Calling All Mullets: Scorpions, Deep Purple, & Dio Live In Vegas
By
Sefany Jones,
Contributing Editor
Tuesday, June 18, 2002 @ 4:37 PM
| Scorps, Purple, & Dio Bust Out
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REVIEW BY: The Rock N’ Roll Realtor
If you want old school arena rock, you can't pass up on the Scorpions, Deep Purple, and Dio tour. Nearly 6500 fans packed into the venue ready and willing to be assaulted with classic metal on opening night. With the first of the "four-foot" front men, Dio took to the stage and started the crowd up with songs ranging from various stages of his career. He looked very laid back and still sounded great vocally with his new guitarist, Doug Aldrich, who showed his ability to replace all before him on the guitar. Besides, who could respect Vivian after that crap he's put out with Def Leppard.
During each performance and in-between sets there was no change in the beer lines of this mostly 30+ crowd getting ready for the next act, the legendary Deep Purple. Beach balls were being tossed all around the crowd.
With lights dimming the legends took the stage to immense approval from the crowd; classics like “Highway Star,” “Lazy,” “My Woman From Tokyo,” and an unrecorded instrumental featuring Steve Morse on guitar ("Well Dressed Guitar") had the fans nothing but satisfied. At one point Steve started playing guitar riffs from classic songs including “Back In Black,” “Stairway To Heaven,” and “Voodoo Child,” leading into the intro to “Smoke On The Water.” By this time the crowd was in full drunken mode and loving it. While Ian Gillan looked more like Jimmy Buffet in bare feet and white beach clothing, he still sounded great for a 50+ singer.
After those two sets, most classic metal fans would be set -- but not this night -- one more to go. Not Doro or Accept, but the Scorpions, featuring the second of the two "four-foot" singers. After hours of consuming alcohol, the crowd was ready for the Scorpions to take the stage. Starting the set off with “Coming Home,” they broke into “Bad Boys” and followed with “The Zoo,” pumping the tanked crowd up on German metal. After a few duds like “Tease Me, Please Me,” “In Trance” and (yikes!) “He's A Woman She's a Man,” it was clear why they can't sell CD's anymore except their greatest hits sets. If not for finishing out the set with “Dynamite,” and a drum solo from James Kottak, everybody might have been gone. For a 95-year-old singer, Klaus still sang really well, notably with a Fozzy cover of “Blackout” for the finish. All in all, the show was a great start for the tour.
The most notable people in the crowd were Vince Neil, the infamous Anna Ball, Billy Gibbons, Laurie "The Pick Chick" and Joe Lynn Turner -- not to mention a host of crop shirts, spandex and yes... mullets.
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