Comments on: Black Sabbath to announce reunion tour on 11-11-11

By: Timothy Hilf-Barr

Timothy Hilf-Barr — Sat, 12 Nov 2011 04:09:00 +0000

I saw Sabbath for the first time in the early 70′s…I saw Ozzy’s first tour with Randy Rhodes…saw Ronnie James Dio with Ritchie Blackmore’s Rainbow. For me, a Black Sabbath reunion can only ever be Tony, Geezer, Bill and Ozzy. Anything else just isn’t Black Sabbath.

By: Festus

Festus — Wed, 09 Nov 2011 21:41:00 +0000

I appreciate the video link. Ozzy perfectly models good heavy metal listening habits. RAWK!

By: huskerdont

huskerdont — Wed, 09 Nov 2011 13:19:00 +0000

Was lucky enough to see them with Dio a couple of times before the end. Ozzy is what Ozzy is, but I’d be way more interested in seeing them with a back-from-the-dead Dio.

By: TheMudshark

TheMudshark — Wed, 09 Nov 2011 09:28:00 +0000

I saw Black Sabbath in Vienna in 2005, the lineup including Ozzy, Iommi, Butler and Ward, and they were great. Ozzy was pretty much heaved onto the stage like an old coot, but as soon as the show began he started rocking like a bastard. The crowd was ecstatic, and it turned out to be one of my all time favourite concerts.

Set list was:
NIB
After Forever
War Pigs
Dirty Women
Fairies Wear Boots
Symptom of the Universe / Sweet Leaf / Electric Funeral
Iron Man
Into the Void
Black Sabbath
The Wizard
Sabbath Bloody Sabbath
Paranoid
Encore : Children of the Grave

Fucking amazing, if not overly original.

By: Jesseham

Jesseham — Wed, 09 Nov 2011 03:36:00 +0000

I saw them at Giant’s stadium for the second ozzfest back in the 90′s. I think they were missing one of the original lineup, but the rest were back and calling it a reunion tour (unlike ozzfest 1, which I think was just Ozzy.)

I thought they would all be old and play iron man and paranoid and be done, but they were actually really excellent. They didn’t just play the crap songs either – I don’t remember any specifics, but I don’t think they even played iron man.

That was nearly 20 years ago. Oh my god.

By: Shibi_SF

Shibi_SF — Wed, 09 Nov 2011 02:11:00 +0000

I also had a perfect 66 Mustang but I only had 6X9′s. You’re right — life was great. Amazingly, it keeps getting better — live it!

By: AirPillo

AirPillo — Wed, 09 Nov 2011 01:04:00 +0000

Are they going to be playing at the whiskey? That place is a death trap with more than 70 people inside and the stage is little more than a half-step against a corner. I can’t decide if it would be awesome or horrible to cram in there for the occasion and spend the whole time with less personal space than during the pat-down on the way in.

By: Donald Petersen

Donald Petersen — Wed, 09 Nov 2011 00:48:00 +0000

If they brought back Dio, they’d really be living up to their name.

By: oldtaku

oldtaku — Tue, 08 Nov 2011 23:16:00 +0000

Oh good lord. I love me some Black Sabbath, but let it die with some dignity already.

If you brought back Dio I’d be interested. And yes, I know.

By: GuyInMilwaukee

GuyInMilwaukee — Tue, 08 Nov 2011 22:19:00 +0000

Now that’s funny. Corduroy is what I will be wearing.

By: Mordicai

Mordicai — Tue, 08 Nov 2011 22:00:00 +0000

Hahaha oh good heavens, let it be so.

By: Guest

Guest — Tue, 08 Nov 2011 21:59:00 +0000

Why cover it? Tull is still on tour! http://www.j-tull.com/tourdates/index.html

By: dogden

dogden — Tue, 08 Nov 2011 21:51:00 +0000

Oh no! They're ruining Courdoroy Day!

By: Nicholas Tuzzio

Nicholas Tuzzio — Tue, 08 Nov 2011 21:51:00 +0000

In the mid-Naughts, I went to Ozzfest- a big heavy metal festival usually headlined by Ozzy- five times in four years. Black Sabbath was the headliner the first two of those years, and they were fantastic. Tony Iommi, Bill Ward, and Geezer Butler rock out just as well as I can imagine they ever did. Ozzy, unfortunately, hasn’t handled the years nearly as well. He did fine in the first two years- everyone was very into it, no one left those shows upset. The third year, Ozzy wasn’t there. The last year, Ozzy played a solo set, but it was pretty weak. His voice wasn’t doing too well, he left his guitar player Zakk Wylde to do one or two extended guitar solos to kill time, and it was generally overwhelming. I assumed that was the last time Ozzy was going to be playing in my neck of the woods.

