The double-disc set “Dio At Donington UK: Live 1983 & 1987” will be released in November.
The first disc was recorded at the first-ever U.K. performance by Dio’s solo group, while on tour supporting their classic debut, “Holy Diver”. And the setlist does a superb job reflecting DIO’s debut (featuring such classics as “Rainbow in the Dark”, “Stand Up And Shout”, etc.), as well as classics from both RAINBOW and BLACK SABBATH (“Man on the Silver Mountain”, “Heaven and Hell”, etc.) — resulting in a thoroughretrospective of Dio’s career, from RAINBOW to BLACK SABBATH to solo hits.
The second disc of “Dio At Donington UK: Live 1983 & 1987” features guitarist Craig Goldy’s debut — recorded in 1987, in support of the “Dream Evil” album, and contains highlights from Dio’s career.
The first disc represents “a new, young band coming out of the box,” Wendy Dio tells RollingStone.com, “and then the [second disc] is a more seasoned band.”
In 1982, disagreements over the mixing of Black Sabbath’s ‘Live Evil’ resulted in the departure of Ronnie James Dio and Vinny Appice from the band. Wanting to continue together, the two formed DIO later that year. R.J.D. said in an interview available on the special edition re-release of Holy Diver, that he never intended to begin a solo career. His intention was to form a new band with Appice. Naming the band Dio made sense from a commercial standpoint, as the name was already well-known at that time.
Did you know that ‘Dio’ in Italian means “God?”