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Dio - Live in London: Hammersmith Apollo 1993

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Labels continue to scour their archives for any previously unreleased Ronnie James Dio material they can dig up and why not; Dio's fan base remains ravenous for anything having to do with the late rock god, and this concert film from 20-years ago fits the bill nicely.

Filmed on the final night of the European tour to support the Strange Highways album and with a line-up featuring Vinny Appice on drums, Jeff Pilson on bass, Tracy G on guitar and Scott Warren on keys, the show devotes equal time to new music and favorites from earlier in Dio's career.

Dio has been known to perform with elaborate stage settings but this is a stripped-down show with just lights and background projection, and Ronnie announces after third song "Don't Talk to Strangers" (from Holy Diver) that "We've got a lot of music to play for you tonight so we're going to get right to it," and that's exactly what happens as the patter is kept to a minimum while the rock is at the maximum.

New songs "Evilution," "Pain" and the title cut from Strange Highways come early in the set but the real meat is right in the middle of the show as a bunch of songs flow together.

This part of the show starts with two treats from Dio's stint with Black Sabbath, "The Mob Rules" and "Children of the Sea," continues with "Holy Diver," Sabbath's "Heaven and Hell" and the Rainbow hit "Man on the Silver Mountain."

This all segues into a drum solo from Appice, and that's still not it for the mega-medley; a reprise of "Heaven and Hell" wraps it up after Vinny is through beating the heck out of his kit.

A couple more cuts from Strange Highways lead into the big finale of "The Last in Line," "Rainbow in the Dark," "We Rock" and closer, new song "Here's to You."

Get the Blu-Ray here, the DVD here and the show in double CD here.

Dio - Live in London: Hammersmith Apollo 1993
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