By: Freddie Freelance

Freddie Freelance — Tue, 08 Nov 2011 21:51:00 +0000

Can’t be a Sabbath reunion if Dio’s still dead.

By: MrJM

MrJM — Tue, 08 Nov 2011 21:51:00 +0000

The dates is likely a nod to “Nigel Tufnel Day”

http://blogs.laweekly.com/westcoastsound/2011/05/spinal_tap_nigel_11.php

By: phisrow

phisrow — Tue, 08 Nov 2011 21:48:00 +0000

While I’m a big fan of their classic canon, I think that a cover of Jethro Tull’s “Too old to Rock and Roll: Too Young to Die.” might be in order.

By: Telecustard

Telecustard — Tue, 08 Nov 2011 21:45:00 +0000

I’m really surprised 1971 era LSD hasn’t made a comeback. There seems to be a precedent for it showing up at times when there is an official desire for confusion surrounding some important event. At the time of John Lennon’s assassination there were contemporary reports of very strong acid suddenly becoming available. I have also read interesting things regarding the intended use of Orange Sunshine to mess up and fracture the New Left.

By: Mordicai

Mordicai — Tue, 08 Nov 2011 21:45:00 +0000

They are 5-5-5 out of date!

By: Teller

Teller — Tue, 08 Nov 2011 21:44:00 +0000

That was a great BB moment when the pic of that geezer a few posts down was put up here. Fonny.

By: Donald Petersen

Donald Petersen — Tue, 08 Nov 2011 21:44:00 +0000

Now there’s a missed opportunity! Lotsa people have wanted the chance to buy their favorite rockstar a beer, but how often could you get a chance to buy the Ozzman a bottle of fragrance?

I’d recommend Elizabeth Arden’s Red Door.

By: baronkarza

baronkarza — Tue, 08 Nov 2011 21:43:00 +0000

I saw a Sabbath reunion tour about 12 years ago in San Jose, and except for whatever drug some guy next to us gave my friends (I, having to drive us, declined), it was a fairly boring show with fat slow Ozzy (not yet a reality TV joke) lumbering around the stage trying to entice the notoriously mellow Bay Area crowd to rock out harder and get more excited about the band’s 20-some year old standards. Poor old Oz was actually getting upset that we weren’t more excited to hear them roll out War Pigs one more time. The highlight of the show was when wind machines around the auditorium blew thousands of black rolling papers into the air, but with all the black dye nobody wanted to use them for anything, ya know? The Born Again tour I saw with Ian Gillian singing was much more exciting.

A few years later I saw Alice Cooper in SF and it was an amazing show; new songs, new props, new monsters. By contrast I’d say his show was about 75% new material, a much ballsier move even if the album he was pushing (Brutal Planet) was just okay, it was great to see an old pro not content to do a revue show resting on the laurels of bygone years. I’d see another Alice show any time, but the Sabbs, eh, been there done that!

By: scifijazznik

scifijazznik — Tue, 08 Nov 2011 21:40:00 +0000

True story– I was at Fred Segal in Santa Monica a few years back doing some hoity-toity Xmas shopping when I look up and there’s Ozzy Motherfuckin Osbourne standing five feet away from me. The young girl behind the counter was completely unphazed (or at least hid it well) and asked if he needed any help. The Prince of Darkness said “I’d like something so I smell nice when I get out of the bath.” He proceeded to smell and dismiss several fragrances. After a few minutes. I went and gathered up my head, which had been blown into a corner by the whole thing, and left, laughing all the way home.

By: mudpup

mudpup — Tue, 08 Nov 2011 21:35:00 +0000

And that why I installed Pioneer 7X9′s in my 66 Mustang.
Life was simple life was good.
And It’s amassing that I’m still alive.

By: gungan

gungan — Tue, 08 Nov 2011 21:24:00 +0000

Oh please!
I have been a Black Sabbath .. umm.. fan since the early eighties.
They were great back then and even Ozzy was great in the beginning.
Now he’s just some kind of comic relief.

If they really need the money, they should go for it.
But the time for bat-biting rockstars has passed – really!

Sharoooon!!

By: Donald Petersen

Donald Petersen — Tue, 08 Nov 2011 21:24:00 +0000

Oh, Tony… did you have to call it a reunion again? Just because there was a good-sized (and very welcome) stretch of Heaven and Hell stuff, which Sharon wouldn’t let you call Black Sabbath like the exact same lineup was called in 1982 and 1992?

Well, anyway. It’d be classy if they included a brief salute to the memory of Dio during the shows, like maybe a short instrumental interlude from “Children of the Sea” or “Sign of the Southern Cross” or something. But I suspect Sharon won’t let ‘em.