Todd is God

I was saddened to read yesterday of the death of Ronnie James Dio, after losing his battle with Cancer. He was a little man – with a big enough sense of humour to call an early band, Elf – with a big and powerful voice. I remember seeing Dio on The Last in Line tour back in 1984. Glasgow Apollo it was – 23rd September. If I remember correctly it also featured Queensryche – with high pitched singer Geoff Tate decked out in white leather – as support, plugging their debut album (they were awful and Geoff picked up the Geoff TiT nick-name among my friends that I still find hard to not revert to – They did eventually make the album Operation Mindcrime, which is really rather good). I remember it being a good gig – probably improved no end in fact by us having to stand through Mr Tate and Co beforehand. The little guy could certainly sing. Rainbow was where he really cut his mustard. He managed to put up with Richie Blackmore for 5 years – no mean feat as anyone who worked with Dame Richie ...