Dio Cancels European Dates

Dio has seemingly cancelled its previously announced European tour due to the recent illness of the band's frontman, legendary heavy metal vocalist Ronnie James Dio. An official announcement has yet to be made, but word has been circulating that the entire U.K. leg of the tour (which was set to start on November 21 in Glasgow) has been called off and several other dates in central Europe have been eliminated as well. It has been speculated that the remainder of the tour will follow suit.

Dio's European tour lineup had been set to include Whitesnake/ex-Dio guitarist Doug Aldrich. This was attributed to regular guitarist Craig Goldy having prior touring commitments with Budgie in Australia.

In June 2002, Dio released Killing the Dragon on limited-edition vinyl. Only 500 copies, all hand-numbered, were made available
.
In March of this year, The Very Best of Dio was certified gold by the RIAA (Recording Industry Association of America). This was for shipments in the U.S. which exceeded 500,000 copies. The album, which was originally released in October 2000, is the band's second collection of greatest hits and the first to be given a U.S. release.

The last CD release from Dio was Holy Diver Live, which featured the Holy Diver album in its entirety. The performance marked the first time the classic album had been recorded live and was performed in London in 2005. The track list includes songs from Ronnie James Dio's days with Black Sabbath ("Mob Rules," "Heaven and Hell," "Sign of the Southern Cross"), as well as those from the Rainbow era ("Man on the Silver Mountain," "Tarot Woman," "Long Live Rock 'N' Roll") and "We Rock" from his solo venture.