Radio City Music Hall - Live
(Eagle Vision)
158:19min
This video was already released on DVD in Europe via SPV back in 2007, but now it gets re-released (on DVD and for the first time also on Blu-Ray) via Eagle Vision with a slightly changed front cover and additional bonus material. What you’re about to see is the last gig on the HEAVEN & HELL tour, which sold out in less than an hour and which was the first US show in 15 years of the classic line-up (Ronnie James Dio – vocals, Tony Iommi – guitars, Geezer Butler – bass and Vinnie Appice – drums). As the title already reveals, the almost 2 hours long show was recorded at the famous Radio City Music Hall in New York City on March 30, 2007 and the setlist is identically to the audio CD of the same name. It exclusively features material from the BLACK SABBATH Dio era ("Mob Rules", "Heaven And Hell" and "Dehumanizer") plus 2 (at the time) new songs off the compilation album "The Dio Years" (‘The Devil Cried’, ‘Shadow Of The Wind’), as well as a short drum solo (before ‘Computer God’) and a guitar solo (before ‘Die Young’). The overall recording quality is absolutely perfect, the location and stage set really look impressive and after having played the same old SABBATH standards for many years, the band obviously enjoyed performing the songs from this era tremendously again. Even though you notice Dio’s age more than ever already (he was 64 at the time!), his performance was as stunning as usual and his interacting with the crowd as friendly as always. As we all know, he unfortunately passed away on May 16, 2010 because of stomach cancer, so this is probably his last official performance captured on DVD apart from "Neon Nights: 30 Years Of Heaven & Hell". Oh well, at least this great line-up still managed to record another studio album ("The Devil You Know") in 2009… Since I’ve never seen the original SPV release of "Radio City Music Hall – Live", I’m not sure which additional bonus feature(s) got added, but here’s a list of what’s on offer on this re-release: "Road Movie" (behind the scenes footage of the tour with short interviews with band members and crew; playing time: 19:13min), "Hail The God Of Metal" (some more behind the scenes interviews; playing time: 5:22min), "Meet The Mob" (a feature on BLACK SABBATH / HEAVEN & HELL fans; playing time: 3:12min), "Radio City" (interesting background information about the famous location where the show took place; playing time: 4:06min) and "The Wisdom Of Dio" (a collection of interview outtakes with Ronnie James Dio; playing time: 11:05min). An additional little booklet that features some liner notes from Ronnie, Tony and Geezer sums up this excellent release in a perfect way which I can highly recommend to every BLACK SABBATH, HEAVEN & HELL or DIO fan! Rest in peace, Ronnie! You will be missed! For all further information check out www.facebook.com/heavenandhell, www.eagle-rock.com
Frank Stöver