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THE BAND
SET LIST
CONCERT PHOTO GALLERY None yet. Have any? Submit 'em!. FAN SUBMITTED TOUR REVIEWS & REMARKS from Craig Hennessey <alloutno2@hotmail.com>
Saw the Heaven and Hell show at the JLC in
London last night, if anyone is wondering if they should see this
concert on future dates, do so! Phil was on, Down were solid, a great
opening band. Megadeth have never sounded tighter or better, in a
word....ASSAULT. Heaven and Hell were awesome, their sound was great,
Dio's vocals were near perfect, great song mix, visually
spectacular.....buy a ticket.....see this f*ckin' show! from "Benjamin, John D" <JDB11@alfred.edu> Yo, it's Athcear again. I went to the
show last night in London, ON, and here's my review. from "Stonecoldspicer@aol.com" <Stonecoldspicer@aol.com>
Heaven And Hell/Megadeth/Down from JOEL GERAGHTY <j.geraghty@rogers.com>
The Chrononaut Chronicles: Heaven And
Hell - Saturday, March 24, 2007
- This took me a while to get out due to
a bad case of writer's block caused by events beyond my control, so
it might not be the greatest. Plus it's my first concert review.
- LIVE from London, Ontario, Canada!
- Preshow, it was the usual routine at
my place with my buddy, which involved drugs and alcohol and was
easily cooler than ANYTHING ANY OF YOU HAVE EVER DONE IN YOUR LIVES.
I read somewhere it was cool to brag about stuff like that on the
internet. Imagine how cool I must be now!
- We headed down to the John Labatt
Center, where I foolishly gave up my cigar pack and surrendered my
evil weed to some dude wearing baby-blue rubber gloves. I'm like
triple-cool now. Seriously though, I've only been to two other
concerts in my life and I had no idea they have this kind of
security these days. So much for rock 'n' roll. Damn it, when did I
start to sound like a dirty old hippie? Anyway, immediately after
entering the building I destroyed my bank account and plunked down
$140 for four t-shirts (one was a gift!) and ran into some friends I
hadn't seen in a long time. Cool stuff. Then we took our excellent
seats on the right of the stage up close, where we had a great view.
So let the show begin!
- Down: Southern-stoner metal supergroup
Down -- fronted by Phil Anselmo of Pantera along with Pantera
bassist Rex Brown, guitarists Pepper Keenan (Corrosion Of
Conformity) & Kirk Windstein (Crowbar), and Crowbar's Jimmy Bower
behind the drumkit -- kicked ass. I love both of their albums and
thought they rocked their 45-minute set, as did my buddy who was not
familiar with them. Phil was still sick and you could tell his
throat must be hurting like a bitch, but he persevered and gave it
his all while the rest of the band cranked out their awesomely heavy
pounding sound. Snatched from the Down message board to supplement
my memory, the setlist consisted of:
1. Lysergik Funeral Procession: Heavy,
loud, awesome.
2. Lifer: In a touching acknowledgment
that shows metalheads have feelings too, Phil dedicated this
underrated song off their first album NOLA to the late Pantera
guitarist Dimebag Darrell who was gunned down during a concert in
December 2004. Did they do this on the rest of the tour?
3. Hail The Leaf: Suspicious-looking
clouds of smoke wafted from the floor as someone threw a (*GASP!*)
marijuana cigarette on-stage and Phil thanked them for the weed.
Where were security and their baby-blue rubber gloves now?!
Bastards. One of my favorite tracks on the first album with some
nice mellow parts, really wicked to hear live.
4. There's Something On My Side:
Straight-ahead rocker off the second album with a shoutalong chorus
that I shouted along to. Somewhere in here (or maybe earlier) Phil
made fun of some dude who was flipping him off and telling him to go
fuck himself. Then he called some people on the floor "pussies" for
standing still during a song. Yeah, no shit, why buy a general
admission ticket if you're just going to stand there?
5. New Orleans Is A Dying Whore: When
Phil stated that the next song was about their hometown and I told
my buddy they're from New Orleans, he was hoping they'd do "New
Orleans Is Sinking" by the Tragically Hip. Typical Canadian. That
would have been interesting though. Another great song from Down II
and even better to hear live with the grinding guitar work. How can
you not love a song with a chorus like "New Orleans is a dying
whore/Naked she sleeps on my floor"?
