HEAVEN & HELL Members Perform Tribute To RONNIE JAMES DIO At U.K.'s HIGH VOLTAGE Festival

Surviving HEAVEN & HELL members Tony Iommi, Geezer Butler and Vinny Appice played a very special tribute to their fallen bandmate, Ronnie James Dio, earlier tonight (Saturday, July 24) at this year's High Voltage festival at Victoria Park in London, England. The musicians were joined by legendary former DEEP PURPLE and BLACK SABBATH man Glenn Hughes and Norwegian vocalist Jorn Lande, who sings for power metallers MASTERPLAN and has just released his own tribute to Ronnie.

According to Classic Rock magazine, Butler, Iommi and Appice "sen[t] shivers down the spine, as they deliver[ed] the ultimate tribute to the man who's not there.

"It has to be said that singers Jorn Lande and Glenn Hughes [did] a stunning job, not only reminding us all of the tragic loss — and there [were] some truly tearful moments — but also underlining the way Dio's legacy has united us all. And when [Ronnie's wife/manager] Wendy Dio [came] on to read out a message out the cancer charity Stand Up And Shout [see video below], there [were] tears in almost every eye.

"Mind you, HEAVEN & HELL also offer[ed] the day's most surreal moment, when Phil Anselmo [DOWN, PANTERA] dashe[d] on during the encore of 'Neon Knights' and snatche[d] the microphone from an aghast Hughes [see photo and video below]."

The setlist was as follows (vocalist for each track listed in parenthesis):

01. The Mob Rules (Jorn Lande)
02. I (Jorn Lande)
03. Country Girl (Glenn Hughes)
04. Children Of The Sea (Glenn Hughes)
05. Turn Up The Night (Jorn Lande)
06. Voodoo (Jorn Lande)
07. Bible Black (Glenn Hughes)
08. Falling Off The Edge Of The World (Glenn Hughes)
09. Die Young (Jorn Lande)
10. Heaven And Hell (Jorn Lande, Glenn Hughes)
11. Neon Knights (Jorn Lande, Glenn Hughes, Philip Anselmo)

Check out a professional photo gallery from Express & Star.

More photos:

* Photo#1
* Photo#2
* Photo#3

Additional pictures can be viewed in the Yfrog player/slideshow below.

Fan-filmed video footage can be viewed below.

Proceeds from this performance will go to the Ronnie James Dio "Stand Up And Shout" Cancer Fund.

In a recent interview, Iommi stated about today's concert, "This will be the first and only tribute we're doing to Ronnie. Not that that's wrong, but we feel that it would be really nice to do this for him. And he'd really like that, I know he would.

"Glenn Hughes has also been a part of the family for many years — he was a really good friend of Ronnie's; they were very close, and he was very close with us — so we think it would be apt to use Glenn. And Glenn's a great vocalist. And Jorn Lande, of course — I don't know if you're familiar with him, but he's also a very big fan of Ronnie's and a great singer.

"We want the best singers that [are] gonna sing and produce as close as what Ronnie would. We wanna do it for the fans, because it was sort of a sudden exit, really, because we were supposed to have been doing a tour.

"I was talking to Ronnie [a few] weeks ago, and he said, 'I've gotta have this new chemo, but I think it's working.' And that was the real big shock of it, because within a week of that, he had passed away. So it was a big shock for all of us, because we built ourselves up to do it and, of course, we didn't expect to lose...

"Ronnie was always a person you thought would always be there — very strong, great within the band; we had a great relationship. [He was] a fantastic person, [and he] loved his fans. And that's why we wanna do this show, because we owe it to the fans to do this show.

"We're not cashing in — it's all for charity. It all goes to charity. We just wanna do it for him and the fans. I know Ronnie would be behind us in whatever we do — he's that sort of person. And he would love for his music to be played. That's what he lived for — he lived for his fans and his music and his friends. It's a closure for us as well. Unfortunately, it's a shame it's not with him, but... that's it."