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THE BAND
- Ozzy Osbourne - Vocals
- Tony Iommi - Guitar
- Geezer Butler - Bass
- Bill Ward - Drums
- Adam Wakeman - Keyboards
SET LIST
- NIB
- After Forever
- War Pigs
- Dirty Women
- Fairies Wear Boots
- Symptom of the Universe / Sweet Leaf /
Electric Funeral
- Iron Man
- Into the Void
- Black Sabbath
- The Wizard
- Sabbath Bloody Sabbath / Paranoid
- 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.] |
