MAJESTIC METAL

Perhaps Dio’s blowout Saturday at the Forum should have been called “Visual Aid.” The show wasn’t a benefit concert, but the performance certainly extended the quintet’s reputation as heavy metal’s answer to Disneyland. It offered everything from a crystal ball displaying images and laser effects to a fire-breathing dragon towering over the castle-like stage set.

Dio complemented this visual extravaganza with a potent set of well-played, majestic metal. And all this was presided over by the band’s namesake, Ronnie James Dio, a diminutive singer with some of the most powerful pipes in rock. How a guy that small achieves a vocal sound that big remains one of rock’s amazing stories.

Local band Rough Cutt, a Dio protege, opened with a thoroughly unexceptional 45-minute set.