Music Review

Dio / Deep Purple / Scorpions
Date: June 16, 2002
Where: Polaris Amphitheater
Columbus, Ohio

The Review

Dio

I had never seen Dio live before. I went with 3 teenage guys. (I may have felt like Mrs. Robinson - but get your mind out of the gutter. I was merely someone cool to go with. LOL) They were originally going to see Scorpions until they found out Dio was the opening act. Then all bets were off. They stuck through Dio's set - then went chick-watching the rest of the show. It was OK - my buddies "Jim" and "Beaches" joined me for the rest of the evening.

Ronnie James Dio is every bit as good live now as I thought he could ever be. I would definitely see them again. I'm usually bored by drum solos - yet this was one of the better ones I'd ever seen. It will probably only be topped when I see Rush later this summer.

Deep Purple

It has been a long time since I'd seen Deep Purple. Back during my high school days. I remember being surprised then by how much I liked them. It happened again this time. They (as well as Dio) could have easily headlined. They played plenty of crowd favorites, but what brought people to their feet was my favorite Deep Purple song, "Hush". I also enjoyed a new song they had just finished writing, "Well Dressed Guitar". It had a hard driving beat and singing guitars. My kind of music.

Scorpions

This was who I had been waiting to see. It had been about 12 or 13 years since I had seen them last. I'd been wanting to ever since buying their Moment of Glory: The Scorpions with the Berlin Philharmonic CD.

They teased the audience by playing the intro to the symphonic version of "Rock you Like a Hurricane". Everybody was on their feet from that moment until the end of the show. Although Scorpions have been known for their "power ballads", they started the show off with some serious rockers. I admit it - I wanted to hear some of the ballads, too - but they really got the energy flowing before slowing a beat. They sounded phenomenal! I was brought back in time as they played the songs from my high school days including:

Bad Boys Running Wild
Tease Me, Please Me
No One Like You
Big City Nights
Hanging On
Blackout
Still Loving You (my personal favorite. yes - I'm a chick. LOL)
Rock You Like a Hurricane
and more. (unfortunately I can't read my writing from the show to post a full set list)

I was wrong about Dio's drum solo. It was topped during Scorpions set. I'm usually bored to death by these - and I had two that captured my attention in one night. Oh what a night. There were so many songs they didn't play. So many I would love to hear played live - in person. Their set was relatively short - but I can't complain. It was a full night of music. I guess this means I'll just have to see them again.

Overall it was one of the better concerts I'd been to. Any of the 3 could have easily headlined the show. Lucky for me it was my favorite of the 3 that did. :)

~Trixie, Summer 2002

For more information about
Scorpions click here
Deep Purple click here
Dio click here

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