It’s not everyday I decide to Hop on a plane with only a ticket in hand and head to a different province to see a concert, but that’s exactly what I did to get a chance to see iconic Black Sabbath perform to a sell out crowd in Halifax, Nova Scotia, and trust me they did not disappoint.
As always when a classic band gets older you often wonder how their performance will hold up, especially in terms of more modern concerts this day in age, so I did my research, watching LIVE GATHERED IN THEIR MASSES multiple times ( actually right up until leaving for the airport) just to see what I was getting myself into, not realizing Halifax would only be that on steroids.
Right from the start upon arriving in Halifax and already meeting some interesting people, I felt the warm welcome of a metal/rock community that came together to witness one hell of a heavy, doomy, straight up rock show.
Starting with the opener Reignwolf, a three piece rocker of a group that produced enough sound to knock down Roger Waters’ wall, not to mention turn heads and get the place started for what was to come. It`s not very often I watch an opening band get a crowd riled up like these three guys did, not to mention cause a small standing ovation from my section, already I was hooked.
Then the sirens, War Pigs, out came the mighty Black Sabbath, Iommi`s signature power chords, Geezer`s roaring bass and the prince of darkness himself Ozzy Osbourne. It wasn`t a minute into the first song and I could tell they were already firing on all cylinders, from then on the audience and the band had connected and it just went from there.
Sabbath pulled out all the best from their deep catalogue and few songs from 13 ( after all that is why they were there), with pinnacle moments certainly being N.I.B and one of the craziest drum solo`s from drummer Tommy Clufetos I have ever seen, also being escalated by massive light shows, big screens, screaming fans wanting more, yeah and the fact that it lead right into Iron Man ( the song that got me there in the first place).
Sabbath Played a total of 15 songs and not one of them missed a beat on anything, as long as Ozzy had water to pour over him, it felt like they would keep going and they did. Upon watching the latest dvd, I showed up expecting a pretty decent concert from Sabbath, what I got was a loud, articulate , amazing metal show full of energy from Start to Finish. Much more then I expected and well worth the trip! SABBATH BLOODY SABBATH!
Setlist: • War Pigs • Into the Void • Under the Sun • Snowblind • Age of Reason • Black Sabbath • Behind the Wall of Sleep • End of the Beginning • N.I.B. • Faeries Wear Boots • Solos • Iron Man • God is Dead? • Children of the Grave ENCORE • (Sabbath Bloody Sabbath intro) Paranoid
