2 DVDs Audience Canon ZR60 Master Canon ZR60 (SD - widescreen)>.avi (lossless - no reencoding)>editing in Premiere to synch with audio> VIDEO TS (using Sony Vegas)>DVD-R>VIDEO_TS (extracted losslessly using DVDShrink) NTSC 16:9 114 mins A- A A
Disc 1 (53:47): 01 Intro 02 After All (The Dead) 03 The Mob Rules 04 Children Of The Sea 05 Lady Evil 06 Ear in the Wall 07 I 08 The Sign of the Southern Cross 09 Voodoo
Disc two (59:49): 10 The Devil Cried 11 Computer God 12 Falling Off The Edge of the World 13 Shadow of the Wind 14 Die Young 15 Heaven and Hell (including jam) 16 Neon Knights
Note from DVD txt:
It must've been late 2006 that I had heard that Ronnie James Dio was reuniting with Tony Iommi to record new songs for the 'Dio Years' compilation. Shortly thereafter, they announced that they would be doing a brief tour to support these new songs, all along, making no promises that a future existed for this project. Upon hearing that this tour would open in Vancouver, in March of 2007, I made the joke to my wife that we should take a vacation there to see the opening night of the tour - much to my surprise, she thought it was a great idea and that Vancouver would be a wonderful place to see.
We scheduled the time off from work and made plans to take the vacation - when tickets went on sale, I dutifully bought tick- ets. Before we knew it, the time arrived and we were in Vancouver. My son would have his eleventh birthday while we were there, and the concert would occur right in the middle of our stay. I had mentioned to him and my wife that I had read that Dio was very fan friendly, and would meet with anyone that waited for him after a show; my son immediately latched onto this idea and, before long, a goal of the trip for me was to get a photo of my boy with Ronnie.
The show was, surprisingly, not completely sold out - there were many open seats in the upper bowls of the arena, allowing us to move to a more central location: we ended up in my preferred place to film, dead center, all the way in the back. We stood in line for merch while Down performed, but, were settled by the time Megadeth came on - I noted to my family that I was surprised that I recognized much of their setlist (though, I did not film them). When '5150' started, I privately pre- dicted that they would open with 'The Mob Rules,' so, was somewhat startled when the opening guitar strains of 'After All (The Dead)' began the show (in the video, you can kind of tell that I was anticipating 'Mob' by where I have the camera aimed).
This was one of the greatest concerts I've ever attended - seeing the band that I had first heard as a 13 year old boy myself, now sharing the experience with my 11 year old son and my open minded wife (I've often thought 'how many wives would agree that an ideal vacation would be traveling to see a hard rock / heavy metal band's first concert of a tour? - in Canada, in March?) on the first night of what was initially planned as a limited tour. The setlist was pretty much all that I could've hoped for, though, at the time, I had hoped to hear 'Time Machine,' which I would have to wait to see them play live. I was disappointed that night not to get 'Lonely is the Word,' which I heard was something they were going to play - I later heard that they bump- ed up against the curfew and dropped it at the last second. This was the longest of the four H&H shows that we saw, and, in retrospect, there was nothing to be disappointed about - it's a great, all encompassing set, with songs that I never in a million years thought I would ever get to see played live. Reflecting on that night, years later, I would tell you that it was like a dream - seeing one of my favorite bands, playing their first concert together in 15 years, in a completely different country, with my family! When the final strains of 'Neon Knights' filled the air, and the band was gracing the center stage, saying their 'good nights,' my son asked 'where do we go to meet Ronnie James Dio?'
So, we wandered out and stood by the big trucks. There was a small group of people gathered around one set of busses, which security had taped off. After about 15 minutes, we watched as Geezer Butler and Tony Iommi walked by, waved 'hello' without stopping, got on the bus and it immediately drove off. We were then directed to another set of buses, where security help- fully advised 'no promises, but, this is where they'll come out.'
We waited about three hours, between two huge buses that idled their engines the entire time! I hate to think how many fumes we inhaled waiting there with the other 15 or so fans, but, we had a good time, talking with everyone else about the concert, music in general and Black Sabbath in particular. My son was excited and was running around with a couple of other teenage kids that were there. At around 1:00 AM (the show ended about 10:00 PM), Vinny Appice came out, signed a few items and abruptly announced 'ok, I'm out' before disappearing onto one of the waiting buses. A few minutes later, Scott Warren came out, though, I'm pretty sure I was the only person there who realized who he was - I said 'hello,' told a few of the people that were standing there 'this is the guy that plays keyboards...behind the curtain,' which prompted them to take pictures and get an autograph. Then, at close to 1:30, Ronnie walked out and approached the group.
Everybody immediately circled him, sort of closing my wife, my son and I out of the way. My son looked at me sort of worriedly, but, I knew it wouldn't be a problem - I knew that Dio would want to meet my boy on what was now officially his birthday (March 12). So, I took the camera from my wife and kind of squeezed myself and my son into the circle, where I gently nudged my son toward Ronnie, saying 'Ronnie, may I get a picture of you with my son?' to which he immediately embraced my son, saying 'yes, of course!' Ronnie spoke a few sweet words to Kyle, tussled his hair, then went on with signing autographs for the others waiting. Mission accomplished.
That photo - of my son and Dio - is framed in my home office, and I'm looking at it now as I type this. My now 18 year old son has his own copy framed, sitting on his television in his room. Fortunately, it wouldn't be the last photo we would take with the legendary singer.
The video has previously been shared in the first version that I prepared - as noted by some, the image was "scrunched" because I filmed it in 16x9 format, but, did not, at the time, have software that preserved the widescreen. I've since obtained Sony Vegas, which allowed me to do so; I also synched the video to the 'Better Late Than Never' audio recording that was recorded and shared later in 2007 on dimeadozen by Cymbaline69 (mastered by Digital Dream) - thanks for that, as I find it to be an excellent audio. There is, at least, one other video of this concert - filmed by 'Vern,' shot from the side. I've heard there's another video, shot from the floor, but, have not seen that footage.
Also, as always, my wife assisted in the filming, taking the camera when I would need a break and otherwise helping with watching for security and making my life a joy - this video would most certainly not exist if not for her. Too, my son was always an enthusiastic helper when I was filming - when he got older, he, too, would help film songs and otherwise help make the capture a success. As you would guess, he is my pride and joy - I'm a very fortunate person.
Disclaimers: this is not intended for sale or profit; this has been preserved for fans by a huge fan. Please enjoy and share it freely. Any comments upon viewing welcome. Namaste.
