JOEY BELLADONNA HONORS RONNIE JAMES DIO

Joey Belladonna performed a sold out DIO tribute at the Turningstone Casino, and Blog Manager Tom was there!

Joey Belladonna, the voice behind Anthrax, is living the dream doing what he loves, singing the music he holds close to his heart. Shit, he’s singing the music we all adore. The Oswego, NY native’s musical influences are diverse, from the soaring vocals of Journey’s Steve Perry to the other upstate New York metal legend, Ronnie James Dio. Belladonna has a Journey tribute band, Beyond Frontiers, and of course, he has his DIO tribute band. Both are the result of his lovely and supportive wife and sister-in-law badgering encouraging Joey to do more than just play regional gigs with his three piece cover band, Chief Big Way. So now, between Anthrax gigs, Joey sings the other music he loves.

Last year I was blessed to see his Journey tribute. This year it’s a different story, as we got to see him honor the legacy of an individual many don’t realize is from the woods of New York. DIO’s influence on heavy metal is undeniable, and his relationship with Ritchie Blackmore, a binding over a love of all things mythical and fantasy, changed hard rock music forever. Born Ronnie Padavona, he’s better known as Ronnie James Dio, and a chance tour by Deep Purple led to the formation of Ritchie Blackmore’s Rainbow, and Dio’s lasting impact on the heavy metal sub-genres, from power to doom metal. His career spanned decades, from Rainbow to replacing Ozzy in Black Sabbath, and his solo work. Dio’s philanthropy preceded him, and his name is still attached to the Children of the night charity. 

The backing band, featuring Mike Rivera (guitar), Rob Stokes (bass), and Jim McCourt (drums), completed the ensemble and didn’t fail to deliver. They were the perfect backing band for this. Like a lot of older guys, bassist Stokes was rocking a partial skullette, but that didn’t stop him from doing all the classic metal bass player poses on stage. Rivera looked like he could be related to the Padavona family. McCourt’s goatee seemed to be done by Adrian Smith’s stylist, so it was no surprise when Joey revealed they are members of the house band at Niko (Iron Maiden) McBrain’s BBQ Pit. The trio were in garage-band glory on the Showroom’s huge stage. And then came Joey, simply dressed, all in black, wearing his favorite DIO T-shirt with his long tresses, throwing up occasional devil horns in honor of the man. 

The set list was phenomenal. Opening with Rainbow’s Tarot Woman and segueing into Sabbath’s Neon Knights, they came out of the gate firing on all cylinders. Highlights included The Sign of the Southern Cross and Voodoo off the Mob Rules, the RAINBOW songs radio made famous, including The Man on the Silver Mountain and The Long Live Rock-N-Roll, and the solo songs we all love from Holy Diver to Rainbow in the Dark and everything he made a video for in-between. But it was selections from Sabbath’s Heaven and Hell, which celebrated its 40th birthday on the day of the show, that made up most of the night. 

Small technical difficulties hampered the first few songs, but this is expected at live events and lets us know the music isn’t prerecorded or AI. The MIDI didn’t want to work, so we didn’t get the opening for Holy Diver. And, like all vocalists, Joey isn’t immune to lyrical challenges. Lady evil got second verse, same as the first treatment, but no one cared. My only criticism of this line up is where’s the keyboardist? RAINBOW, Sabbath, and DIO all had keyboard players. And though the band was tight as is, we could have had a bigger wall of sound with some keys, and it would solve their MIDI issues, but that’s just me nitpicking. Did I have fun? Yes. Was the music great? Yes. Did I sing along with every song? You bet your ass I did.  

By the end—which closed with Heaven and Hell, the Mob Rules, and We Rock— a portion of the well behaved crowd overran the security and rather politely rushed the stage. The security didn’t know what to do, so they let the fans do their thing. Joey was earnestly moved by the night, telling us at one point how he’s never been nervous on stage with Anthrax, but tonight, for this sold out crowd and what it meant, he was nervous as hell. Part of this came from the casino itself having reservations about the band performing, but the sell-out proved their inhibitions to be unwarranted. Joey hopes to be back with this show again, and I intend to be part of it when that day comes. Until then, let me see your devil horns in the air and your head banging!

PLEASE NOTE: The views and opinions of the staff of Memento Mori Ink do not necessarily represent those of Memento Mori Ink or Crystal Lake Publishing. Thank you for understanding.