Dio / Lynch Mob / Armored Saint
Roseland Theater, Portland, OR, USA
March 2, 2001
Review by Michael De Los Muertos
Pictures and Additional Commentary by Ice Maiden
We live at an interesting time in the history of metal. Enough time has
passed since the formation of our musical genre that it has coalesced as a
particular subculture with its own traditions and conventions, yet the
good old days are still recent enough that some of our "founding
fathers" are still around. Let's face it, there aren't that many
metallers out there who have had 30-year careers. The George Washingtons
and Thomas Jeffersons of metal are few and far between, but without a
doubt, Ronnie James Dio is one of them, and he deserves all the respect
and reverence he gets for having survived that long while still producing
quality metal.
This was the second time in a year that Mr. Dio has graced our little
Pacific Northwest hamlet, and I'm certainly glad he decided to come back.
Ice Maiden and I were very excited to see this show, not just because of
the interesting combination of Dio, Armored Saint and Lynch Mob, but also
because all of our metal friends were going to be there. After a
bizarre dinner at the Alibi -- that famous tiki-torched Valhalla of
Polynesian cheesiness -- we ventured down to the Roseland Theater for the
main event. I was expecting tough security, but quite dismayed to see
metal detectors at the front gate. This is the first show I've ever been
to that included that feature. While I hope it is the last, somehow I
doubt it.
(Ice Maiden's Commentary: I must say, this was a night that
summarized what a pleasant metal evening should be. Heading to a true
metal show, meeting up with a solid, intelligent group of true metal
friends, having a couple of beverages and some grub…..ahhh…that's
livin').
Astonishingly
enough, ARMORED SAINT was first on the bill, and was already playing when
we went up. While I like this band and absolutely loved their performance
in Portland in May 2000, I have not been too kind to Armored Saint in the
pages of this webzine and in fact panned their effort at Wacken. Luckily
at this show they proved they have not lost their touch. Their set, while
brief, was hard-hitting, punchy and definitely energetic. I just can't
agree with all the John Bush slagging that goes on in the world, most of
which I think is perpetrated by Belladonna-era Anthrax fans. I think he's
a great frontman, and his vocal talents are quite formidable. The set
presented a standard survey of Armored Saint, and for being packed into a
brief time period I think the band did pretty well. In fact I liked them
so much I won't even make fun of John Bush's new hairdo -- a classic
"Welcome Back Kotter" white man's afro, circa 1975 -- which
would, of course, be a shot below the belt. So overall, a good grade for
Bush, Vera and friends, and I definitely hope they come back to Portland
as headliners. (Ice Maiden's Commentary: This was my third time
seeing Armored Saint, and I have to say that it appears that the smaller
the venue, the more I like these guys. This was a medium-sized venue, and
my reaction to them was very "medium"-solid performance, nothing
super-powerful, but fun-better than their ho-hum Wacken performance, but
nothing like the "in your face" job they did in a smaller club.
They were hamming it up for my camera, though-that's pretty much all it
takes to win me over.)
Now
comes the controversial part of this review: LYNCH MOB. I confess my
familiarity with this band begins and ends with casual listens to
"Wicked Sensation," which my roommate used to play sometimes in
our dorm room back in 1991, and the rudimentary knowledge of George
Lynch's formidable accomplishments with Dokken. This 80s-styled band took
the stage with a lot of hubbub, none of which was merited, but I have to
say their music was pretty good -- catchy, friendly riffs, very good
guitar work (of course) and a generous groove that was enough to get the
crowd moving. The vocalist, however, was terrible. He was a prancing poser
obviously enjoying his "rock star" status too much. Word of
advice, pal: appearing on stage at a metal show wearing a silk scarf and
banging a tambourine is NOT the way to win friends and influence people.
Also, pointing out people in the crowd and waiting for an enthusiastic
reaction from the singled-out person is not necessarily a good tactic
either. If this guy had any significant vocal talent, these sins might be
forgivable. As it is, he was the major reason that at least a portion of
the crowd was not thrilled with Lynch Mob. That being said, I do have to
reiterate that I generally liked their music, and overall I really enjoyed
the Lynch Mob set despite the scorn of some metalheads there. I think they
had every right to be on this bill and they do what they do pretty well,
so in the final analysis my criticisms are not enough to turn this into a
bad review of them. (Ice Maiden's Commentary: BMC, Tim and I had
to bust out the disco moves at times during Lynch Mob's set-what else can
you do when you see the lead singer prancing with a flowing scarf and
tambourine??? Still, these guys were having a very good time and were
playing for all they were worth. Ditch the vocalist and the music was
actually very good.)
