Black Sabbath Concert Reviews
June 6, 2005
Aylesbury Civic Centre
Aylesbury, England

THE BAND

  • Ozzy Osbourne - Vocals
  • Tony Iommi - Guitar
  • Geezer Butler - Bass
  • Bill Ward - Drums
  • Adam Wakeman - Keyboards

SET LIST

  1. NIB
  2. After Forever
  3. War Pigs
  4. Dirty Women
  5. Fairies Wear Boots
  6. Symptom of the Universe / Sweet Leaf / Electric Funeral
  7. Iron Man
  8. Into the Void
  9. Black Sabbath
  10. The Wizard
  11. Sabbath Bloody Sabbath / Paranoid
  12. Sleeping Village / Children of the Grave

CONCERT PHOTO GALLERY

You can view the photos we have for this gig here.  Have any more?  Submit 'em!.

FAN SUBMITTED TOUR REVIEWS & REMARKS

From: Steve Beach
Subject: Tiny Warm-up Sabbath Gig
Date: Tue Jun 7, 2005

Hi Joe,

I hope you're finding fatherhood fun - sleepless nights and all that.

I've posted on the list more than once in the past moaning about the same-ness of the set list Sabbath play these days. I saw them at the reunion gig in Birmingham in 1999 and have seen them twice since that time. My moans culminated in my saying that I wouldn't be going again unless there was some new material etc... the same gripes a lot of readers have.

Last night Sabbath played a tiny venue in Aylesbury, England as a warm up to the three day Download festival this weekend at which they are headlining. This gig wasn't publicised at all and was only available to ticket holders for the Download festival and subscribers to a website that promotes extremely small venues in the home counties area of England. The capacity of the venue was 1,000 - all standing. There was no support band, just Ozzy, Tony, Geezer and Bill on stage.

They absolutely rocked. It was, again, a "greatest hits" set, but the intimacy of the venue made it superb. I was two rows away from the front and have never experienced such an awesome gig. All members of the band seemed to be having a blast, as did everyone at the event. Sabbath ripped through their set. They played Dirty Women, which they dropped from the set the last couple of times I saw them, but reduced Sabbath Bloody Sabbath to part of a montage which included part of Symptom of the Universe, which I haven't heard them play since they reformed.

They completely won me over. I feel privileged to have seen them at such a small venue, and doubt that I (or many others)will ever get to see them play such a small gig again. It was a superb night. My throat is sore, my neck aches and I've probably caught pneumonia from all the buckets of water Ozzy threw and I was hit with. Was it worth it? Absolutely.

Regards,

Steve Beach.


From: MetalBadger
Subject:  Download Festival warmup gig review
Date: Wed Jun 8, 2005

I'll start by confessing not a 'genuine' Sabbath fan - by this I mean I haven't languished worrying about new albums, or fretted over line-up changes, and my few postings indicate I’m only here because I got lucky for the gig and want to share with the real fans… but I do have rock flowing through my veins as being born in '72 I grew up in a house where guitar based music was constantly pounding thropugh the walls, and much of it seeped into my subconscious - it's no surprise I eventually started fiddling with the guitar...metal in the late 80's was a great spur and the riffs that came from the NWOBHMin the early 80’s and those of the later LA scene owe a huge debt to guys like Sabbath. As such, I am in no doubt as to the importance of this band in the annals of rock history, and their playing influences everything I do, either directly because we play the songs as covers, or through the influence Iommi had on those who followed. There wasn't a song there I didn't know.

So, the first time I'd ever seen the band. What does someone who's gig-weary but exposed to the real thing for the first time actually think?

To be honest, I was astounded. The power and intensity of the playing was something you'd expect from a group of 20 year olds, not a bunch of guys the same age as my mum. It's obvious they care, it's obvious they put their heart into it and they were patently having a fabulous time. The tone was fabulous, the balance excellent, and sonically it was a massive assault, worthy of a far bigger venue.

The venue...how random is Aylesbury? I know Ozzy's only a 30 minute drive away (he lives about 500m from where I work) but it was like being in a school hall. The distance from the back of the auditorium couldn't have been more than 80 feet, and because of the slightly (how shall we say this) more 'senior' age of the fans the moshing area lasted only about 10 deep and then you could stand with your pint quite happily - I've never experienced such an intimate gig for such an important band.

Ozzy, as mentioned above, looked far, far healthier than I've seen him in the press, and was trim and energetic thoughout – Bill looked fine and gave the drums a pounding, but started flagging towards the end a bit, which is only fair given his health history – the set itself was fairly short (about 1 hour 20) but to be honest I’m not sure this was really begrudged by any there and they certainly didn’t faff about (…what does annoy is when tickets say ‘and special guests’ when there’s no support or anything. I’m sure it would have only been a local band ‘done good’ but it would have been nice to have something at least…unless Sharon was the special guest….she got a fine ovation as she entered and left the auditorium!) Geezer was solid on bass, with a tone that shook your balls, and Iommi was unbelievable…my interest is obviously primarily the guitar, but he played with superb finesse…very tasteful, very controlled and able to rip it out big time when he needed to.

And no keyboardist. Because there’s no need – this band started (properly) as a four piece and it sounded just brilliant – the riffs were huge. It’s pointless to talk about song highlights as everything they played was a classic, and everything they played sounded brilliant; this isn’t trite or easy plaudits for the sake of it, it’s really true – I’ve seen many metal and rock bands and I can objectively say it’s one of, if not the best gig I ever saw.

In summary then, a fantastic evening, and in places really quite moving…I saw one chap who was in tears because he couldn’t quite believe he watching the real deal playing War Pigs – these guys have been doing this game for a long long time, and now it looks like the hatchets are definitively buried (at least for the time being!) we have a British band who are at the height of their powers, with age and time doing nothing to diminish the quality. I am in no doubt there is going to be a resurgence of riff-based pounding rock…and these people started it all, and are still there. Fair play.

[Ed Note: There was a keyboardist.  You can see him here.]