers followed by two Rainbow classics in Man On The Silver Mountain and Long Live Rock 'N' Roll divided by a competent, but sadly overlong, guitar solo. These are not my favourite Rainbow songs and I would have preferred Sixteenth Century Greensleeves over Long Live Rock 'N' Roll or even better something from the brilliant Rainbow Rising album, but there is no need to complain about what is here as these live versions are great!

The show continues with Fever Dreams, one of the best songs from the Magica album and ends with a string of classic songs including Dio’s most famous song Holy Diver, the "hits" Rainbow In The Dark and We Rock, the very good The Last In Line and a great version of the eternal Black Sabbath classic Heaven And Hell. All in all, this set is a great representation of Ronnie James Dio’s long career.