I saw Heaven and Hell tonight for the eighth time. It was a very solid show at the BankNorth Pavilion (formerly Harborlights) overlooking Boston Harbor. We had very good seats, right behind the VIP boxes, many of which were empty. We were also just to the right of the center of the stage.
Coheed and Cambria opened the show. I didn't know them, but they are a tight and heavy progressive hard rock band. In the middle of one of their songs, they broke into Iron Maiden's "The Trooper" which they played through the solo, before returning to their song. I plan on purchasing some off their music soon.
Sabbath opened with the recorded version of E5150 and went right into The Mob Rules. The volume was a little lower than I would have liked, but the sound was decent. My only complaint would have been that Tony's guitar sounded just a little thin. Geezer's bass was at a great level and tone, and Vinny's sound was perfect. Ronnie's levels were also great relative to the rest of the band. The Mob Rules had exactly the energy you wanted from the band to start the set, which was their second to last on this leg of the tour. Tony was playing the all black SG with the tremolo bar for this song.
Tony then switched to "The Old Boy" for most of the rest of the set, which continued with Children of the Sea. Ronnie introduced the song by saying it was the first they wrote when they got together. Next came I, which just works so well live. My only complaint here was that the keyboards were a little too loud for me. Ronnie always belts this one out with such conviction that seems to motivate the rest of the band and the audience. The screen behind the band showed animated images from the Dehumanizer cover. During the second quiet part of the song, Tony and Geezer were in perfect synch.
Ronnie introduced Bible Black which came of very strong live. The lyrics were always a little weak to me, but live I couldn't even remember ever having had that thought. The song built well, and once at full speed it thundered along like a runaway train. I will probably never listen to it (or the other two songs from the new album that they played tonight) the same way again. There were videos on the screen for this one, and the gargoyles that were part of the set were lit up. Geezer and Vinny seemed to be locked together at this point, and it didn't stop the rest of the night.
Ronnie gave another prolonged introduction to Time Machine. At the point in the song where Geezer is featured, Tony gestured to him, and the crowd went wild. The song ended with a drum solo. While Vinny's solos are interesting, I usually prefer another full band song to the drum solo in general. That said, Vinny's solo was mercifully brief and interesting while it lasted. The fact that the man beats the hell (excuse the pun) out of his drums also keep it interesting by involving the audience, playing 360 degrees around (sometimes with his back to the audience), and by using those funny tom stands that rock back and forth when he hits the toms with any force, which he always does.
Fear was next after the drum solo. If I had to pick a weak spot of the show, this might be it for me. I like the song, but it wasn't quite up to the level of many of the other songs. Tony and Vinny seemed to have some good communication during the song. Ronnie's voice cracked during the first time he hit the note on the word "Fear" in the chorus. This was the only mistake (if you can call it that) that I heard all night. Ronnie was also dancing Fear, which helped to keep the energy and momentum going.
After another introduction came Falling off the Edge of the World. The quiet introduction was well done and nicely restrained. Here Ronnie replaced the line "I feel like I'm losing my mind" with something about finding it. I don't recall exactly, so if anyone has any recordings of it, please let me know as I would like to hear it again. To end the quiet part, Ronnie kept saying "We shine, shine..." And then Tony took over. He was simply monstrous during this song. He was all over the stage with an energy that was great to see. This was really a high point of the set for me.
As Ronnie introduced Follow the Tears, someone in front must have been talking loudly, so Ronnie offered him the microphone and was kind of busting his chops but in a nice way. Tony played the black SG again, but this time it was tuned way down. Vinny was standing up playing some of his higher toms and had his back to the audience again. The band ended the strong strongly and tightly.
Then Ronnie introduced Tony as "the greatest guitar player on the Earth" and we all went wild knowing that Die Young with its prolonged introduction was coming. While I could listen to Tony all day and night, tonight's intro to Die Young didn't do it for me. It may have been that it seemed that he was showing off more than feeling the mood, or it may have been that I would have preferred to hear another song, but such was my perception at the time. The song itself was very strong, as usual. The band had clearly rehearsed it as it was tighter than usual. Geezer and Tony were both on fire.
Then came the song that named the band and their first album together, as Ronnie introduced it. Ronnie asked us to help him sing, and we probably would have even without the invitation. As the song went into the first chorus, Tony gave a sweet pick slide to introduce and punctuate the chorus. He also had some nicely controlled feedback. Ronnie ad-libbed a little before going into the second verse. Someone towards the front of the crowd was hitting an inflated ball, which Ronnie calmly took and brought back stage so as to avoid interruption as the song continued. I noticed at this point that Tony's guitar didn't sound so thin any more. As the song went into the solo / jam section, it built nicely. I thought Vinny may have begun to go into double time a little early, but the rest of the band picked up the pace and intensity nicely along with him. The faster section ended with the same three notes that end the fast section of Electric Funeral. It was simply brilliant. As the intensity temporarily waned, Tony took the opportunity to use a slightly cleaner sound and to play a little more softly. The song then built and Vinny doubled the tempo again before calming and going into the "little white shape" part of the song, which I have always loved since I first saw this band on the Mob Rules tour. They ended Heaven and Hell with a big finish, and then had a few extra punches to punctuate the end and share a laugh. This was obviously a band who has become very comfortable with one another.
They left the stage and made us ask for the encore, a formality I believe it is time to forgo. When they returned, they broke into the riff for Country Girl and played part of the song before a perfect segue into Neon Knights, which had the perfect intensity and mood. As they finished the song, they gave more additional punches at the end of the song and shared some more laughter.
As they got on stage to thanks the crowd, Vinny had a drum head in his hand that was broken, and he was showing it to Tony. They shared a surprised laugh over the sight of it.
From time to time during the set, and more frequently as time progressed, Tony kept shaking his right hand from time to time as if he were in pain. I was glad that he was still able to play so well despite his discomfort.
It was another great Sabbath / H&H show. I hope they do another US leg of this tour, so I can see them at least one more time. With any luck, they'll put out a second disc, too. Why not, right? Let them ride the wave as long as we can all keep it going.
Thanks, guys, for a great set.

