MY MOB DREAM
WEEKEND 3 NIGHTS OF DIO BACK TO BACK IN SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA
BY
JOE MONTOYA.
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Well the big day finally arrived on August 2nd, 2002 as I have been waiting for this
day it seems like for an eternity. I headed out for San Diego about 11:30 AM
Friday morning from Redondo Beach. I first stopped in Oceanside at my Aunt and
Uncles house. From there my uncle dropped me off at the train station in
Carlsbad. I took a very relaxing train ride along the southern coast from
Carlesbad into San Diego. When I arrived in San Diego my Cousin Michelle
picked me up from the station about 4:00PM. From there we made an
emergency pit stop to pick up a camera battery that i discovered was dead on the
train while loading film.
After that we headed out to the Coors Ampitheater in Chula Vista.
We arrived about 5:00 PM. We parked her vehicle and headed
straight for the will call box office to check on our passes. It was a good
thing we stopped for a new camera battery because my photo pass came
through as well as our after show passes. At this point I proceeded to do cart
wheels and back flips across the whole parking lot. No not really but that’s
what I felt like doing. So next we went in and bought a couple of coldies and
went to check out our seats. Hmm not bad, we had about 12th row center. I
have to ad that this place was very nice and the ushers as well as security
were very nice and very professional. On our way to our seats I ran in to Larry
and Lorie George. They have become a household name at the So Cal shows as
well as their guest Thomas Krause from Germany. It is always a pleasure to
see these DIO regulars. Well the moment finally arrived as the intro to
Killing the Dragon kicked in. I immediately headed toward the front with my
cameras. Ronnie and the boys hit the stage with their enormous presence. Ronnie
of course had that big smile as usual and his voice sounded crystal
clear.
The set list consisted of Killing the Dragon, Egypt, Children of the sea,
Push, Simons Drum solo, Stand up and shout, Rock and Roll, Man on the Silver
Mountain, Doug’s Guitar solo, Long Live Rock and Roll, Holy Diver , Heaven and Hell,
and Rainbow in the Dark as an encore.
I was overwhelmed with photographing the show and rocking out all at once.
What an awesome rush! I photographed the first three songs. After the photo
portion I headed back to my seat with my cousin Michelle.
The energy was high during Push so Michelle and I
raised the banner I had made for Ronnie displaying Killing the Dragon on an
American flag. Ronnie took notice immediately giving us the thumbs up approval.
He actually ran back and grabbed Willie and Scott the drum tech and
signaled me to raise it again and yelled "Turbo!" which is Scott’s nick name toward
the end of Push. Ronnie later told me that Scott is very patriotic and he had
to grab him to show him.
Well after the set we headed to the backstage area only to run in to a couple more
So Cal regulars Joey Niji and Thom from San Diego. These guys are some of the
corest fans I know. We were all escorted by Beau a really cool DIO crew member,
I hardly recognized him with the beard he now sports.
When the band came out for the meet and greet I was able to
obtain a picture of Ronnie holding up the killing the dragon banner. He
loved it so much that he gave me a big hug kissed me on the cheek and said "I
LOVE YOU!" that just topped my night! How awesome is that huh? I also chatted
with Doug Aldrich who is a true gentlemen. He remembered me from the Total
access studio in Redondo Beach where they recorded Killing the Dragon. That
night he told me how interested he was in the comments and remarks that were
posted about him on the official site. I told him that the biggest concern
with the fans was weather he would continue with DIO or did he plan to put DIO
aside for his other projects. He responded by assuring me that he will stay
in DIO until he gets a phone call from Ronnie as he put his hand to his ear
like a phone and Ronnie tells him "don’t bother coming to practice anymore".
He considers DIO to be a real gig compared to his other projects he has been
involved in. He’s a great guy and I really enjoyed talking with him. He
fits perfect in DIO as he is a genuine good person just like all the other
DIO members. I could tell just by talking with him how concerned he was to
answer all of our (THE FANS) questions.
After the meet and greet we headed back to our seats to enjoy Deep Purples
set at the end of the night.
After the show my cousin and I went to Dennys for a midnight breakfast. She
said she had a fantastic time and could not believe how nice Ronnie and the band
were. In fact when I introduced her to Ronnie ,Ronnie gave her a big hug as he
does all the ladies.
