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OK, it's almost a week ago, but anyway: Here's a brief report of the MOTORHEAD/BLACK SABBATH concert in Hampton Beach, NH, 07/14/95. The venue, the Ballroom Casino, had a capacity of about 2500 people, and I estimate that about 1500 people were there (just a guess, I might be wrong by far). I won't bother to report anything about the opening act ("We are TIAMAT from Stockholm, Sweden") because I never heard of them prior to the concert and they didn't impress me one bit either. At 9.20pm Lemmy and friends took the stage. "Is anybody here who doesn't know us? We are MOTORHEAD! And we're gonna kick your asses!" Lemmy says it and proves it immediately with playing
MOTORHEAD ended at 10.20pm. After the following break the lights went off again at 10.50pm and the BLACK SABBATH show started with an (at least to me) unfamiliar intro. It sounded pretty scary, requiem-like, and would sure be a hell of a soundtrack for any horror movie! I remember that they used a similar intro on the TYR-tour, but I cannot confirm that it was actually the same. The guys entered the stage and started off with
SABBATH ended at 12.35am. I don't need to comment on the older songs, most of you have heard them often enough live. As to the new songs: "Get a Grip" is probably my least favourite from the new album and it was pretty much the same in the concert. Simply boring. I consider "Rusty Angels" one of the better songs of "Forbidden" and it added quite nicely to the show. But what a surprise about "Can't get close enough": This one didn't impress me at all on the album, but what a difference live!. It sounded tight and powerful! I could well imagine hearing this one on future tours. During most of the set I was in front row, but pretty far to the left, right in front of the left speakers. I couldn't see Powell and Nicholls at all, and Murray only occasionally when he moved a little bit towards the center of the stage. But I had clear sight on both Tonies all the time. The fact that I was seated right in front of the left speakers is probably responsible that I experienced a pretty bad sound quality during most of the SABBATH show. The drums and the bass covered Iommis guitar most of the time. Only when Powell and Murray took a break for an Iommi solo or an intro his guitar was clear to hear. And hell, he played great! It's a shame I could hardly hear him during most of the show. I think that Martin did a good job overall, in singing and in commenting on the songs, although he should try to sing more himself and less make the crowd do the singing, this just never works out to be too great ("especially in "Get a Grip" and in "Heaven and Hell"). Maybe again due to my unfortunate seating before the left speakers Martin's vocals sounded in times very distorted. I don't think that can be blamed on him, I more had the feeling that the whole sound set was not properly adjusted. But then again, MOTORHEAD sounded great. Maybe they just played loud enough... Cozy Powell did a fine job too. Nothing especially great, no solo, but some good solid drum work. About the same applies for Murray, he's just no Geezer Butler. As to the harmonica intro of "The Wizard": Yes, I think Tony Martin does play it himself. It sounded very similar to the original, but it wasn't exactly the same. During "When Death calls", when it came to singing the chorus, Martin stopped singing and pointed at Nicholls who sang these three words of the chorus ("When Death calls") in a very high-pitched voice. Boy, he sounds female! Nicholls was introduced by Martin with the words: "This man has been in the band for 16 years. 16 fucking years!" Tony Iommi was in great mood all the time, smiling and laughing. He also walked a lot around the stage. Not only back and forth as he always did, but also from the right to the left. At the encore, when the security finally unleashed us from our seats I managed to come more to the center and saw the whole stage. No particular stage set, no gravestones like somebody reported before. I saw that Nicholls played some additional guitar during "Paranoid". I don't know if he added more earlier (except for his keyboard job and the "When Death calls" vocals), because I couldn't see him prior to the encore. At the end Iommi threw a handfull of plectrums to the crowd but I was once more unlucky and couldn't catch one. And Tony Martin promised:" BLACK SABBATH will be back!" Now, that's a relief! After leaving the Casino I ran into Lemmy who walked around in shorts (it was still more than 90 degrees!) and shook a few hands. All in all a very good concert with two terrific bands, although I think last year's concerts of the "Cross Purposes" tour were even better. Thanks for reading. Tom |