Black
Sabbath Concert Reviews
March 14, 2007
Saddledome
Calgary, AB Canada
THE BAND
Ronnie James Dio - Vocals
Tony Iommi - Guitar
Geezer Butler - Bass
Vinny Appice - Drums
Scott Warren - Keyboards
SET LIST
E5150
After All (The Dead)
Mob Rules
Children Of The Sea
Lady Evil
Ear in the Wall
I
Sign Of The Southern Cross
Voodoo
The Devil Cried
Drum Solo
Computer God
Falling Off The Edge Of The World
Shadow Of The Wind
Guitar Solo
Die Young
Heaven and Hell
Lonely is the Word
Neon Knights
CONCERT PHOTO GALLERY
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CONCERT VIDEO
FAN SUBMITTED TOUR REVIEWS & REMARKS
from Mike Csizmar <leprechaundrummer@hotmail.com>
to siegler@black-sabbath.com
date Mar 15, 2007 5:25 PM
subject Concert Review from Calgary
Hey,
The show was great, simply amazing. Down did not play, due to an
illness(not sure who it was), and a make up date was being scheduled for
Calgary. Megadeth, was alright, having never been a fan of them, i
didn't know what to expect, but they did a lot better than what i would
have thought.
Heaven and Hell, I'm speechless! They put on a great show. For me, the
highlight of the night was when they did Heaven and Hell, it was
perfect, and sent shivers up my spine. Dio hasn't skipped a beat, he is
still phenomenal, and still, in my opinion, the God of Heavy Metal. Tony
Iommi, looks so cool, he's so happy being up on stage. Geezer is still a
great bassist.The drumming was great. The only thing i was disappointed
in was the drum solo, and being a drummer myself, i wished it could have
been a lot longer, not lasting only five minutes. But Vinny is still one
of my favourites.
All in All, i really enjoyed the show, i would give Megadeth a 7 out of
10, and Heaven and Hell, an 11 out of 10, I really loved everything
about them and the show. Everybody left with smiles on their faces.
Rock On,
Mike
from Darryl Minsky <dmmonline@gmail.com>
to siegler@black-sabbath.com
date Mar 15, 2007 1:40 PM
subject H + H Calgary review
Joe:
I am a big fan of your website, and last night I experience Black
Sabbath (ok, it's H+H, but I'm calling them Sabbath) in Calgary Alberta
Canada
The setlist and stage setup were described accurately in previous
reviews, but I'll include them here anyways
SET LIST
E5150 (intro until band plays)
After All (The Dead)
Mob Rules
Children Of The Sea
Lady Evil
Ear in the Wall
I
Sign Of The Southern Cross
Voodoo
The Devil Cried
Drum Solo
Computer God
Falling Off The Edge Of The World
Shadow Of The Wind
Guitar Solo
Die Young
Heaven and Hell
Lonely is the Word
Neon Knights
The crowd was an all-ages crowd....younger metalheads to middle-aged
metalheads like myself, aged 45.
I seemed to smell a lot of "funny stuff" wafting thru the air when the
lights went out ;-) Oh wait, that was me and my buddy.
The stage was an old castle made of bricks, and it gave the show a cool
gothic feel. It was perfect for a Sabbath show. Each side had brick
pillars and iron gates that "hid" their amplifiers. The "windows" on the
castle were projection screens that showed different still pics and
videos. A lot of scenes were shows of characters from the Live Evil
album. Other lighting effects truly made this show THE BEST Sabbath show
I've been to (this was my 4th time seeing Sabbath, in its various
incarnations). This was the first time seeing Dio live, and, sorry
die-hard Ozzy fans, he blows away Ozzy for stage presence.
I smuggled in a camera and took LOTS of video clips and some stills.
Warning: security is doing FULL PAT DOWNS, forbidding the usual camera
equipment, chains, and studded jewellery.
TIP: If you're bringing a camera, hide it in your groin; they'll never
pat you down there ;-)
I will update my Sabbath website very soon with ALL the pictures and
videos. I have to Photoshop them to improve the brightness a bit.
How about a plug for my site: Darryl's Sabbath Scrapbook
www.stallionsoftware.com/sabbath.htm
Regards,
Darryl Minsky
Calgary, AB, Canada
from Rob Pinnegar "pinnegar@ucalgary.ca"
to siegler@black-sabbath.com
date Mar 15, 2007 1:10 AM
subject Review for Calgary
Hi Joe,
It's been ten years since I last contributed to the Sabbath mailing
list, but here I am again, still surviving.
Anyways, the set list for Calgary was identical to that for Vancouver,
except for one welcome surprise: "Lonely Is The Word" has been added to
the encore, as the penultimate song right before "Neon Knights". In
fact, it's a slightly extended version, with a few bars of the opening
riff tagged on to the end of the song.
As for the show itself: Personal highlights aside, the band absolutely
*nailed* "Computer God". In particular, the latter half of the song was
flawless. They also turned in a very good performance of "Falling Off
The Edge Of The World". And, as might be expected, everything else was
well done too. I'm just picking songs that were especially impressive.
(My personal highlight, incidentally, was "The Sign of the Southern
Cross" which they didn't do on the Dehumanizer tour. I wish there had
been room for "Letters From Earth", but you can't have everything.)
As far as the new songs are concerned, I'm surprised that they selected
"The Devil Cried" as the single. Having now heard the other two, I think
"Devil" is the weakest of the three. "Ear in the Wall", in particular,
seems much better. But, then again, I've only heard these songs once.