The night finally came to an end as I stayed the night in Oceanside at my cousin’s
house.
The next day, Saturday morning, I woke up early and headed back to Redondo Beach.
I arrived back in town about 10:30 AM got something to eat, took a
shower and found myself at "THE HOLE". This is a house in Redondo Beach where a
bunch of friends I grew up with reside. This is the house that everyone ends up
at for after partys after the bars close. They always have a keg flowing on
hand as a regular thing. There I met up with my friends Rick E, Rick M,
Jeff, Prich, Dan, Albert, Ruben, Greg and Tim. Of course even though it was
only 1:00PM since I wasn’t driving or didn’t have photo duties I said what the
hell I will start early with a coldie from the keg.
We ended up leaving Redondo Beach around 3:00 PM to the Block Buster
Pavilion in San Bernardino. We arrived to the venue about 4:30 PM to enjoy
the parking lot festivities.
The sun was shining bright as we sucked our suds. People were BBQing as
shirt counterfeiters and scalpers roamed the parking lot. It reminded me of
the old days. We headed to will call, got our passes and headed in waiting in the
middle of this huge crowd to get in.
This place was so huge and unorganized. As we were waiting to get through
this monstrosity the DIO band started their set as we were in the middle.
All you could hear was the intro to Killing the dragon and a big groan from the
whole crowd trying to enter. We finally made it in and to our seats as they started
to play Egypt.
I have to say the band sounded phenomenal. The set list was the same as San Diego.
We had 3rd row seats off to the left side but went to the center since a lot of the
seats were unoccupied. It was a good thing we were close because it enabled me
to get the banner up on stage. When Ronnie held it up the whole arena went
wild. Ronnie gave me a big thumbs up and draped it over the drum riser
for the duration of the show. During the set people started filling the seats
and slowly we moved toward our seats. As we got further left I ran in to
none other than Thomas Krause from Germany in our row. What a pleasant
surprise!
After the DIO set we went to the back stage area to wait. We waited and
waited and waited for a good while. Some security told us to leave than
some said to stay, it was really confusing. Luckily Becky and Dave from on
track magazine.com who were photographing the show as well as the previous
night straightened some things out with security so we could stay and
wait. Finally, after a couple of hours of waiting, during Deep Purples set Ronnie came
out of his dressing room. There were a lot of people with DIO passes in the
beginning but after the wait and BS from security there was only a handful of us
which included us DIO regulars.
We talked with Ronnie for a few in the hall as he was getting ready the go to his
bus with Willie. It was so funny when I was taking a photo of Ronnie and Joey
Niji Joey says to Ronnie "do you remember Joe from Redondo?" and smart ass
Ronnie looked at me and said "NA WHO’S THIS FUCKING ASSHOLE?"
"OF COURSE I KNOW JOE!" It was hillarious.
He also clarified to Joey and I that he did not do any new vocal tracks for
Kerry Livegrin's new release. I also talked with Doug for a few and he
indicated that he felt his performance was better the night before in San Diego.
After the brief meeting back stage I headed back out to get something to eat
and ran in to my buddy Rick M. and we watched the rest of the Scorps set. I
was completely exhausted at this point as most of us slept all the way
home.
The next day I just lounged around my house resting up for the grand
finally at the Greek Theater of which I would attend with a good friend of
mine Al. He is a bass player that I collaborate music with as well. He picked me
up about 3:30 with my cooler full and loaded. We arrived about 4:30 PM and
hoisted a few in the parking lot. We then went to will call for our
passes which came through. We were both ecstatic! We headed in only to run in
to the old DIO regulars Larry and Lorie, Thomas, Joey and Thom.
This night I also had the pleasure of meeting Amy(THE PRETENDER),
STRANGE HIGHWAYS from the official site posting board and PAUL HODGITE
and his wife. It was nice to put a face to the screen names. Also at the Greek
I ran in to WYNN DAVIS Ronnie’s Recording engineer from the studio in Redondo
Beach. I also saw Wendy Dio and Pattie from NIJI MANAGEMENT.
Joey also pointed out Ronnie’s clothing designer although her name eludes me.
Well show time had finally arrived as DIO hit the stage for the final American show
for this leg of the tour. The set list was the same as the previous evenings.
