Brief review of Bournemouth

by Mike Dallenger

Arrived at the venue to find a band that I had never heard of on stage. Not
impressed and I don't bother to find out who they are. I then collected my
guest passes from the box office and returned to the concert hall for the
Dio set. The band did not let us down, they kicked off with Superman and
finished with Last in Line. In between (and not in this order) we were
treated with Holy Diver, Invisible, 2 tracks from Magica, Heaven and Hell,
The Man On A Silver Mountain, drum and guitar solos, Long Live Rock and Roll
and several others that I have surely forgotten. In all we had an hour of
DIO. All members of the band were on great form and I didn't notice any
mistakes. They all appeared to be happy with lots of smiles.

DIO had a great reception from the crowd who were there for Alice Cooper.

I had previously been advised that the DIO after show may take place while
Alice Cooper were still on stage. Accordingly I went to the back stage door
to gain access. I explained my position to the man on the door. He explained
that as soon as Alice were on stage I could go backstage to meet DIO. My
wife had intended to come to the concert with me, however baby sitting
difficulties prevented this. I therefore went with several friends.
Interestingly one of them was a recent acquaintance who has not had the
benefit of a good musical upbringing, i.e. she hadn't heard of DIO and
wasn't aware of their history. She really enjoyed the DIO set. She wanted to
join me backstage to meet the band. Her parents were also at the concert.
Lisa joined me back stage and her parents became anxious when she was gone
for a little while. Security therefore escorted Lisa's parents back stage.
The point of the story, as Lisa's parents joined us, Ronnie appeared from
the dressing room. I had a chat with Ronnie introduced Lisa and then Ronnie
introduced himself to Lisa's parents. It must have been very clear to Ronnie
that Lisa's parents were not fans, however Ronnie was the perfect gentleman
and spent time talking with them. Lisa and her parents are very grateful for
their meeting with Ronnie.

I managed to have a chat with each of the band. I stole the DIO Dressing
Room sign off the door and got each of the band to sign it. Ronnie joked
that I would be severely punished for such a serious crime.

I then returned to the concert hall to catch the last half of Alice Cooper.
Not being a big fan I did not know all of their material. However, I
recognised Poison, Schools Out and Elected. Alice introduced the band and I
discovered that he had Eric Singer on drums, always been impressed with ES.
Lasting memories :

Alice in a T Shirt with "Britney Wants Me" on it. Britney (or a
clone, Ronnie told me that it was Alice's daughter dressed up) appearing and
singing the final line from "Hit Me Baby 1 More Time" with Alice obliging.

Alice then describing things that pissed him off. This included
reference to his journey from the States to Bournemouth, England to find a
guy in the front row wearing a Marilyn Manson (Ken have I got the spelling
right?) T Shirt.

A good night out, an hour of DIO, a chance to meet the band, and catching
the final 45 minutes of Alice Cooper. I then had to make the enormous trek
home. It was all of 4 miles. This made a really nice change as normally in
the UK I travel to London for Dio concerts and I have also travelled to
Germany and the U.S.A.


Mike Dallenger