Sabbath Mk.II may not be as young as they used to be, but they can still
turn in a top-notch, professional performance. I suspect they have
several more good years in them yet. (Geezer's right hand technique
certainly hasn't slowed down!)
And -- it's good to see you are still keeping the faith.
Cheers
Rob Pinnegar
Calgary, Alberta
from Shelly Craven <scraven@telus.net>
to siegler@black-sabbath.com
date Mar 16, 2007 1:33 PM
subject CALGARY REVIEW
I'll be 49 in about a month, so I've seen
a few concerts in my day. Kiss (7 times), Rush (3 times) as well as
Boston, Queen, Deep Purple, Thing Lizzy (with Phil Lynott), Styx (the
original) and the list goes on. Wednesday night, however, was a dream
come true. Although Black Sabbath has been my favorite band since 1971,
I've never had the chance to see them on stage. The closest I came was
Spokane in 1980, but they cancelled the day of the show- `illness in the
band', and we all know what that was- so March 14th in Calgary, Alberta
was not just another concert to me- not by a long shot.
My wife & I left Castlegar, BC Wednesday morning for the 7 hour drive at
5am. After arriving in Calgary and heading straight for Recordland, a
most excellent used CD & vinyl store, after securing a hotel room, we
headed for the Saddle Dome around 5pm.
Arriving so early parking was a cinch and we hit the casino on the
grounds for a spot of gambling and a bite to eat. Around 6pm we walked
the few hundred yards to the dome and were one of the first in line.
Flyers on the door announced that, due to an illness in the band, Down
would not be playing that night. I couldn't have cared less.
At the nearest merch booth I spent more than usual. I couldn't decide
between the "Live Evil" or "Heaven & Hell" shirts, so I bought one of
each, XXX. hey, I'm a big guy. I also bought a key ring, and my wallet
was then $95 thinner. The other bands had lots of shirts too, but I
wasn't there for them.
We found our seats in no time and watched the arena fill VERY slowly. We
ended up with about a half filled arena. roughly 8,000 according to The
Calgary Sun the next day. which was about what I had expected. A
capacity crowd would've been nice, but that was never going to happen.
At show time a local deejay announced that Down would not be playing
(that Phil Anselmo, SO reliable.) to a round of boo's, which quickly
turned to cheers when he said that both of the other bands would be
extending their sets.
Within minutes the house lights went down and Megadeth stormed the
stage. They played four numbers before saying "good evening". In a tight
set that saw Mustaine and his co-guitarist working the crowd from the
edge of the stage, they plowed through a list of hits that included
"Symphony Of Destruction", "A Toute Le Monde" and "Peace Sells", which
had many singing along.
I'd love to provide a complete set list, but from our shitty seats it
was hard to tell what was going on at times. Sight lines were great, but
we were near the top on the left side, almost even with the p.a., so
much of the music literally went past us. And the noise from the
blithering drunks behind us was not helpful. I had purchased our tickets
online via Ticketmaster and settled for what they said were `best
available'. don't trust them.
After Megadeth's encore, teardown was swift. It couldn't have been much
more than half an hour before Heaven & Hell were ready to roll. As the
lights went down we heard "E5150" and you could feel the excitement
jump. I held my breath as Tony Iommi walked to the front of the stage
and acknowledged the crowd with a friendly wave. I couldn't believe I
was finally going to watch HIM play!
The castle set felt perfect and the use of lights and video, while
simplistic in comparison to modern pop concerts, was excellent. No
complicated effects or dozens of dancers, as many pop artists must do to
take your mind off how inconsequential and dull their music really is.
Starting with a lesser known tune in "After All (The Dead)", their show
was off to a logy start. True, the song was thematically right on, and
perhaps it was their way of setting themselves apart from the other
bands, but they should've kicked in with something faster. Just a few
numbers into Heaven & Hell's set, my wife and I abandoned our seats and
headed for the back of the arena because I wanted to hear as well as
see. Next time that's where we'll buy our seats- just gotta remember to
bring binoculars.
It was a great gig all the way around. The crowd was slow to respond,
but once they warmed up they were with the band all the way. Ronnie
worked the crowd as he always does, and Vinnie Appice pounded his kit
with great enthusiasm. Geezer stayed rooted to his own area,
concentrating hard on the music and not playing as theatrically as he
does with the original Sabs. After playing as hard as he does, he must
have to ice down his hands and arms after each gig!
But I was really there to see Tony Iommi. Though not a guitar player
myself I still consider him an idol, and thoroughly enjoyed his
performance. He was friendly with the crowd and wandered all over the
stage, even throwing Ronnie a friendly one-armed hug as he went to
change guitars. With the exception of the run up to the solo in "Lonely
Is The Word" during the encore where he seemed to lose his place
momentarily, his playing was flawless and exciting. The second song of
the encore was a blistering version of "Neon Knights", and the show was
done. As they left the stage Ronnie, whose voice was in top form the
entire night, ended things with a hopeful "We love you! See you again!"
I waited 27 years to see this band, 27 years since that cancelled
Spokane gig, and it was worth it. If I'd had the money I would have
followed them to Saskatoon and beyond but, alas, the real world calls. I
eagerly await "Black Sabbath: The Dio Years" in April and the promised
release of a live CD and DVD from this tour in the fall, as promised.
Sometimes, when you want something as badly as this show, it can't
possibly live up to expectations. Happily it did, in my case, and I hope
to see Heaven & Hell on stage again.
