DEE SNIDER Says DIO 'Wouldn't Move Any Of Their Equipment' When TWISTED SISTER Opened For Them In 1984

In a new interview with Zoran Theodorovic of MetalgodZradiO, Dee Snider looked back on TWISTED SISTER's 1984 tour with IRON MAIDEN. "That's when tours were tours and men were men," the singer said. "There was no 'hair metal' — it was just 'metal.' In '84, when we toured with MAIDEN, it had not been branded 'hair metal.' So MÖTLEY CRÜE toured with Ozzy [Osbourne]. And that tour [with MAIDEN] was one of the great tours. Five nights sold out at the Long Beach Arena. We were the opening band, and it was packed. When we hit the stage, it was packed. Usually, the opening band, people show up late. No — everybody was there to see TWISTED; they were there to see MAIDEN."

According to Snider, TWISTED SISTER's 1984 tour with DIO was a far different experience. "DIO — and I love DIO and I love Ronnie [James Dio] — but when we toured with DIO, they wouldn't move any of their equipment, so we were forced onto the lip of the stage in front of the lights so you couldn't see us," he said. "We got no spotlights. They reduced the P.A. That's the way a lot of those old bands did it."

In 2016, TWISTED SISTER embarked on one final trek, titled "Forty And Fuck It", in celebration of its 40th anniversary. These shows featured the band's "core lineup" of Snider, guitarist Jay Jay French, guitarist Eddie Ojeda and bassist Mark Mendoza, along with drummer Mike Portnoy. The band's last-ever concert took place in November of that year — 20 months after the passing of TWISTED's longtime drummer A.J. Pero.

TWISTED SISTER's original run ended in the late '80s. After more than a decade, the band publicly reunited in November 2001 to top the bill of New York Steel, a hard-rock benefit concert to raise money for the New York Police And Fire Widows' And Children's Benefit Fund.

The surviving members of the classic lineup of TWISTED SISTER — Snider, French, Ojeda and Mendoza — reunited virtually on March 20 for a special episode of Mendoza's Internet TV show "22 Now". The hour-and-a-half-long program was a tribute to Pero, who died exactly six years earlier at the age of 55 while on tour with the band ADRENALINE MOB.

Prior to this past March's virtual reunion, the four surviving members of TWISTED SISTER reunited for two days and nights in November 2019 to celebrate the 35th anniversary of the band's classic album "Stay Hungry".