The Metal Files

Black Sabbath played what they say is their final show in the USA last night.  The setlist wasn’t much different than the show we got 3 years ago in Austin except they only played classic material.

I had purchased floor seats right next to the soundboard and my friend Pablo came with.  They opened with Black Sabbath and the crowd was pretty animated and most everyone on the floor had their phones over their head through much of that song.  Luckily that subsided as the night wore on.  Fairies Wear Boots came next then three of my faves, After Forever, Into the Void and Snowblind.  Hand of Doom had been played at all other shows except this one and I’m not sure why, but whatever.

Geezer and Tony were perfect as expected and Tommy Clufetos was as solid as anyone could be.  And then our old friend, Ozzy.  Other than some timing issues (couldn’t follow the bouncing ball on the teleprompter?), I thought Ozzy sounded really good.  Way better than 3 years ago.  As expected, he stayed strapped to his mic stand and teleprompter.  He spoke a little between songs and I think he may have been reading those cues as well.  It’s a little sad to see.  But again, I was surprised as to how he sounded.  The only song he seemed to struggle on to my ears was Dirty Women.  He just couldn’t keep up and get his pitch right, no issues in the rest of the set.

We rolled out right as the encore, Paranoid, had started to beat the rush and traffic.  We times it perfectly.