Ozzy Osbourne of Black Sabbath performs at the Lollapalooza festival in Chicago’s Grant Park on Friday, Aug. 3, 2012. (Photo by Steve C. Mitchell/Invision/AP)
, one of the most original, influential and sonically iconic rock acts of the 70s, put on as perfect of a farewell show at the Pepsi Center as you could have hoped for. They played, sounded and yes, sung as well as they did in their prime.
Everybody loves Ozzy, and his voice was still all there. That’s not a given for someone who s been at it for almost 50 years. Still, it s guitarist Tommy Iommi s instantly recognizable sound that set Black Sabbath above the pack. Bassist Geezer Butler played like a man one-third his age. Drummer Bill Ward was the only original Sabbath member not on the The End tour, was Tommy Clufetos, whose playing was as joyful as it was brutal.
Opening with their self-titled debut track, the band instantly conjured all kinds of the sinister atmospherics the they made their bones on. Instead of leaning on theatrics, they let tight riffs take the audience away. Considering Sabbath is pushing 70, it was all the more amazing.
Anything but a cash-grab, mail-it-in, victory lap show, this was among the best performances I ve ever heard by a band this long past their so-called peak years. Most bands from that era never sounded this good in the 70s.
The set relied a lot on their first three albums. One after the other, they destroyed the place. Long-time fans were there in force, hearing these songs played live (perhaps for the first time), half of a century after these records were released. It was surely a quasi-religious experience.
Besides Butler s solo in Bassically and an excellent, exhilarating drum solo by the indefatigable Clufetos, Iommi s best guitar shredding on “Dirty Women” proved an easy highlight on Sabbath s 90-minute set.
Ozzy was in great spirits. He fondly mentioned the late Denver rock promoter, Barry Fey and talked about Colorado’s relationship with marijuana. Black Sabbath showed they re far more than some dumb Stoner Rock act. Their astonishing performance Monday night proved the band to be going out with remarkable live chops, playing classic songs that to this day as it wqas in ’71, a lot of 16-year-old kids are still trying to learn.
Long Beach, CA’s Rival Sons captivated the Pepsi Center audience as the night’s opener, playing an instantly likeable 70s-style hard rock that clearly won them a horde of new fans.
Black Sabbath 02/15/16 Setlist:
