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THE BAND
- Ozzy Osbourne - Vocals
- Tony Iommi - Guitar
- Geezer Butler - Bass
- Bill Ward - Drums
- Geoff Nicholls - Keyboards
CONCERT PHOTOS
None available - if you have any, let me know.
TOUR REVIEWS & REMARKS
From: "Aaron Bookvich"
<vittala23@hotmail.com>
Subject: Black Sabbath in Detroit Feb 14th
Date: Mon, 15 Feb 1999 13:08:29 PST
Hello all,
My dream came true, I saw Sabbath w/ Ozzy at the Palace on Feb. 14th and they were great.
The set list was the same as the rest of the tour but was real tight. All the songs panned
well but they lost most people with Dirty Woman although I thought they played it great.
The highlight of the night would have to be when they did Black Sabbath. Over all it was
one of the best shows I ever saw. One funny thing about the show was the Deftones didnt
play. Instead Pantera came on an said the Deftones tour bus with all the gear had been
stolen the night before. Also, after Sabbath was done Ozzy mentioned that they would see
everyone next time around or something like that so... Who knows what is in the future?
-Vittala
From: EGroesbeck@aol.com
Date: Mon, 15 Feb 1999 16:51:15 EST
Subject: Black Sabbath 2-14-99 @ The Palace of Auburn Hills, MI
Hello,
I thought I'd take a few minutes to review the above show... Needless to say myself and my
two buddies were pumped up for this concert. We are all old time Sabbath fans having first
seen them in 1976 on the Technical Ecstasty tour and last at the Ozz Fest 1997. Well, we
all agree after last night that the band is better then ever!!
The opening act, the Deftones, were cancelled as apparently all their equipment was stolen
the night before in Grand Rapids. No loss to us as I can't think of even one song I know
of theirs. However, I do feel bad about their loss. Pantera was up next and the three of
us HATED them. They have absolutely no musical talent or stage presence. The heavy metal
kids in attendance, however, seemed to disagree with us as they were getting down and
dirty in the mosh pit in front of the stage. We walked out after the third song and went
up to the concourse to people watch. As Pantera continued to play more and more people our
age (33-40) joined us, so we weren't totally alone in not likeing them.
After what seemed like an eternity, Pantera finished it's set at 9:00pm, so we grabbed
some beverages and took our seats again. At 9:25pm the lights dimmed and the screen above
the stage presented us with a 5 minute montage of clips from the history of this fabled
band. As the smoke filled the stage, the distinctive siren from Warpigs filled the air and
then the legends were on stage!! The audience exploded into a deafening roar. The moment
we had anticipated for so long was upon us. The band was definately "on" this
night. They played with a furry and passion that is rarely seen in concert halls today.
Not only was the muscianship incredible, but Ozzy's voice was great! No sign of the throat
problems he has been experiencing on this tour! They performed essentially the same set as
on the Reunion cd with the exception of Sabra Cadabra and Sabbath Bloody Sabbath. They
did, however, perform After Forever which is one of my personal favorites!
All three muscians were simply awsome! Tony of course has only improved over the years and
that is incredible as he has always been a great player. His solos were tight and to the
point! Geezer was just wailin on his bass. He is a MONSTER player. Unbelievable!!! And
Bill Ward is a walking, talking, drumming testimony to how a person can recover from a
heart attack. He didn't miss a beat all night. The American Heart Association should use
him in commercials!!
Their stage presence is better then any band today! The use of special effects was used
sparingly and to great effect, especially during their namesake song, Black Sabbath. Ozzy
was his usual self. He stalked the stage like a caged animal urging the audience to get,
"fuckin' crazy" (what else?). He threw water on the audience three times and
succeeded in getting plenty of women to show off their breasts!! Who can argue with that?
The only thing I didn't appreciate was his weak leap frogs! It's understandable that he
can't jump and kick and fly like he used to. That's ok, nobody expects him too. He should
just drop the leap frogs as it looked quite frankely, silly. No complaints otherwise!!!
I hope the boys keep the band together for a new studio cd and another tour!! There's no
Sabbath like the original Sabbath that's for sure!!!!!!!!!
Gene Groesbeck
From: Phil Masser <pmasser1@ford.com>
Subject: Feb 14th show in Detroit
Date: Tue, 16 Feb 1999 09:14:10 -0500
My dream of the past 30 years came true on Sunday night. After waiting 30 years to hear my
heros in concert, it finally happened Sunday night at the Palace. I was 13 when I first
heard Sabbath and have been hooked ever since. Many nights when I was a teenager, I played
air guitar and sang those great songs pretending I was the OZ. I never could get a tickets
to shows when I was a kid, or to any OZZY shows as a adult, they always sold out to fast.
