hennemusic: VIDEO: Black Sabbath rock Birmingham

Sunday, May 20, 2012

VIDEO: Black Sabbath rock Birmingham

Black Sabbath rocked their hometown of Birmingham Saturday night.

The event marked the first time the band had played the city in more than a dozen years, and acted as a warmup show to the group’s upcoming headline appearance at Download next month.

Original Sabbath members Ozzy Osbourne, Tony Iommi and Geezer Butler were joined by Ozzy’s drummer Tommy Clufetos for the show as Bill Ward released a statement this past week declining to participate in the reunion based on a current contract offer.

Rolling Stone reports much of the audience’s focus was on guitarist Iommi, still receiving treatment for lymphoma, with the first emotional chant of "Tony! Tony! Tony!" going up immediately after opening song, "Into the Void." Later, Osbourne introduced him as the "Iron Man" before the song of the same name, and a clearly-moved Iommi remained an immutable presence throughout: black-clad, smiling and infusing the most famous riffs in heavy metal history with a vitality to thrill both the veteran Sabbath fans in the 3,000-strong audience, and those born decades after they were first committed to vinyl.

Those riffs were forged just down the road here in Birmingham and Osbourne, in particular, was clearly delighted to be back on stage in his hometown. "People say I sound like a Yank now," he said before "War Pigs" caused the first of many mass sing-alongs, "but I’m from England and fucking proud of it."

"Get home safely," said Ozzy at the end of the show, "before I come back and kick your butts again."

Black Sabbath
O2 Academy – Birmingham, UK – May 19, 2012

01 – Into The Void
02 – Under The Sun
03 – Snowblind
04 – War Pigs
05 – Wheels Of Confusion
06 – Electric Funeral
07 – Black Sabbath
08 – The Wizard
09 – Behind The Wall Of Sleep
10 – N.I.B.
11 – Fairies Wear Boots
12 – Tomorrow’s Dream
13 – Sweet Leaf
14 – Sympton Of The Universe (intro)
15 – Iron Man
16 – Dirty Women
17 – Children Of The Grave
18 – Sabbath Bloody Sabbath (intro)
19 – Paranoid.