6. Losing All: Solid heavy riffs and
another singalong chorus. LOSING AAAAAAAAAAALLLLLLLLLLL, LOSING
AAAAAAAAALLLLLLLLLLLL!
7. Bury Me In Smoke: This was my first
time seeing them live, but what Down show would be complete without
their trademark number off the first album? This song deserves its
lofty status in the Down catalog and the band churned it out
perfectly as the arena filled with smoke. Afterwards, Phil got the
crowd pumped for Megadeth and Heaven And Hell as he led us in a
"Black Sabbath" chant.
Phil and the band really seemed to
appreciate the strong response from the crowd and the reaction when
he asked if we'd come out to a Down show if they came back, so
hopefully that means they will. Kick-ass performance and Phil is a
fucking warrior, enough said.
- Megadeth: We immediately headed out
for some much-needed fresh air as my buddy was becoming rather
intoxicated. The added bonus was that we missed half of Megapoop's
set, but the couple of songs we did hear were done well. I think one
was "Symphony Of Destruction" but I'm not sure, and we left again
before they were finished. Not a fan and this did nothing to change
my mind, but they rocked in their own way and the crowd dug it.
- Heaven And Hell: And now for the main
event! The eerie sounds of "E5150" from Mob Rules filled the arena
and the crowd erupted as Vinny Appice walked out first and took his
place behind the drumkit. The doomy opening riffs of Dehumanizer's
"After All (The Dead)", cranked out by guitar god Tony Iommi and
bass legend Geezer Butler, provided a unique choice to open the set.
I've seen quite a bit of criticism about the decision to play a
slower tune first rather than an uptempo number like "Turn Up The
Night", but I think it was a great choice and really worked with
some amazing guitar work from Tony and scary vocals from the man
himself, Ronnie James Dio. You could even look at it as a nod to
their Black Sabbath heritage as the track reminds me of the 1970
Black Sabbath title track, so it makes sense from an evolutionary
standpoint to do it first. Then again, it was one of my favorite
tracks on the album, so I might be biased. Dio was the perfect
Master of Ceremonies for the evening between songs as well and has a
classy, calm, and collected demeanor (the exact opposite of original
Black Sabbath frontman Ozzy Osbourne and his crazed party-animal
persona) but he emitted an ear-shattering scream as the band
launched into the title track of their second album together, "The
Mob Rules", and the crowd rocked along. It hits me at this point
just how incredible Dio's voice is, especially considering it
belongs to a man who will allegedly turn 65 on July 10. Yes, you
read that right, and yes, I do believe he is some sort of
supernatural creature because there is just no other explanation for
the power and dexterity he still possesses within his vocal chords
and somewhat dimunitive frame, as he hopped up on the speakers at
the front of the stage like a dude less than half his age. I'm still
blown away as I write this over a week later and this concert made
me a huge RJD fan.
A beautiful rendition of "Children Of
The Sea" off the Heaven And Hell album helped enhance that opinion
as Ronnie deftly switched tempos from soft and sweet to nasty and
growling throughout the song, while still hitting the higher notes
and Tony worked his soul-stirring guitar magic with a great solo.
Dio explained that the next song was about "a really mean, vicious
person - of course, it's a woman" and immediately apologized
tongue-in-cheek as the band rocked through the appropriately-titled
"Lady Evil", which is a lesser-known song off Heaven And Hell that
has grown to be one of my favorites so this was a highlight for me
since it wasn't played live much in the previous incarnations of
this band. The band followed with another rocker in the form of "I"
from Dehumanizer, featuring some sweet solos from Tony and explosive
drumming from Vinny as Ronnie even did the Ozzy-like "Nooo nooo
nooooo" near the end and added some Gillanesque rock screams. Dio
introduced "The Sign Of The Southern Cross" as one of their
most-requested songs and they gave us an epic version of the Mob
Rules track, highlighted with the almost-psychedelic guitar work of
Tony augmented by the hidden keyboards of Scott Warren. "Voodoo" off
the same album was next and as I mentioned in my Mob Rules review, I
really like this song a lot better live (as on Live Evil) with an
atmospheric slow part, a classic solo from Tony, and a driving
bassline from Geezer giving it a '70s Sabbath vibe. I also dig
Ronnie's "Evil lurks in the mind of the beholder" wind-down part at
the end that gets criticized. Some people should just stay home and
listen to their albums rather than attend a live concert where the
songs MIGHT ACTUALLY SOUND DIFFERENT. OH NO!