I walked down to the front with Thom to attempt to get the banner on stage but
security wouldn’t let me. I handed it to one of the security guards and asked if he
would get it up there for me. This security guard wasn’t the brightest as he left it folded up and
set it on the side of the stage where the guys couldn’t even see it. Thank
goodness for Thom as he went back down and handed it to a guy in the
front row during Simons drum solo. When Ronnie came back out on stage this
kind fellow opened the banner in front of Ronnie and Ronnie went down and
grabbed the banner from him and displayed it to everyone as everyone cheered. He
again draped it over the drum riser for the duration of the show.
It was kind of strange as most people sat for about the first half of the set but
during the second half most were standing. Another thing that was different than
the previous shows was when Ronnie went in to the BIG BLACK SHAPE portion
of HEAVEN AND HELL is that he brought a 5 year old little boy up with him
in the red light from the 1st row. I think the little boy was a bit overwhelmed
as Ronnie handed him back down in the middle of the lyrics.
It was an awesome show and all the people that worked at the Greek seemed
very nice and professional at the same time.
Well after the set we headed to the backstage area as I grabbed a margarita
before hand. We went to the women’s dressing room where the meet and greet
would take place. We hung back for about a half hour or so when Scott Warren
strolled in. It was funny because we were talking to this girl that said she was
Scott’s sister. She really made it seem legit by some of the things she said about
Scott that I won’t mention here LOL!!!
So, when Scott came in I said hey we met your sister and she was very nice. He
smiled and said "she’s not my sister”. He said she’s just a good friend. We
laughed about that. Then Ronnie and the rest of the crew strolled in and the
first thing Ronnie said to me is "THAT FUCKING SECURITY!" and I said what
happened Ronnie and he said it pissed him off when they wouldn’t let me get my
banner up on stage. I told him the most important thing is that it got up
there! He gave me a big hug and said "THANK YOU FOR EVERYTHING SON!" I told him
it was my pleasure and thank you to for everything!
Both Al and I got photos with Ronnie and Jimmy together. I spoke to Simon after
that and he gave me a drumstick and signed it for me. I did happen to ask him about that
symphony piece during his drum solo and he told me that it was the middle
section of Carmina Burana. He said that Cozy Powell is one of his favorite
drummers and that Cozy did some symphony pieces during his drum solos. He said he
was inspired to do a symphony piece like Cozy but didn’t want to do one that
Cozy had already done. When he told me this I thought to myself what better
drummer than Simon would be to fill the drumming job if there were a
reunion of RAINBOW with Ronnie and Ritchie. He really sounds better than he did
on the MAGICA tour in my opinion. I can tell that he is very true and diligent
to his practice and it shows on stage and in the studio.
I spoke with Jimmy very briefly during all three shows. He did give me a big thanks that night.
After the band left the room we hung around for a few and took a few photos
while we were messing around. See how Thomas has the drumstick around my neck?
HEY THOMAS WHY DON’T YOU PICK ON SOMEONE YOUR OWN SIZE LOL!!!! We all had a
great time.
The whole night I kept getting compliments about my RAINBOW RISING t-shirt. I have
to thank George Galanis from the Greek wizards DIO fan club from GREECE for that.
George the t-shirt was a big hit!
Well, after the meet and greet we said our goodbyes to all the DIO regulars. we then
headed back into watch the Scorps do there final set which included Steve
Morse sitting in on Rock you Like a Hurricane. they must have had a 5 minute
ending with guitar solos going back and forth. It was a nice way to bring the
proceedings to an end.
I had an incredible weekend as I played HOMEWARD BOUND from BUTTERFLY BALL
on my stereo when I got home. I could hardly sleep that night.
So that concludes my MOB DREAM WEEKEND. By the way THE MOB DREAM
was the original name that GREG HILDEBRANDT gave the MOB RULES COVER ART
before BLACK SABBATH used it for THE MOB RULES cover so I felt it was
appropriate to call my article MY MOB DREAM WEEKEND. I would like to give special
thanks to KEN BOYD for all his help and for the opportunity to share my thoughts
with everyone. I would also like to give special thanks to WENDY ,PATTIE AND
ANNIE from NIJI MANAGEMENT, and to RONNIE and THE BOYS of course.
TAKE CARE EVERYONE AND KEEP ROCKIN' WITH RONNIE!!!!!
JOE MONTOYA AKA JOE FROM REDONDO