After a tremendous amount of anticipation, shouting and chanting of
"Dio!" from the crowd, after a lengthy set-up time, DIO himself
finally ran onstage to the thunderous hails of the audience. It's rare to
see a solo metal figure command such an immediate response, but Dio is one
of the few who can do it. There were no preliminaries or warm-ups -- Dio
was going from the first song!! The fine traditional metal rhythms,
well-played guitars and snappy drumming perfectly augmented Dio's
legendary vocals, but the best thing about the performance was that you
knew Dio has never, in all his years of recording, lost his faith in
metal. R.J. started the show with a wealth of old, traditional favorites
such as "Holy Diver" and "Stand Up And Shout," and
during this part of the set the enthusiasm of the crowd was infectious.
Like the best and most experienced metal performers, Dio obviously knows
from great experience how to make the crowd respond right away, thus
setting the tone for the whole show.
Unfortunately
I have to say the energy flagged during the middle of his set. When he was
here last year Dio made the mistake of playing the entire new "Magica"
album from beginning to end. Because that performance occurred the very
week that "Magica" was released, I figured it was a fluke --
here we are now a year out from the release of that album, and surely
pushing it is not as dire a priority as it was in March 2000. While, to
his credit, Dio at least did not do the WHOLE album, to my chagrin he did
enough of it to create a noticeable slump in enthusiasm. Perhaps I'm being
too hard on R.J., but I just think that a man with a 30-year career should
not have 60% of his live set be material recorded in the year 2000. (Ice
Maiden's Commentary: I know more than one person who did not go to
this show because they feared the "Magica" factor. I have to
say, once I hear those "Battle Star Galactica" cylon sounds
coming from the speakers, I started to zone…)
Luckily Dio worked through the "Magica" stuff and at the end
of the show returned to the old standbys. With the crowd rocking again for
the end of the set, the energy was explosive at the finale of the show,
and in fact Dio came out for not ONE, not TWO, but THREE encores, at least
two of which were unplanned. The encores featured some of the best of the
whole show -- "Last In Line," "Rainbow In The Dark"
and a stunning rendition of "Neon Knights." The final encore
said goodbye with "We Rock," and Dio still left the crowd
wanting more. Visible throughout the end of the show was the great love
and enthusiasm Dio still has for metal, and a keen understanding of what
the fans like and why they like it. No wonder he has been around for 30
years! (Ice Maiden's Commentary: The encores pretty much made
this show. Why, oh, why, Mr. Dio, couldn't you just stick with playing
your old material? Or, at least, playing more of your old material????
Still, I definitely felt the motivation to head bang during the encores,
and head bang I did.)
The crowd at this show was excellent -- not a single mallcore kid in
sight! True metal lives in Portland, strange as it may sound, and everyone
was very animated and full of energy. Dio commented several times on what
a great crowd he had. There were a few drunken frat boys who made some
trouble -- they were particularly rambunctious during the Lynch Mob set --
but overall things were respectful and good-natured. In our party we had a
little excitement -- one of our friends blacked out and nearly collapsed,
not from drinking but from heat and lack of air in our part of the venue. (Ice Maiden's Commentary: I have to give it up
for Gladys, the non-metal wife of one of our friends. She flies in from a
business trip to Asia that morning, hasn't been to sleep for about 2 days,
has some beers, then fights to the front of the stage in leather pants in
a super-hot venue. No wonder she passed out! But, hey, she recovered and
ended up playing pool until 4 a.m. Hails to Gladys!!!!)
This was a great show with great bands, a great crowd and a terrific
communal "metalness" that was a treat for any true, traditional
metalhead. You should certainly see this tour if it comes to your
location, and it would probably even be worth a road trip if Dio happens
to miss you. I hope R.J. comes back again soon -- he knows he's got
friends in Portland.
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Dio
Armored Saint
Lynch Mob
