Author: Urban Bolta
Photos: Urban Bolta
Location: Königsplatz / Munich / Germany
Concert date: June 13, 2014
Attendance: 20,000
Ticket price: 78€
When Black Sabbath announced their comeback to the world at a press conference in Los Angeles at the end of 2011, rock fans went wild. After all, this is one of the most important bands in heavy rock, one that laid the foundations of a brand-new genre, later known as heavy metal, at the turn of the sixties into the seventies. Sadly, a few months after the reunion was announced, a blemish appeared. Original drummer Bill Ward turned down taking part in the band’s final adventure over unequal (financial) treatment, so the band’s camp recruited Tommy Clufetos, drummer of Ozzy’s solo band, to take his place.
Soon after the project’s grandiose launch, the Brits ran into serious trouble: guitarist Tony Iommi was diagnosed with blood cancer, followed by a grueling stretch of treatment with a new method of blood infusions and, as a result, the cancellation of most of the announced shows. Dark thoughts hinted that nothing good was coming (remember all those Heaven & Hell tours that kept getting announced and then cancelled, until Ronnie James Dio’s departure from this world finally ended them?), but Iommi managed to beat the disease and return to the studio. Black Sabbath released the well-received album »13« (review here), and now they’re roaming the world with it, bringing sold-out crowds, one last time in their career, a touch of the darkness and occultism they wrote into music history in golden letters a long time ago.
The trip to the Bavarian capital went off without a hitch, and in the last hours before the show my fellow sufferer Jani and I killed time watching the second day of World Cup matches. Then came the obligatory chinwag with every Slovene we bumped into along the way, all of whom had the same idea for the evening as we did, and then it was off to the scene of the crime: Königsplatz. The idyllic neoclassical square, a stone’s throw from the center of the Bavarian capital, was already bursting at the seams with an endless crowd by eight in the evening, so finding a decent spot to watch the show turned out to be quite a chore.
The evening was opened by SOUNDGARDEN, American rock legends of the nineties, considered one of the biggest and most influential bands of their time. Popular consensus long ago ranked them, together with Pearl Jam, Nirvana and Alice in Chains, as one of the central building blocks of the Seattle alternative scene. Soundgarden returned to the scene in 2010 after a long lull, and since their gigs are usually way out of range of our trusty steel steeds, the Munich show was the ideal chance for me to finally meet the band’s greatness in person. The central pillar on stage was none other than Chris Cornell, a man of seriously charismatic pedigree, who effortlessly kept aiming his energy at the sea of people below and held them in a nineties-legacy checkmate for just under an hour. Even though they released the long-awaited comeback album »King Animal« two years ago (review here), this time Soundgarden served up only marching tunes from their classic records »Badmotorfinger« (1991) and »Superunknown« (1994), which is certainly unusual. Beside seasoned veterans Cornell and Kim Thayil on guitar stood a new rhythm section: bassist Ben Shepherd, who joined when the band reactivated, and drummer Matt Chamberlain, who is filling in on tour for Matt Cameron, since Cameron is out playing with his main band, Pearl Jam. The wind and the sheer size of the venue kneaded patches of unrecognizable racket into the sound, but despite the unfavorable circumstances, with hits like Spoonman and Black Hole Sun Soundgarden did justice to a far-from-easy warm-up job.
After a short break, Henry, the flying devil and band mascot, took over the backdrop, and it was clear that the time had come for BLACK SABBATH! The Brits opened with the legendary number aimed at all imperialist rulers, War Pigs. Although Black Sabbath shook off any association with the hippie movement early in their career, that famous antiwar anthem will always tie them to the flower-children era. Naturally, Ozzy Osbourne has grown frail over the decades and has shelved a good chunk of his stage mobility with age, but from the opening minutes on, he still couldn’t go without his famous yelling: »C’mon, let’s go fuckin’ crazy!«.
Little birds have been tweeting about Ozzy’s frail state, but his vocal technique was never exactly renowned for technical brilliance, so he makes up for the thinned-out vocal form with a hugely charismatic approach, still brimming with testosterone and silliness despite his autumn years. Black Sabbath are only flesh and blood too. At 65, Ozzy no longer bubbles over like a youthful spring, but as the band’s most notorious member he still gets the connecting role on stage, presenting Sabbath as a solid, unified force. Even if the guy struggled to keep up with the vocal lines (especially toward the end of the show), that was acceptable too, given that what we saw was simply the most Black Sabbath can offer in 2014.
