[% META title = 'Tour Reviews' %]
Flat in Dallas
It wasn't a great night to be a DP fan. The band, as always, played a great set but the crowd seemed to be there to see the Scorpions and after the Scorpions played, a noticeable number of people left. DP never got the crowd going in the same way the Scorpions did. Even after seeing three great acts, I left the concert feeling a bit sad. But, before I get you too depressed, I was able to see the Cincinnati show three nights later and it was a much better night for DP fans (see my Cincinnati review).
There was a large crowd for the show. The Dallas papers estimated 8500 people. All the seats seemed full and a fair number of people were on the lawn as well.
Dio opened and put on a great show. He smiled as if he was genuinely having a great time and was able to get the crowd going. Even though the show started at 6:00, there were many people in their seats for Dio. The setlist included: 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. Total time: one hour. Dio's guitarist was outstanding. The one complaint: how can Dio do a one hour show and omit Rainbow In The Dark?
The Scorpions put on an absolutely blistering show. If you want to prep for the concert, just listen to the 1984 World Wide Live CD - they played most of the songs including Coming Home, Bad Boys Running Wild, The Zoo, No One Like You, Big City Nights, Coast To Coast, Dynamite, Blackout, Still Loving You (encore) and Rock You Like A Hurricane (encore). They also played Wind Of Change, Tease Me Please Me and a couple others I didn't know. Matthias Jabs was a monster on the guitar and James Kottak was huge on the drums. Klaus Meine threw out close to 30 drumsticks (many during The Zoo) but don't kill yourself to get one - they aren't the expensive variety. Total time: 75 minutes.
After Dio and the Scorps, I felt I had already seen an incredible show. I was worried that DP would not be able to top the Scorpions.
DP came on and played well. After the Scorpions, WFT may not have been the best opener - I'm glad they changed to Fireball after this show. The crowd didn't know Ted so after two songs, there wasn't much going on in the crowd. Ian told the crowd "you will know this one" and they went into Lazy. When the crowd didn't respond, Ian through up both arms as if to say "this is one of our big ones". Well Dressed Guitar was next and I really like this instrumental.
No One Came was awesome but, again, the crowd didn't know it. Roger then started into the bass line of Black Night and they surprised me by playing it. But, the crowd really didn't get going until Perfect Strangers was played. After that - Speed King (with a spectacular trade between Don and Steve), Smoke, Hush and Highway Star had the place rocking. I have seen other reviews that have suggested that Steve skip the riff raff before Smoke (which they dropped in Cincy) but I don't agree. The crowd was into this big time - especially when Steve played the solo from Stairway To Heaven. Total time: 75 minutes.