I attended my first concert when I was 15. Take a WILD guess as to what band I saw! That's right, BLACK SABBATH!
It was the "Heaven and Hell" tour, in 1980. My hero, Ronnie James Dio had just joined Black Sabbath, and they came to my town...seemingly to make my dreams a reality. My favorite band, now WITH my favorite singer?! BEST CONCERT EVER!
I already loved Ronnie with Elf and Rainbow. As a child, I remembered seeing Roger Glover's "The Butterfly Ball" video for "Love Is All", with Dio as an animated frog playing a banjo! That one, I shared with my own children, and my youngest daughter loves it so much, she can be found on youtube doing her own rendition!
The song, "Children of the Sea", is my personal favorite from the album, and when they performed it live, well...
For those of you who never noticed, Ronnie James Dio was a wizard! I mean that in the best way, too...not some satanic wannabe, a real creative genius, and a wizard. Anyone who saw him live will know what I mean...when Ronnie performed, an almost magical atmosphere was created! His stage presence combined with the beauty and power of his voice gave the show a very mesmerizing quality. I was certainly entranced! Watching Dio perform, the hand gestures, the flowy shirts, the lyrical incantations...each song became its own "spell"! Mix that with the already phenomenal Black Sabbath, and you have PURE MAGIC! I really think they brought out the best in each other creatively!
I can honestly say, Ronnie and Geezer are still two of the biggest influences on me musically and creatively. Geezer is still my favorite bass player, and they both write lyrical incantations! Had Geezer left the band before that tour, I may have never become a bass player at all! THANK YOU, GEEZER! I would later mix Ronnie's mesmeric gestures with my own "feminine hippy shake" style to create my own magic on stage, but it all started with that first concert. THANK YOU, RONNIE! THANK YOU TO ALL OF BLACK SABBATH!!!! I will never forget it! I guess I am still under their "spell" to this day!
+BlackSabbath
+RonnieJamesDio
+GeezerButler
http://www.blacksabbath.com/
http://www.ronniejamesdio.com/
http://www.geezerbutler.com/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heaven_and_Hell_(Black_Sabbath_album)
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