The next monument to Black Sabbath’s monumentality to slice into the warm Bavarian night was Into the Void. »Mr. Riff« Tony Iommi on the right and bass master Geezer Butler on the left read each other’s minds without even exchanging glances, laying down a rock-solid riff foundation for Ozzy’s wheezing. Butler’s line in particular was pushed even further up in the mix, so the thickened-up riff theme of the evening really shook you to the bone! The electrified atmosphere calmed down a bit during the newer songs, even though the epic-length Age of Reason, End of the Beggining and God Is Dead? prove that the legendary Brits from Birmingham, even in the autumn of their lives, are creatively far from a withered creation.
The bulk of the repertoire was made up of the biggest hits of Ozzy’s era, meaning the band’s favorites from the late sixties and early seventies. Next up was the self-titled anthem Black Sabbath. It was Friday the 13th, a full moon was shining in the sky, so the ambience for listening to one of the darkest motifs in heavy rock was one of a kind! If there was any overly superstitious soul in the sea of people, they may have turned their underpants brown, because Black Sabbath’s ominousness knows no bounds! The stroll through the debut continued with Behind The Wall of Sleep and N.I.B. These are evergreens that are not only a live demonstration of psychedelic rock evolving toward heavy metal, but also never fail to get the whole congregation on its feet and thaw out (or freeze?) even the iciest corner of every heart.
All eyes were glued to the front trio of Butler / Osbourne / Iommi the whole time, since Black Sabbath history is locked up in those heads of hair, while hired drummer Tommy Clufetos picked up only crumbs. The spotlight swung bigger to his drum kit only during the instrumental Rat Salad with its obligatory drum solo. Clufetos’ pounding of the skins was full of freshness and determination, and Ozzy’s solo drummer did his job with distinction, though older fans of the band will be quick to point out that only Bill Ward remains a percussionist with impeccable Black Sabbath DNA. The long solo spot was cut short by Iron Man, another monumental Sabbath piece that, despite the slow rolling of its main riff, hit with the power of dynamite! Before the close came the only major surprise of the set, Dirty Woman from the album »Technical Ecstasy« (1976), an era that’s still highly valued among loyal fans, though all too often neglected compared with the band’s classic material. During another dark number, the invisible fifth member of the show, Adam Wakeman on keyboards, “gave himself away”; he provided organic sonic support to the band from backstage the whole time. In his old manner, Ozzy tossed a few buckets of water at the front rows before the finish, and then the electrified air peaked with the assault of Children of the Grave and, as a farewell, perhaps the most anthemic heavy metal hymn ever, Paranoid.
The long-awaited Black Sabbath reunion in our part of Europe is behind us, and if this means goodbye, it was a sweet one. World media report that their show at London’s Hyde Park in early July will be the last Black Sababth show ever, so catching Iommi and company in Munich, at Austria’s Nova Rock, or in Bologna, Italy, in these days was very likely the last chance of a lifetime to see the cult godfathers of heavy rock live yourselves.
Photos: Urban Bolta, Andrej Banko, Tony Iommi’s official Facebook profile
Setlist
SOUNDGARDEN:
1. Searching With My Good Eye Closed
2. Spoonman
3. Rusty Cage
4. Outshined
5. Black Hole Sun
6. My Wave
7. Let Me Drown
8. Jesus Christ Pose
9. Fell on Black Days
10. 4th of July
BLACK SABBATH:
1. War Pigs
2. Into the Void
3. Under the Sun/Every Day Comes and Goes
4. Snowblind
5. Age of Reason
6. Black Sabbath
7. Behind the Wall of Sleep
8. N.I.B. (Preceded by “Bassically” Geezer Butler Solo)
9. End of the Beginning
10. Fairies Wear Boots
11. Rat Salad (with snippet from “Supernaut” & Drum Solo)
12. Iron Man
13. God Is Dead?
14. Dirty Women
15. Children of the Grave
—————-
16. Paranoid
Photo Gallery