There are three new songs included on
the Black Sabbath: The Dio Years "best-of" disc and one of them is
"The Devil Cried", which is a slow doomy number with a riff that is
almost blatantly reminiscent of Electric Wizard's "Return Trip". I
didn't care much for it upon my first listening of the studio track,
but it's another one that's growing on me and comes alive in the
live environment as a heavy-ass doom metal masterpiece with (yet
again) classic solos by Tony and mournful vocals by Ronnie. This led
into Vinny's pounding drum solo, which was much better than I'd
anticipated and popped the crowd. A voiceover countdown from 5 to 1
took us into "Computer God" with more subdued vocals than the
Dehumanizer album track and scorching licks from Tony after a
beautiful slow part, during which the crowd held up their lighters
as they did at other appropriate low-key moments. Next up was the
rarely-performed "Falling Off The Edge Of The World", which Dio
noted was a good description for the state of the world, as the band
ripped through this underrated Mob Rules track and followed with
"Shadow Of The Wind", another brand-new song available on Black
Sabbath: The Dio Years that I hadn't heard. It's a cool slower-paced
number with a soulful guitar solo, but it might have been a mistake
to place it so closely in the setlist to "The Devil Cried" since
both songs are unfamiliar and bring down the audience a bit,
especially with a deep cut like "Falling Off The Edge Of The World"
that isn't as well-known in between.
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Hide quoted text -
It doesn't matter though, because a
classic Iommi solo led into the "Die Young" riff and Dio wailed
like it was 1980 in this classic Heaven And Hell song, which
featured the superb slowed-down "Someone stopped the fare" part
from the album track that I don't think they usually did live
back in the day. Ironically, "Die Young" brought the crowd to
life and left us enthusiastic and energetic as we all wailed
along when Tony played the iconic "Heaven And Hell" riff while
Ronnie crooned his ass off and bled for the dancer. Not
literally. Absolutely incredible to hear this thunderous title
track performed live with the band hitting on all cylinders as
the "Little white shape" slowed-down part in the middle was a
thing of beauty with a heavenly white spotlight shining down on
Dio before he turned into a growling demon and a hellish red
light shone up at him. Seriously, this thing made him look
scary. Stunning effect for the band's signature number and they
finished off with more of Tony's scorching guitar and the crowd
participation bit. Ronnie named off his bandmates and thanked us
as they left the stage and many people filed out of the arena,
but after a couple of minutes the fantastic four returned and
Dio said they always had time for one more for us while
promising us they would be back in the future. Interesting. A
blazing rendition of "Neon Knights" was the encore song as
Ronnie performed his amazing vocal acrobatics with the audience
singing along and the band playing brilliantly in this
aptly-titled number in the home of the Ontario Hockey League's
London Knights. I don't follow hockey anymore, but they should
adopt "Neon Knights" as their theme song and change the team
colors to neon green, hot pink, and bright yellow. Anyway, this
was the perfect nightcap to a truly unforgettable experience
with a legendary band on possibly their last tour together ever.
1. E5150 / After All (The Dead)
2. The Mob Rules 3. Children Of The Sea 4. Lady Evil 5. I 6. The Sign Of The Southern Cross 7. Voodoo 8. The Devil Cried 9. drum solo 10. Computer God 11. Falling Off The Edge Of The World 12. Shadow Of The Wind 13. Die Young 14. Heaven And Hell 15. Neon Knights (encore)
- The Wrapup: In the interests of
full disclosure, I must admit that I acquired a recording of
this very Heaven And Hell performance and used it to jog my
memory since my buddy became a wastecase and magged out on me
halfway through the Sabbath set, screaming for Ozzy and "War
Pigs" and telling Dio to fuck off while repeatedly poking me and
a hot groupie chick in front of us. Not even that could detract
from the magnificence of this show, but it was a bit
distracting. Embarrassing too, since there was an 8-year-old
girl sitting near us who was better behaved and more
appreciative of the music than him as she let the devil horns
fly a few times. That was cool. The concert was a very unique
experience as this tour is the first time this lineup (or any
Sabbath lineup) is playing only Dio-era material without doing
any of the classic Ozzy-era tracks, which I believe is part of
the reason they decided to bill the band as Heaven And Hell
rather than Black Sabbath. I can't produce enough superlatives
to describe how transcendent and awe-inspiring it was to see
these true music icons performing live in front of me, so I
definitely recommend it if this tour hits your area and you can
go.
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