Text by: Marcelo Gomes
It was one of those nights that no classic heavy metal fan will soon forget. After all, among us was a member who was part of the royalty of world heavy metal. The legendary drummer Vinny Appice paid a beautiful tribute to two iconic bands, Black Sabbath and Dio. The atmosphere was pure nostalgia, and Café Piu Piu in São Paulo was packed with devotees ready to relive the glory days of metal.
Spektra vocalist BJ and Jeff Scott Soto , surprising everyone as their participation hadn't been publicized. Armed with his 12-string guitar, he presented unplugged versions of world rock classics. To start, "Is This Love" by Whitesnake followed by "This Time Around" by Deep Purple in a stupendous interpretation, reminiscent of the golden age when Glenn Hughes was part of the band. The performance continued energetically with "Listen To The Music" by The Doobie Brothers , two Journey , "Separate Ways" and "Don't Stop Believing," and he also took the opportunity to promote his own Spektra song, "Overload." The show was good, BJ is a fantastic vocalist, the problem was the duration, that is, just over an hour and it was already past 10 pm on a Wednesday.
The time had come, a true dream team with Nando Fernandes from Sinistra on vocals, Edu Ardanuy also from Sinistra on guitar and Fernando Giovanetti from Madgator on bass took the stage to deliver true anthems of world metal. Due to technical problems with the bass pedal, the performance took almost 10 minutes to begin until Edu Ardanuy (guitar) started fingerpicking the melodies of "Heaven and Hell" so that Nando could take over and call Vinny Appice . From the fingerpicked part they went to the main riff of the song and immediately followed with "Turn Up The Night" followed by "Mob Rules" and "Children Of The Sea", in a breathtaking sequence, to say the least.
The legendary drummer steps to the microphone to announce “The Last In Line,” the performance lives up to the dream team title, Nando interprets Dio like no one else while Edu and Fernando do their homework in an exemplary manner. It was no different with the spectacular “The Sign Of The Southern Cross.” When they play “Computer God,” once again Fernando's bass starts to malfunction, visibly irritating him. And it happened again in “Voodoo,” they even stopped the song in the middle and Nando suggests to Fernando that he plug the bass directly into the amplifier without the pedalboard. Problem solved!
From then on, the show went smoothly and there was no shortage of classics. Among them were "Stand Up And Shout," "Holy Diver," "Neon Knights," and even "War Pigs" from the Ozzy era, which drove the fans wild. For those who don't know, Vinny was part of Black Sabbath in 1998 when Bill Ward fell ill.
They closed this part with the epic "Heaven And Hell," complete with devoutly sung choruses from the packed crowd. The encore featured three Dio classics, "Caught In The Middle," "We Rock," and "Rainbow In The Dark," bringing this excellent performance to an extraordinary close.
For two hours, the audience was transported to a magical era of music, and Vinny skillfully blended the repertoire of both bands. At the peak of his 66 years, the legendary drummer demonstrated passion and vigor in this journey through heavy music, while the band faithfully recreated these anthems that marked the history of world heavy music, leaving no doubt that even after so many decades, the music of Black Sabbath and Dio continues to inspire and captivate fans.
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