Metal Will Never Die

Today would have been Ronnie James Dio's sixty-ninth birthday.
Thee Claw were lucky enough to see him twice in the space of a year, with Heaven and Hell Black Sabbath and with Dio.  We miss you man.

Enjoy.

Long Live Rock and Roll

(actual size)*

Here is the latest update from Wendy Dio:

"Ronnie has been diagnosed with the early stages of stomach cancer. We are starting treatment immediately at the Mayo Clinic. After he kills this dragon, Ronnie will be back on stage, where he belongs, doing what he loves best, performing for his fans.

Thanks to all the friends and fans around the world that have sent well wishes. This has really helped to keep his spirit up.

Long Live Rock and Roll, Long Live Ronnie James Dio"

*only joking, we at Thee Claw love you Ronnie. Get well soon lad.

The Devil You Know...

The new Heaven And Hell album cover!!!
Thee Claw cannot wait for this, the most anticipated metal release in years!!!

Dio, Girlschool, Birmingham Academy 27th May 2008

...or, The March of The Doom Droids.

As SJW has pointed out in his post, we weren't allowed to take his camera into the gig with us, and I'd not taken mine because it's just one more thing to lose really, isn't it (oh yeah and it's broken too), so any and all photos taken on this particular day are from the journey there and the March of The Doom Droids on the way back.

There was no getting lost or 45-minute phone calls for us this time; I stayed (relatively) sober because we'd caned it a bit the night before (the look on Skum's hangover-riddled face when I came out of the shop with a crate of lager was priceless, I think his words were "Patchie...how could you?" haha) and I was on map-reading duties, so we arrived in no time, navigating a seemingly improbable one way system as only true metal vagabonds with a gig to go to can.
The three hour, spiral-shaped journey around the centre of Birmingham the week before with Anna directing us along probably helped as well.
We arrived, joined the massive queue and sank a few cans, and arrived just in time to pick up a shirt, get some more beers, and watch Girlschool's set.
For those of you not in the know, Girschool are celebrating their 30th anniversary this year (making them as old as yours truly) and play good ol' British biker rock/metal. They were spot on, so much so that afterwards I went looking for their merch to get hold of a the CD with Ronnie James Dio and Tony Iommi collaborating with them, but there was none to be found. It'll probably lose me a few kvlt points but fuck it, Girlschool are top notch, squire.
Skum has a setlist in his post for this show; Opening with Holy Diver this was an excellent selection of tracks from Dio, even if there were no Sabbath songs included alongside the Dio and Rainbow tracks, maybe this is another one of Ozzy's (Iron Maiden hating) wife's moves? Anyway, the set was good, Ronnie James got a bit pissed off with Simon Wright's (ex-AC/DC) drumming at the end of (I think) Rainbow in the Dark - turning to him and demanding to know (over the PA) "Are you fucking deaf?", much to the amusement of Thee Claw. Wright more than made up for this with a cracking drum solo, accompanied in part by Tchaikovsky's 1812 overture.
Ending the show with a triple treat of Long Live Rock And Roll, The Last in Line and We Rock, this was truly a night to remember.

Oh, and we also saw an erstwhile ex-Iron Maiden vocalist hiding under a huge skull print bandana at the bar.
As for The March of The Doom Droids...you'll just have to wait to see what that was all about!

Link: Girlschool
Link: Dio

...Like a rainbow in the dark

The DIO Birmingham setlist....

01. Holy Diver
02. Killing the Dragon
03. The Eyes
04. Don't Talk to Strangers
05. Drum Solo
06. Sacred Heart
07. Rainbow in the Dark
08. Temple of the King
09. Kill the King (with extra added, totally random "LOOK OUT!!!")
10. Guitar Solo
11. Lord of the Last Day
12. Rock 'n' Roll Children
13. Stand Up and Shout
14. Man on the Silver Mountain
15. Catch the Rainbow
16. Long Live Rock and Roll
17. The Last in Line
18. We Rock

Let me get this straight, Black Sabbath/Heaven and Hell singer Ronnie James Dio plays a gig in Sabbath City without playing any Sabbath material, interesting concept, but it worked, he didn't have to play anything from his Sabbath years, it made me appreciate how amazing his solo stuff is. The choice of solo songs and even Rainbow songs more than made up for it.
Hail to Ronnie, the guy clearly loves it up on that stage!!!!
Certainly a memorable night for Thee Claw!!!!

