[% META title = 'Tour Reviews' %]

Explosive Purple

This was my second show in four nights (see my Dallas review). The first thing I noticed about the audience in Cincinnati was the number of DP t-shirts - a good sign. Clearly this was a DP crowd. The second thing I noticed wasn't as good - the place was empty. I asked one of the security guys how big the crowd was expected to be and he said about 3,000.

Dio opened and played a great set. The setlist was similar to Dallas with Killing The Dragon, Egypt, Children Of The Sea, Push, Stand Up And Shout, Rock And Roll, Man On The Silver Mountain, Long Live Rock'n'Roll, Holy Diver, Heaven And Hell, Last In Line. Again, Dio's guitarist was fantastic, Ronnie had a huge smile on his face and the only complaint from me is that they didn't play Rainbow In The Dark. Total time: 1 hour.

As in Dallas, the Scorpions came on and played a blistering set. Setlist included Coming Home, Bad Boys Running Wild, The Zoo, No One Like You, Winds Of Change, Tease Me Please Me, Big City Nights, Coast To Coast, Dynamite, Blackout, Still Loving You (encore), Rock You Like A Hurricane (encore) and a couple rockers I didn't know. Mathias Jabs was huge again and was smiling the whole show. James Kottak was banging the crap out of the drums and was very energized during his solo. Total time: 75 minutes.

DP came on and the energy in the crowd was much better than Dallas. I was very surprised when they launched into Fireball. This is a great opening choice since they need a fast DP song to transition the crowd from the fast pace of the Scorpions. The next surprise came a few songs later when they played Knocking At Your Back Door in place of No One Came. Another good choice as the crowd rocked to this classic. The last surprise was a downer for me - no riff raff before Smoke! I think adding Fireball to the setlist forced them to edit this out. Too bad - I enjoy this part of the show.

The setlist:
Fireball
Woman From Tokyo
Ted The Mechanic
Lazy
Well Dressed Guitar
Knocking At Your Back Door
Black Night
Perfect Strangers
Speed King
Smoke On The Water

Hush
Highway Star

The crowd was very good for the whole show and the band seemed to feed off the energy. Steve smiled most of the show and was singing the lyrics much of the time. As a huge fan, I felt redeemed after the Dallas show. Total time: 75 minutes.

Next show for me is Mansfield on June 26. See you at Jimmy's before the show (about two miles from the Tweeter Center towards Mansfield). It is where we held the meet and greet before the 1998 show. [And a great meet it was indeed. Sad that I'll miss it this time. Rasmus]

Bob Ronan

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