At Concha Acustica de Bello Mo

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Review by Matula

To see Dio playing in Venezuela was a dream come true for all of us here. This was the first, and probably only chance to see that happen. The press conference for the band was set to Thursday 20 at the Hard Rock Cafe Caracas, I had access to that because I work at a radio station. This was a half hour press conferece with only one quenstion by media. Tipical questions as usual ranging from "what does he spect from the south american tour" to "what does he think of new bands and musicians". After that, we had a chance to get a few autographs and pictures, I even got to talk for a while with Rudy Sarzo, who could speak spanish really well.

Friday was the day for the show. The venue was perfect for this, an open space with a great view of the city. Doors opened at 6:30 P.M. and the local band, Arkangel, started at 7:00 P.M. doing their regular nice show.

Exactly at 8:05 P.M. comes Dio opening the show with one of my favorites "Children Of The Sea". The sound was really good, clear (but not loud). This is was a band of musicians giving it all on stage. Rudy Sarzo's moves reminded me of "Speak Of the Devil", Simon Wright sounded big, he did a drum solo which I didn't like only because I hate solos, they should play one more song instead. Craig Goldy was almost all the time very concentrated in his playing which was very melodic, he also did a guitar solo along with keyboard player Scott Warren who seemed to be enjoying the show. The keyboard solo in "All The Fools Sailed Away" was my favorite moment for Scott. And Dio, of course, he owned the stage. His voice was loud and clear, in really good shape. Much better voice than the one he had in "Holy Diver Live". The only thing I noticed was that he was clearly pissed off during the first half of the show because of some monitor problems.

This was an excelent concert. Fans were happy, the band was happy. Dio always stands up for what he believes in, he rocks and makes sure we keep thinking and saying "...long live Rock and Roll..."

This was the setlist for that night:

• Children Of The Sea
• I Speed At Night
• One Night In The City
• Stand Up And Shout
• Holy Diver
• Gypsy
• Drum solo
• Sunset Superman
• Don't Talk To Strangers
• Rainbow In The Dark
• Guitar solo/Keyboard solo
• I
• All The Fools Sailed Away
• Man On The Silvermountain
• Catch The Rainbow
• Long Live Rock ‘n’ Roll
• Heaven And Hell

Encore:

• We Rock
• The Last In Line

Click on the thumbnail shots for large pictures.

Photos by Jose "Matula" Goitia