Jizzy Pearl, Skid & Jon E. Love are coming to Vegas for an amazing way to kick off 2013 with a free show next Saturday night at Vamp’d in Vegas.

I mention those three on word from Mike Povich (who is reviewing the show for ROA) but whether Joey Gold will be manning the set remains a question for me. Even though the last Wiki reference is over three years old and mentions Darren Housholder slinging axe for an ’07 British tour as well as 10 other members listed, none are drummers.

Still, the show poster leaves Joey Gold out of the picture, so we’ll see if it’s a total resurrection. Hope so. Those four guys know how to have fun!

Couldn’t find much for them online, Jizzy’s site had tour dates four years old. This UK ticketer is selling for a spring romp across the pond dubbed the Blackout Tour so it looks like Mike’s interview may contain some surprises for the fans.

Stay tuned to ROA for the latest!

But what follows now, for your viewing enjoyment and to see what you might expect this weekend, is a classic review previously published in City Heat, Seattle’s Music Magazine, in October 1990.

Follow the hot links in the story for more fun.

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Last time Love/Hate was in town [Seattle] they played Meeker’s Landing on a Tuesday night. Playing at no cost to the fan on a Z-Rock sponsored tour, they played after two local hopefuls and tore it out on the small stage.

At that time, Skid (Love/Hate’s bass player) was heard to comment:

“It’s just been a dream come true, it really has. You know, we spent our whole life fantasizing about what it would be like to be traveling around the country in a big rock and roll tour bus, and it’s just exceeded all of our expectations.”

Three months later they returned to play the Para­mount (on a Tuesday night no less) sandwiched between headliner Dio and new metal contenders Cold Sweat.

They grabbed the focus of the audience immediately with their die-hard Z-Rocker and title track from their gold debut, Blackout In The Red Room, then held it captive throughout the set (which had twenty or so minutes trimmed since last time, leaving Wasted in America the only new song remaining on this evening’s set list).

We tasted the harder side with the likes of Tumbleweed, Fuel To Run, Rock Queen, and One More Round, then the lighter and nearly (in)sensitive She’s An Angel (oh, Yeah, Yeah, Yeah, Yeah, Yeah). They ended the show with a strobe-lit extrava­ganza, Why Do You Think They Call It Dope? (their current MTV rotator).

Love/Hate will be back in the Emerald City soon, this time taking another step up playing the Coliseum with AC/DC. Heck, they may even move here they like it so much. I asked the man out front, Jizzy Pearl, about his favorite tour stops;

“Well I like it up here if it wouldn’t fuckin’ rain so much! I dig the Oregon/Washington vibe of the greenery and just the cleanliness. L.A.’s a bit dirty sometimes.”

Yes, Jizzo, we understandably echo your sentiments.

Now on to the headliner, Dio! Unfortunately, his diminutive head was about all I saw of Ronnie James Dio.

From the moment the lights dimmed and the screen on stage lit up, the packed Para­mount crowd was scrambling for higher ground as though a flood had come coursing through the building. They maintained the arm rests as a floor thru the entire set and for those less emphatic or more polite; tough shit!

Anyway, the screen kicked it off with a weird sequence culminat­ing in a suited woman reading a list of crimes to which Ronnie James (obviously) plead guilty. They then took off with Wild One from his new album.

The theatrical staging was that of a carcass rotting in a post nuclear wasteland. Situated amongst the weathered ribs were two stories of power. Keys and skins held ground upstairs with all chords (vocal and fretted) down under.

Although there were a lot of notable tunes missing, he still gave us a sizeable cross section of his career from Rainbow through Black Sabbath up to his solo work. He journeyed thru the ancient Man On the Silver Mountain to the merely old Children Of The Sea and Heaven And Hell up to the spanking newness of the title track and Hey Angel from his just-released Lock Up The Wolves LP. Also in there were heavy favorites Last In Line, Stand Up And Shout as well as Long Live Rock And Roll.

Being the metallic traditionalist he is, we can forgive his decision for the obligatory extended solos of his band. Especially since the keyboard piece was so nifty. Start­ing upstairs the ivory man [Jens Johansson] ran down to meet another keyboard that had descended from the ceiling. He continued his solo as it swayed to and fro. Then on the last resonating note it ascended back to the rafters where it erupted into a shower of sparks.

In true Dio fashion, no theatrical expense was spared thus the night was filled with fires, flash pots and explosions.

They wound it down with this Holy Diver’s most notable, etched into the collective consciousness of the initial MTV generation, Rain­bow In The Dark.

After the show, our publisher asked Ronnie his feelings toward our fair city.

“The crowds in Seattle are always the best,” he exclaimed, “and to­night’s was exceptional! The security thugs here, however, are acting like the Gestapo. They were really pummeling some of those kids.”

This last bit, unfortunately, isn’t really news to Paramount show veterans. But, all told, it still was one of the best Tuesday nights I’ve had in a long time (three months, at least)!

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R.I.P. Ronnie.

If you’re going to be in Las Vegas this weekend, don’t miss the best deal of this new year! Fah-REE on Saturday night at Vamp’d on West Sahara.

Here, have a half priced drink to get ya started, just click the vid. It’s Happy Hour!