But, my luck changed this year when I got two for the 2/14 show. One for me and one for my
15 year old son, a time to bond between father and son! Who better to introduce my son to
the power of Sabbath then his own father. Two metal heads, one young, one old, bonded by
the love of the music of the KINGS of metal. I'm not going to bore everyone by all the
details of the show, everyone has told us all the details of every show so far. Everything
I have read here about the shows has been true, the set list, the special effects, how
great the guys in the band look and sound. Everything in my eyes on Sunday night was
perfect, I stood from the time Sabbath came out , until the time Changes was playing at
the end. I'm 43, and younger people all around me were tiring out and sittin after a hour,
but not me, I stood for over two hours and absorbed every note, word, and song. I'll never
forget the goose bumps I got from the pounding bass, it just swept over you. The highlight
of the show for me was the song BLACK SABBATH. That has always been my favorite and the
guys didn't let me down. It was awesome! The way OZZY looked so crazied, Tony and Geezer
so cool, and Bill so wild! I can't believe that these guys at their ages, still can
perform so perfect and make their music sound just like it was when I was a kid. Sometimes
I feel like I'm getting to old for heavy metal, but not after watching my boys at this
show! I'll be a metal head till the day I DIE!! One word about the warm up bands, Deff
Tones didn't play(equipment was stolen night before), Pantera, I was not impressed. I'm
not going to cut down any of their music, every generation has their thing, but this stuff
didn't appeal to me. All it was was screamin, no great songs in my eyes, lead singer, spit
alot, blew his nose on stage, and said the F word alot. I'm not a prude and swearing
doesn't bother me, but, I've seen alot of bands that did alot of strange stuff(Kiss, New
York Dolls, Bowie, Cooper) and I loved every minute of it but, those bands also had some
great tunes that you could sing along with, in my eyes Pantera doesn't. My son liked
them(he loved Sabbath), but I don't think Pantera will be around as long as SABBATH. I
want to thank OZ, TONY, GEEZER, and BILL, for the best concert of my life. My dreams came
true that night and I pray that you guys stay together, make some more music, and continue
to win new fans,like my son, for alot more years. You guys are the GREATEST METAL BAND IN
HISTORY.
From: haggerty@teleport.com
Subject: LA to Detroit, a comparison
Date: Wed, 17 Feb 1999 09:27:17 -0800 (PST)
Hi folks,
I've seen several reviews of the show (to put it mildly!) and thought I'd give it a
different perspective. I was lucky enough to have seen the show in LA (1/5) and the two
shows in Detroit (2/14 & 15) and have this to offer:
Pantera is a good band, but they need to dump Anselmo. He was okay in LA, but made a total
ass of himself in Detroit. How can a band like Pantera bore people? Let Anselmo keep the
mike between songs. He can't sing, so he takes it out on the unsuspecting after every
song.
Something happened between LA and Detroit. After I attended the concert in LA I kept
reading about a video before the show and screen shots during the show. LA had seating
behind the stage, but they still had the big screen above the stage although I don't
remember anything showing. I looked up several times during the show and never once saw
anything displayed on the screen. Did anyone see anything on the screen during the LA
concerts?
The Detroit shows were head and shoulders above what I saw in LA. Everything worked
flawlessly. Ozzy only pointed to his mouth once (to get the techs to turn up his mike?)
during the show. He really worked on his throat between songs and only showed signs of
strain during particularly difficult passages in Children of the Grave (Monday was better
than Sunday). He even got Bill with some Gatorade at one point. Ozzy was standing in front
of the drumkit riser looked up at Bill and splashed him with the gatorade bottle finishing
off by throwing it at him - all in fun I guess as it looked like they were joking around
with each other.
I have a question: There was general admission on the main floor with no seats. The people
had to sign waivers if they wanted admission to the floor. I'm glad I took the option of
getting reserved seating as I'd toyed with the idea of the mosh pit. I could not believe
what I saw. It was beyond anything I'd seen prior to the concerts and I can easily
understand how the guy got his jaw broken last month *sheesh* My question is this: Ozzy
keeps saying that they'll play more, but the crowd had to go crazier than they ever had in
their life. With as crazy as the crowd in Detroit was (they REALLY lived up to the
reputation), do they have to start killing each other before the guys will play an extra
song in the encore? The crowd noise was deafening - moreso than the band!
It was fantastic and I'm so glad I made the trip to Detroit from California.
Oh, I do have two more questions. Why is anyone down on Bill? He'samazing and has CRUSHED
his kit every time I've seen him. He may not be as thin as the other guys and his hair is
naturally grey (can you say Grecian Formula for the rest of the band? ;-) ), is that it?
He's not a timekeeper - he's a musician.
What is wrong with Dirty Women? Everyone around me greeted the song with as much air
guitar/drums as any other tune in the set.
Okay, enough of my rambling - enjoy the shows!
TTYL,
Jim Haggerty
haggerty@teleport.com
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