“DIIIIIOOOOO!”
Minutes before the Ronnie James Dio-fronted iteration of Black Sabbath hit the stage at Radio City Music Hall in New York on Friday, an announcement came over the PA. “Tickets are on sale now for Dora The Explorer and Thomas The Tank Engine,” the friendly female voice boomed. It went on to say something about Harry Connick, Jr. but the crowd of aging metal-heads wasn’t having it — particularly the guy in front of me wearing the “It Isn’t Going To Suck Itself” t-shirt. “SAAAABAAAAATH!” came the pained yells. One forty-something fan held his cane high in the air, as if asking for Dio to heal him. His other hand was clenched into the Dio-patented devil sign: “DIIIIIOOOOO!” When the band finally burst onto the stage — which was decorated to look like an abandoned grave yard — and burst into the 1992 obscurity “After All (the Dead),” it was as if Ozzy-era Sabbath had never happened.