Set list: Mob Rules, Children of the Sea, I, Bible Black, Time Machine, drum solo, Fear, Falling Off the Edge of the World, Follow the Tears, Die Young, Heaven and Hell, Country Girl intro/Neon Knights

Show was first rate, what they should have been in the 70's. Dio sounds better than 30 years ago. Stage presence was strong. Could've played another encore. Missed Sign of the Southern Cross! The best they've ever been. Too bad, Ozzy.

Review for 8/8/2009 show at Wamu Theater in Seattle, WA.

Setlist :

01. E5150 / Mob Rules
02. Children of the Sea
03. I
04. Bible Black
05. Time Machine / Drum solo
06. Fear
07. Falling off the Edge of the World
08. Follow the Tears
09. Die Young
10. Heaven & Hell
11. Country Girl / Neon Knights (encore)

Nice show. Venue is a cave so sound quality was way too reverby (ha, new word alert), but plenty of volume to compensate. :) I was in the 18th row so the sound hit me before too many echoes. I felt for the folks in the far back.

Band played great! Very solid! I found the set list slightly lacking in a few places. Replace Time Machine (Wayne's World soundtrack just makes my brain scream "commercial" with this one) with Buried Alive and Children of the Sea (weakest song from H&H IMHO) with Lonely is The Word, and then you got a set list! Ok, it was too short too. Add Voodoo & Sign of the Southern Cross! :)

No signs of back trauma from Iommi. He was moving around as much as Iommi normally does (which isnt much). He was surprisingly happy. He played to the crowd quite a bit. Grinning, nodding, and looking generally smug at times. Flashed the devil horns a few times mid-solo which I havent seen him do in many shows. He had some excellent ad-lib in the song Heaven and Hell which I always enjoy. Love when bands go off the beaten path in live shows (note to Ozzy w/ Sabbath)!

Ronnie was Ronnie. Great voice. Havent seen him since the Live Evil Tour (boy, I'm old), and he hasnt lost anything. His voice is still strong. I always enjoy his little 'talks' between songs. Always thoughtful and well-spoken. Better than the usual "rock-guy" rabble rousing (ha, that almost knocks like a knock against some guy with the initials O. O.).

Geezer was Geezer. Rocked out on the bass. Fingers flying. Total focus on the songs. Yeoman-like effort as usual. You can always count on Geezer giving his best. Love his playing!

Vinnie? Not 'my' guy. He's not Bill IMHO. Played fine though. Smacked the drums hard! His drum solo lasted only a couple of minutes. I remember the Live Evil drum solo going on for a Spinal Tap-ish eons! Ha.

BTW, the new songs sound better live. Fear is a much better song than I gave credit for. The new songs are not nearly as plodding (which I blame the drummer for being too slow on the recording) when played live. The tempo had more pace to it than the recordings. Really heavy live (without the plod)!

Incidentally, the opening band, Neurosis, is quite possibly one of the worst metal bands I've ever seen. If they dressed up like GWAR, I would have gotten the comedy a lot better. Here's my old guy one word review for this band, "Noise!"

Drove up from Portland with a friend to see the show. Never seen Dio before, so that was my driving force to have purchased these tickets so many months ago. Had a fantastic time before the show, pub crawling and getting our adrenalin up.

I liked Neurosis a lot, though most in attendance seemed to pass them off. They are more punk than metal. Very dark lyrically. Between bands my friend Nick and I trolled down to the front to see the stage up close (our seats were in row 32). We found some empty seats and sat down. Well, the metal gods were watching out for us as we sat there unabated in a mostly empty row until the lights went down. Then we proceeded to spend the entire show front, center, 6th row. Unbelievable!!! The band was incredible. Towards the end of the show Ronnie took some albums from a kid and his dad and proceeded to take them around to the band members for them to autograph. In all my years of concert going I have never seen a band do this on stage. As per Ronnie's belief, the fans come first. I was utterly blown away from the whole show. I saw the 1999 reunion, but was unable to see Mob Rules due to my age and the finger wagging of my parents. Thank you Heaven and Hell!!!!

I attended this show in Seattle. This was the same lineup I saw back in the dehumanizer days. It was a great to see Black Sabbath once again for the umpteenth time however, it seems since last year the band has gone back to the same formula they have adopted in recent years of short, predictable and canned set lists.

I know the band is getting old however, it tells me if Iommi and Butler are driving these short sets once again. The concert was done by 10pm on a Saturday night, at least they could of dragged out the jams a bit to fill another 1/2 hour or so.

Also, maybe it's just because I'm from Texas and Dallas fans LOVE their metal but, the Seattle crowd was one of the most mellow crowds I've ever seen at a Sabbath show.

on a scale from 1-10 I'll give it about a 7, it would get an 8-9 if they had played 2-3 more songs. It was worth the trip, time and effort to see this great band once more however, it's becoming obvious that the band is back to following the same formula they have with ozzy the past decade. That might work for Ozzfest but for a headlining rock and roll show you need to give just a little more. I expect we can see Dio back with his band before too long. Let's face it, a short show isn't Dio's style.

Though it's been a while since the gig, I thought I'd put my $0.02 into the mix anyway:

Seattle was an off night, though due to no fault of the band.

Pre-show highlights -- seeing Ronny strolling about town (with an imposing body guard a discrete but effective distance behind). Later Vinnie as well (accompanied by an attractive female. Vinnie is big and bad enough to scare anyone all by himself). Rumors about Tony doing the same earlier in the day. My friend and I were really pumped for the show.

I’m sure opening band Neurosis gave it their best effort, and I’m usually one to give as much slack as I possibly can to opening acts. But they sucked. Absolutely sucked. Big time. The Sonic Youth of Death Metal? (Though I in no way mean this as a put-down to SY.) Droning, muddy bass; droning, muddy guitars; droning, muddy, off-tune vocals; hum-drum drums; video background of creepy spliced footage of what appeared to be real crimes and old horror movies on a repetitive loop. They set the vibe for the rest of the night.

The WaMu Theater is one of the worst venues for a top-billed rock concert I’ve been to in memory. It’s a giant box more suited for a boat show or classic car show than a musical performance. The sound was off even for Sabbath due to the terrible acoustics -- grating raspy midrange and no where near loud enough.

In addition, though Ronnie seemed to give an extra effort to bring it around, and the guys played there asses off, the crowd was way too subdued, generally standing still for each song and politely clapping at the end. I got the sense of being at a “recital” instead of Rock Concert.

To add to the lackluster, there were no hints of cannabis periodically wafting through the crowd. (It doesn’t take much to work its magic...) The idea of a “drug-free” alcohol only (available at the bar in the lobby) rock concert is the ultimate contradiction in terms. It’s virtually guaranteed to fall flat. As Jimi once said, “Ya gotta have something to dream on.”

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