The trans-oceanic assemblage of hard-rock and metal veterans Deep Purple, the Scorpions and Dio at Riverbend Wednesday night had little in common other than “rock survivor” status.

        Granted, there's the Ritchie Blackmore factor. Mr. Blackmore was a founding member of Deep Purple and was later a bandmate of Dio namesake/singer Ronnie James Dio in the group Rainbow, but that's all history now.

        Deep Purple, the '70s English hard-rock stars, headlined. At the bottom of the bill was Dio, lead by the American-born metal icon who once replaced Ozzy Osbourne in Black Sabbath and whose own music would be best described as medieval rock. Squeezed into the middle of the lineup were the Scorpions, the German metal band who scored a string of '80s hits with rockers and ballads sung in broken English.

        Despite the random feel of the package, it went over well with the crowd, which filled about half the pavilion and a third of the lawn. The harder-rocking Dio and the Scorps were especially well-received. Deep Purple's set was more musical and noodling than those of the first two acts, making them an anticlimactic headliner. The opposite occured last year during the band's Riverbend appearance, when they preceded Lynyrd Skynyrd and came off as the harder-edged of the two bands.

        Their set was fairly similar to last year's, comprising well-known songs like “Hush,” “Highway Star,” “Woman from Tokyo,” “Perfect Strangers,” and “Ted the Mechanic.” There were also a couple instrumentals, including an unrecorded one singer Ian Gillan called “Well Dressed Guitar,” featuring the virtuoso playing of guitarist Steve Morse.

        Dio played a couple of tunes from their new album Killing the Dragon, which came out last month, including the title track and “Rock & Roll,” not to be confused with Rainbow's “Long Live Rock & Roll,” which Dio also played.

        The Scorpions did all their hits, from “Rock You Like a Hurricane” on down through “Tease Me, Please Me” with singer Klaus Meine's endearing German accent still intact.

        These guys should be booked to play at the next Oktoberfest-Zinzinnati. Who needs kazoos and chicken dances when you could have Mr. Meine whistling the chorus to “Wind of Change?”

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About the race
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KNIPPENBERG: Knip's Eye View
'Bach & Beyond' superb
Rock survivors haul out the hits at Riverbend
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