Dio Rising is Las Vegas’ premiere tribute to the life and music of Ronnie James Dio. We cover all aspects of Dio’s career, from the early days of Rainbow and Elf to the quintessential lineup of Black Sabbath, to the band simply known as Dio.Formed by four children of 1970s and 1980s classic metal who loved the Las Vegas metal and tribute scenes but noticed something important missing, the band began in October 2012.  The music of Ronnie James Dio, in its many forms, had a large and wide-reaching impact on every conceivable type of heavy metal over three generations, yet no one was playing this influential, popular, and most importantly, kick-ass music. That needed to change. No longer content to wait for the odd band to throw us a bone with “Rainbow in the Dark,” we felt the need to…well…stand up and shout!

It took over a year for all of the pieces to fall into place. The lineup of Dio Rising is not your ordinary group of Las Vegas musicians. We are composed of five experienced musicians of various backgrounds, some of whom had not performed live in years or even decades. 

Older, wiser, and armed with ever-understanding spouses, we dove headfirst back into the lifestyle in order to bring this music to the masses. Independently, we are an orchestra teacher who moonlights in the Las Vegas Philharmonic, an electrician who rarely played guitar outside his own (ridiculously gear-stocked) home, a multi-talented percussion powerhouse moonlighting in the rock world, and a Latin teacher who hadn’t picked up a mic in over 15 years. In 2019, we became a five-piece by adding a jazz-influenced multi-instrumentalist who also happens to be a school principal by day. Together, we bring you the best of Rainbow, Black Sabbath, and Dio. We are Dio Rising, a tribute to the master.

While the music of Ronnie James Dio was always an extremely important part of the history of heavy metal (Just try to find me a headbanger or metalhead who doesn’t agree!), the singer’s untimely passing in 2010 made this music even more immediately important. The master may be no longer with us, but, when it comes to the music, as he himself said, “The magic that we’ll feel is worth a lifetime.”