SETLIST: (ANTICIPATED/AS SEEN FROM PREV. REVIEWS)

E5150(INTRO):
MOB RULES
CHILDREN OF THE SEA
"I"
BIBLE BLACK
TIME MACHINE(INCL. DRUM SOLO)
FEAR
FALLING OF THE EDGE OF THE WORLD
FOLLOW THE TEARS
DIE YOUNG(W./GUITAR INTRO.)
HEAVEN AND HELL(INCL. EXTD. INSTR. JAM & REPRISE)
(ENCORE):
COUNTRY GIRL(BEGINNING PART)/
KEON KNIGHTS

ONCE AGAIN, HEAVEN AND HELL/BLACK SABBATH MK.
II ROCKED BOSTON, MA LIKE SO MANY TIMES BEFORE!
THIS WAS THE 1ST TIME SEEING A CONCERT AT THE BANK OF AMERICA PAVILLION/NICE SET UP/GREAT WIDE RANGE ACOUSTICS AT THE COVERED/OPENED VENUE/MY HEARING IS ACTUALLY STILL INTACT AND RING FREE!

TONY, GEEZER, RONNIE, AND VINNY PLAYED LIKE MONSTERS AND THEY CONTINUE THEIR DOMINANCE AS ONE OF THE GREATEST VETRAN HARD & HEAVY ACTS OF ALL TIME! CONTRARY TO ANOTHER PREVIOUS REVIEW, I DIDN'T NOTICE ONE BLANK UP BY ANYONE TONIGHT AND TONY IOMMI LOOKED PRETTY FLAWLESS FOR A VETRAN GUITARIST WHO NEEDS HAND ATTENTION SOMETIME SOON. AROUND THE SHOWS END I THINK IOMMI FLEXED HIS HAND CHANGING GUITARS 1 TIME/THAT'S ALL I SAW. RJD. WAS AWESOME/DON'T REMEMBER ANY CRACKED VOICE TONIGHT? HIS TWISTS AND USUAL VOCAL STYLE WERE AS EXPECTED AND SINCE THIS WAS ONLY MY 2ND TIME SEEING HIM, I APPRECIATED THE SHOW EVEN MORE! GEEZER, LIKE ALWAYS, REMAINS THE CONSTANT
DRIVE ON THE LEFT/NEVER MISSING HIS TOUCH AND VINNY A. CONTINUES TO SAY (THAT'S A NICE!)RIGHT INA YOU FACE WITH HIS STRAIGHT AHEAD BEAT THE DRUMS UP STYLE! INTERESTING SET THIS TOUR!

THE HEAVEN AND HELL STAGE SET UP WAS AGAIN MOST ERRIE WITH THE DUAL DEMONSDOGS ON EITHER SIDE OF THE STAGE. THE DUNGEONLIKE BACKDROP AND GRAVE YARD APPEAL AGAIN ADDED MORE FUEL TO THE SABBATH FIRESTORM THAT WAS PRESENTED! ALL AND ALL A FANTASTIC SITE TO BEHOLD!

AGAIN, THANKS TO TONY, GEEZER, RONNIE, AND VINNY FOR ANOTHER AWESOME PERFORMANCE IN MA/YOU GUYS CONTINUE TO MASTER THE METAL AND THEN SOME! BEST WISHES TO TONY ON HIS UPCOMING HAND SURGERY/HOPE ALL GOES WELL! LOOKING FORWARD TO MORE HEAVEN AND HELL IN THE NEAR FUTURE/TAKE CARE!!

Thanks for signing in, . Now you can comment. (sign out)

(If you haven't left a comment here before, you may need to be approved by the site owner before your comment will appear. Until then, it won't appear on the entry. Thanks for waiting.)

URL:
Remember me? YesNo

Comments: