Dear Mr. Siegler,

I've seen Black Sabbath live twice: first in the summer of 1998 and then in the fall of 1999. Both times here in Finland. The first gig that I saw took place at a summer festival called Provinssirock (province-rock) with the almost-original line-up; Vinny Appice was standing in for Bill Ward at the time. I was right there in the front row - having two huge monitors, which I believe are used for lyrics, blocking most of my view! Nevertheless, it was a great show although Ozzy had a flu or something and couldn't sing all the highest notes on e.g. Spiral Architect (one of my all-time favourite Sabbath tunes). He was also coughing at the microphone - they must have been the loudest coughs that evening :)

There were two very funny incidents during that show. Firstly, when Sabbath started playing Iron Man, someone from the crowd threw a big, furry Micky Mouse glove onstage. Ozzy picked it up, put it on his left hand (didn't quite fit), rose his left hand high in the air and screamed the famous part of the intro: "I AM IRON MAN!" All the time with a straight face! I almost died laughing!! After that he threw the glove back in the audience - just high enough that I just couldn't catch it!! Damn him :)

The second funny incident took place around half-way through the show. It was a really hot summer day and there was a festival staff member - a young bloke - in front of the stage pouring some water in the crowd with a small hose. Ozzy, in his part, did not only throw buckets of water at the audience but he also had a water gun - I mean a big gun made of metal with a hose attached to it - not just a regular a toy! At some stage Ozzy decided to use the water gun at the young staff member - I guess Ozzy didn't enjoy competition :) And what did the young bloke do? He didn't turn around because he was trying to cover from the water, but from underneath his arm he pointed his hose at Ozzy and sprayed him for a split second - enough to get Ozzy just a bit wet!! At this point I thought: "this guy's going to die.." Well, Ozzy wasn't pushed off-balance by this. He pointed his gun entirely at the guy and soaked him so that he had to retreat/flee a bit further. After that Ozzy put the gun away and offered his hand with a wide smile to the staff member and so they shook hands. It's a long time ago and my memories are not that fresh anymore but I seem to recall that after this - when the staff member had again turned to face the audience - Ozzy took a bucket and emptied it on him. All this happended in the name of fun - I could see from Ozzy's face and behaviour that he really enjoyed being able to put up an extra show with the local member of the festival staff. The staff member was also having fun and the crowd loved it!

Apologies for the lengthy mail and wishes of a very Happy New Year 2005!

Kind regards,

Juhana Stolt
Helsinki, Finland
juhana.stolt@nokia.com
www.letmedream.com

Well,

I saw the Sabs in Provinssirock in june 1998. And here's what I have to say: (please excuse me the mistakes)

It was a warm saturday afternoon, and I was hanging at the Provinssirock festival area with my friends. The reason why we were there was obviously the first gig of the original Black Sabbath in Finaland. Well, Vinny Appice was there to replace ill Bill Ward, but anyway, it was Ozzy, Geezer and Tony. And they were going to play the greatest heavy metal songs ever. So we were already secured ourselves good places to enjoy the show. The atmosphere was very weird - silent - we'd all gathered there to witness something almost religious. Then the intro tape started to roar and we went nuts.

The setlist:
( I can't remember the exact order)
War Pigs
N.I.B.
Electric Funeral
Fairies Wear Boots
Into the Void
Spiral Architect
Black Sabbath
Iron Man
Embryo/ Children of the Grave
------------
Paranoid

(I'm not sure they've might played Lord of this world or something else, I can't really remember.)

The gig was awesome, although it was really beautiful summer afternoon, so the rain and thunder-fx before "Black Sabbath" didn't really worked, but the atmosphere was so dark. I loved it ev'ry minute of it. Ozzy was cool, it was the first time ever I saw him. His voice cracked a couple of times, and I could see that Geoff Nicholls was doubling for him. Ozzy said that he has a flu "but I'm still here anyway !" Oh, man, he really seems to care about his fans. Sick or not, he was unbelievable. The best vocalist ever. Vinny Appice did good work, he's drumming was similar to Bill Wards. A worthy replacement - even that he looked in his short hair and big belly more like an ordinary finnish worker than a Black Sabbath-drummer ! Geezer Butler had a diarrhea - that's what I've read, but he was still Geezer Butler - the man who made me to pick up bass. Magnifico ! Tony Iommi was happy all the time, really cool guy - posing for photagraphing audience, smiling and laughing a lot. Great (and unfortunately very underrated) guitarist, the musical soul of Black Sabbath. Geoff Nicholls was mostly unseen and unheard, but "Spiral Architect" kicked ass, so no bad mouthing about him. The band seemed to have a good time - no point asked did we !

Vesa Karppinen