Late Night Antics On The Road Home After Dio

Roadside fun with Thee Claw Boys. You really don't need to know what that was in those buckets.

We weren't allowed to take the big camera into the DIO concert tonight (my fault for not calling the venue in advance and arranging a photo pass). Anyway, it was an awesome show, the support band were GIRLSCHOOL - or, as SKUM has rechristened them, MILFschool. They were outstanding. And DIO never let us down... You know, I think I even saw R.J.D. throw a claw at one point instead of his trademark devil horns. Musta been a mistake!


Also, tonight was the 30th concert of the 2008 CLAW ON TOUR. That's 30 gigs, including 4 all-day events (each being counted for 1 concert apiece even though they could notch up about 30 more bands between them if you wanted to be picky), and we're only just gettin started. Bring on Twickenham!

We still owe you a review and some photos from the RAVENS CREED gig over in Leeds from yesterday. Mark my words, that band is going to be legendary.

Dio @ Birmingham

Close the city! Tickets arrived today!
(No, really... This is no April fools shikanery!)

Dio - May / June 2008 - European Tour Dates

Ronnie James Dio and his band are soon to be sweeping across Europe in a 9 date tour this spring:


5/27 - Birmingham, UK (Academy) - Support from Girlschool
5/28 - London, UK (Astoria) - Support from Girlschool
5/30 - Oslo, Norway (Sentrum Scene)
5/31 - Karmoy, Norway (Kopervik Festival)
6/2 - Malmo, Sweden (KB Halle)
6/3 - Copenhagen, Denmark (Amager Bio)
6/4 - Stockholm, Sweden (Debaser)
6/6 - Oulu, Finland (Teatria)
6/7 - Lahti, Finland (Water & Rock Festival)

We've snapped up some tickets to the 1st date of the tour in Birmingham - see you there!

Heaven & Hell @ M.E.N. Arena, Manchester

THEE CLAW went along to the M.E.N. in Manchester last night to see HEAVEN & HELL. As usual we got wrecked and had a ball. Sabbath with Dio on vocals was pretty sweet - we got pretty close to the front of the crowd when the main act came on, we were stood over on Tony Iommi's side of the stage, not 10 feet away from him. At the end of the gig he threw a handful of picks into the crowd, I got one. Go me!

DIO rules. What a guy he is. His vocals are sharp, crystal sharp. After the show we went along to a rock night in JILLYS in Manchester city centre and the DJ played the song "Heaven & Hell" for us... the whole room of 100 or so people must have been along to the show to see Sabbath play because when it came to the chorus everybody joined in with the singing.

ICED EARTH and LAMB OF GOD were support acts for H&H on this tour. I enjoyed the Iced Earth set, Ripper Holmes' sounded great. I wasn't too taken with the Lamb Of God singer, he kept asking the Manchester crowd to start circle pits and stuff like that. Sorry my friend, it doesn't work like that around these parts. Plus the crowd was mainly made up of people's dads who had come out to see Sabbath, I don't think that many 50-year-old men have much interest in circle pitting.

Heaven & Hell setlist (guessing):

1. "E5150"
2. "The Mob Rules"
3. "Children of the Sea"
4. "Lady Evil"
5. "The Sign Of the Southern Cross"
6. "Voodoo"
7. "The Devil Cried"
8. "Computer God"
9. "Falling Off the Edge of the World"
10. "Shadow of the Wind"
11. "Die Young"
12. "Heaven and Hell"
13. "Neon Knights"

Dunno if we'll ever get another chance to see these guys together as a group again but it was so good to be able to grab this opportunity to go along and watch them while we could! A five star performance, this was definitely one of my gigs of thee year.