I'm curious rather to whether or not you think Dio is scared of touring the USA. I see most tour dates are on my side of the pond wich is great. But you old chaps in the us must be a bit miffed. Considering he's from there.
I wouldn't be one bit surprised if they say, well sales overseas are going well. Well yeah they sure are. Thats because he plays here. They can't be that stupid can they be?
So why does RJD dislike the USA so much? Other than H & H tour. how often does he play on his side of the pond?
I think Dio does best in the US these days when he can get on a package tour. When he went out with Iron Maiden a few summers ago that seemed to work well for him.
But it is obvious too that the new H&H record and the rumored tour with Judas Priest are his top priority right now. There likely isn't the time to do a proper US tour around his other committments. The US is a large market and their are many cities that Ronnie plays when he does a regular solo tour.
Ronnie still wants to keep his solo band viable and by doing a mini tour outside the US accomplishes that.
And the reality of Ronnie's popularity, and metal from the 80s in general in the US, doesn't allow Ronnie to play very large venues on his own. He is known mostly by the general public in the US, if at all, as the guy who replaced Ozzy in Sabbath, the guy who was on that South Park episode, the guy in the Tenacious D movie or the guy who sang Rainbow in the Dark.
It is likely that once the next round of H&H is completed after the new record is released and the tour for it is completed we will see his full attention put back on his solo band and the completion of his Magica concept.
