Dio: Last in Line - 1984

  • Thread starter Thread starter Janky
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Saw the shows here that were in driving distance for a 17 yr old . Ronnie’s always had some killer opening acts and these shows were no exception. Y&T and Whitesnake at the Sacramento show and Dokken at the Oakland show
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jabps said:
Ronnie's mistake was ever promising the rest of the band full member pay after the first few albums. I get where he was coming from as alot of people don't understand how much money it takes to run things, and alot of money was coming out of his pocket unlike say Ozzy who's father in law / label was footing most of his bills. And most of these sidemen weren't getting alot of pay back in the day, certainly not what we all thought they were getting.

Problem was he gave his word then reneged. Viv called him on it, the other guys didn't rock the boat because a little was better than nothing. Vinnie pretty much said as much recently. Even though by the third album the band was losing some steam, I saw that tour and it was still packed. I think had Viv stayed they could have gotten more years as a Gold Level selling act. All of Dio's follow up albums failed to go Gold after Sacred Heart. I don't think Dio was ever the cash cow Ozzy was but again, don't give your word you'll take care of people then don't.
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I saw the first US date of the Sacred Heart tour here in California at a water park of all places lol but it was a blast and the show was awesome. One hiccup though during the final song Stand Up & Shout Vivs guitar cut out right before the solo, he left the stage and didnt return. Ronnie was all smiles thanking the crowd but I just remember thinking he was seething inside to have to finish the song and set with no guitarist
 
I was thinking of forming an all Latin Dio cover band and naming it Adios Mia.

What do you think?
 
Techdeth said:
He’s way better now I think .
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I know of a lot of the stuff he did after Dio , some of it I heard some I just never had any interest. If you can suggest something that has the fire of those first two Dio albums and my bootleg collection lol I’m all ears.
 
hammered said:
I know of a lot of the stuff he did after Dio , some of it I heard some I just never had any interest. If you can suggest something that has the fire of those first two Dio albums and my bootleg collection lol I’m all ears.
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It’s great stuff just not my thing
 
I've told the story elsewhere in the forum a while back so I won't here.

Met Ronnie & Jimmy Bain after a gig on that tour.

Always loved Dio. :worship:
 
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WizardAmpIphoneClip said:
Its odd Vivian was the only one who left, you'd think the rest of the band would have bailed. Hmm. Kid had a Ferrari and lived at home with Mom and Dad.
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Again though, as Vinnie said they all should have walked. Vivian was the only one that called him out. He was also in hock up to his eyeballs with that Ferrari which by Ferrari standards was low on the totem pole. Dude was young, had a little coin in his pocket, a hit album with the promise of more money to come, he ain't the first guy to go buy a nice car. I got no problem with him living at home, why not at that point when your touring the world, making albums and not alot of money.
 
Techdeth said:
Yeah and I thought he was a lil overated . Def Lep is a perfect gig for him
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His talent is wasted in Leppard but that steady paycheck for 30 years is worth it.

You might not dig the music but his playing was on fire on the Riverdogs album, that was the height of his ability in my opinion and he had advanced well beyond his Dio playing. I didn't care for the Shadow King stuff, too watered down but that Riverdogs album is still one of my favorite albums. I also think Viv stood toe to toe with Vandenburg on the Whitesnake tour and that was when Adrian was at his peak. Granted I always felt Viv fit WS better than Adrian did.
 
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hammered said:
I saw the first US date of the Sacred Heart tour here in California at a water park of all places lol but it was a blast and the show was awesome. One hiccup though during the final song Stand Up & Shout Vivs guitar cut out right before the solo, he left the stage and didnt return. Ronnie was all smiles thanking the crowd but I just remember thinking he was seething inside to have to finish the song and set with no guitarist
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I remember the silly dragon and then blinded by the pyro. I have seen Kiss over 60 times, other acts with pyro and never to the point like that show. Not sure what it was but once that shit went, that's all you could see for the next 10 minutes. I saw them all three tours and the LIL tour, they were smoking...well oiled machine at that point.
 
jabps said:
His talent is wasted in Leppard but that steady paycheck for 30 years is worth it.

You might not dig the music but his playing was on fire on the Riverdogs album, that was the height of his ability in my opinion and he had advanced well beyond his Dio playing. I didn't care for the Shadow King stuff, too watered down but that Riverdogs album is still one of my favorite albums. I also think Viv stood toe to toe with Vandenburg on the Whitesnake tour and that was when Adrian was at his peak. Granted I always felt Viv fit WS better than Adrian did.
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Viv is great just not a fav at all.
 
Viv's playing was awesome on those first few albums. Love the solo work too. The holy diver solo and last in line solos were my favorites. I just wished the drum tracks could have been recorded better. They just didn't sound powerful or thunderous. It must of been done like this to give more space for Ronnie's vocals I guess.
 
Here is one of the (3) full stacks used for the Last in Line Tour... and used for recording the album,

1983 2203 JCM 800 un modded, absolute perfect tone, started as #3 on the tour, then #2, then marked over as #1, and subsequently and used through every record and some tours: Dio's #1 main go to amp till his passing.

1983 sequential serial numbers '320w' 1982 cabs G12-80 bass cones.

PS: fun fact, later the top cab was retired for use in the studio, the bottom cab went on to be lent to Marc Ferrari while in Keel (which was managed by Dio), Marc himself told me he is the one that broke the logo to spell ' Marc '
 

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