Black Sabbath's glorious European ride!
Black Sabbath's European tour leg can be fairly called Glory Ride. The gigs in Budapest, Berlin, Verona, Donington and others, all revealed high class performances, with wild crowds (especially a sold out gig at Waldbuhne in Berlin), band in fire, Ozzy is quite good conditions, and Iommi in all his majestic force. During the shows, we can witness a great release of energy from the crowd and one of those moments where fans chose to sing along with the guitar rather than the vocals - something that would happen a lot through the shows - and this again highlights the fantastic work that Iommi did earlier in his career and is still doing now.
The selection of songs picks heavily from the iconic Paranoid album, songs from Master of Reality and omonimous Black Sabbath, and that’s probably the right decision considering this is Black Sabbath saying goodbye to the world of music. Iron Man reares its glorious head towards the end of the main set and is a reminder that this band created one of the most recognisable riffs in the world. The reaction from the crowd for this is always huge and arguably the loudest thing we’ve heard at the venues.
A quick break before Paranoid serves as a predictable but completely fulfilling encore and a strong message that even though this legendary act aren’t quite as the peak of their powers they still have more to offer than a lot of the young pretenders that will usurp them in the coming years.
The final two dates of this world tour were announced at the Genting Arena in their native Birmingham, on Thursday, February 2 and Saturday, February 4 2017. After almost 50 years on the road, ticket sales for Black Sabbath's last gig barely lasted 15 minutes. Only the most lucky fans could get their tickets, with people coming to Brum from all around the world.
The fans are keeping faith for the third date to be announced, and are impatient. If that will be the case, Sabbath's Farewell act in Birmingham will become a real Black Sabbath Festival.
27 June 2016
