concert review - Vienna, June 6, 1998

Martin Sabo

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Jun 6, 1998, 3:00:00 AM6/6/98

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I went to see Black Sabbath in Vienna last Thursday that was the second
European date (after Budapest) of their current tour and I have to say,
it was GREAT! I live in Bratislava just about 70km from Vienna so when
I heard that the show was moved from Wels, I knew I won’t miss it. I met two
friends of mine (big BS fans of course), Stephan (who posted his own review)
and Gunter, in the centre of Vienna and we went to Libro music hall,
a medium-sized venue.

Support bands were Coal Chamber and Pantera. CC did a very energetic set,
had cool stage antics and I have to mention their female bass player,
what a girl and man, how she moved her body!

Pantera did nothing for me but deafened me a lot. They drank about three
kinds
of alcohol on stage (red wine, whisky and beer). Some bright moments were
when they encouraged the crowd to shout Black Sabbath and when they played
a part of The number of the beast by Iron Maiden. Besides that they were
casual
and drunk.

After Pantera, they drew a black curtain at the front of the stage. This
made
people even more excited because we didn’t know what stage set to expect
until the very last moment. I still could not believe I’ll see BS with Ozzy
:-)
Before the curtain came down, they played an instrumental medley of the best
known Sabbath songs from playback. This made the crowd really crazy!

Finally the band appeared and everybody went nuts instantly! What surprised
me
a bit was that only Tony wore a cross (and just one), nobody else. Ozzy and
Geezer were simply dressed in back. The stage set was very modest with a
silver
backdrop. Average lights, no special effects. Ozzy looked shy and without
much
confidence. He was reading lyrics from a monitor in the front of him (as
Stephen later told me). They made a small break after each couple of songs
and
went to drink something. They were all in a good mood, Tony was smiling a
lot.

There were some funny moments, one when Ozzy walked to Tony and gave him
a sudden hug which interrupted Tony’s solo for a while. Tony looked
surprised
with that but smiled back at Ozzy. Another funny thing during SBS was Ozzy
dancing a strange dance near Geezer, who broke into big laugh. The sound was
very loud (for me it was too loud) but I could hear (or at least feel) every
instrument. Our black string brothers looked in their top form as usual,
enjoyed playing a lot. There were some nice interactions between all the
members of the band with kind relaxed smiles. Vinny was a compenent stand
in but I missed Bill a lot there!

Here’s the setlist in order:

1. War Pigs
2. N.I.B.
3. Fearies Wear Boots
4. Snowblind
5. Into The Void
6. Spiral Architect (what a nice surprise for me!)
7. Lord Of This World
8. Electric Funeral
9. Sabbath Bloody Sabbath
10. Black Sabbath
11. Iron Man
12. Children Of The Grave
encore:
13. Paranoid

This time there were no solos, just songs. They played approx. 90 minutes
but
I didn’t time it. At the end of the show they threw clouds of colored little
paper leaves into the air. That was funny.

I don’t know the capacity of the hall but I guess there were a few thousands
of people, who were very into the show and wild. Thank you Vienna for this
amazing show. My special thanks go to Stephan Denk, who bought me
a ticket and put me up after the show. We are going together to see them
in Prague next Tuesday. I can’t wait. It will be an open air one-day
festival
with two more bands.

Merchandise: no tourbook :(, cool tshirts with old pics of the original
line-up,
a poster of Ozzy holding a plate with his name.

Overall, a great show, but I can imagine a better one though. I hope the
sound
will be better in Prague and I would appreciate some other songs in the
setlist.
In conclusion, all I can say is that I’m very glad I saw them on my own eyes
and if you live near to any other of the dates, don’t miss this wonderful
opportunity to see them live because it might be your last chance.

Best witches!

Martin

K.C.

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Jun 6, 1998, 3:00:00 AM6/6/98

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Oh boy...... Coal Chamber. They completely bored the hell out of me when they
opened for Megadeth. Not too thrilled about Pantera either.

Sabbath only played 13 songs? I would have liked to see about 17 to 20, and
maybe a short guitar solo.

K.C.

Crawford Lee Seals

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Jun 7, 1998, 3:00:00 AM6/7/98

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Martin Sabo wrote:

zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

> 2. N.I.B.

zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

> 3. Fearies Wear Boots

Now you're talking

> 4. Snowblind

Now you're talking more

> 5. Into The Void

Now you're really talking

> 6. Spiral Architect (what a nice surprise for me!)

Good God, holy Jesus, now we're officially talking

> 7. Lord Of This World

Wow! What a curve ball. Niiiiiiiice choice.

> 8. Electric Funeral

More curves. Jesus, talk about obscure -- and absolutely evil.

> 9. Sabbath Bloody Sabbath

A gem

> 10. Black Sabbath

zzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

> 11. Iron Man

zzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

> 12. Children Of The Grave

zzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

> encore:
> 13. Paranoid

zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Overall, not a bad setlist. I hope they throw us a few curveballs in the
states. Shame about the teleprompter, though. Oh well, time takes it toll and
the Oz has been microwaving his brain for the last 20 years. I'll take what I
can get.

Crawdad

Wicked World

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Jun 7, 1998, 3:00:00 AM6/7/98

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Here is what I'd like to hear in the states in addition to what they played
here:

A NATIONAL ACROBAT
TOMORROW'S DREAM
UNDER THE SUN
SWEET LEAF
HAND OF DOOM
SYMPTOM OF THE UNIVERSE
DIRTY WOMEN
KILLING YOURSELF TO LIVE
SUPERNAUT
THRILL OF IT ALL

Vladimir Milovidov

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Jun 8, 1998, 3:00:00 AM6/8/98

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Greetings, Wicked World!

On Sun, 7 Jun 1998 12:41:10 -0400, "Wicked World"
<electri...@prodigy.net> wrote:

> Here is what I'd like to hear in the states in addition to what they played
> here:
>
> A NATIONAL ACROBAT

Not quite related to this thread, but I just saw a message on Blind Guardian
mailing list, from someone who was on "Gods of Metal" festival in Italy. It
was long, extended review, talking about bands that played there, some were
really deserving that "Gods of Metal" status, like Helloween, Blind Guardian,
Stratovarius, Gamma Ray. And at the end of that review he wrong that he left
just before Sabbath begun their set. How could it be possible!? :-(

... Can't we try let the past go by
With it's lessons firmly settled in our minds... (c) UH, 1975.

S. Davies-Morris

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Jun 9, 1998, 3:00:00 AM6/9/98

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Vladimir Milovidov wrote in message <357c56ea...@news.aha.ru>..

>
>Not quite related to this thread, but I just saw a message on Blind
Guardian
>mailing list, from someone who was on "Gods of Metal" festival in Italy. It
>was long, extended review, talking about bands that played there, some were
>really deserving that "Gods of Metal" status, like Helloween, Blind
Guardian,
>Stratovarius, Gamma Ray. And at the end of that review he wrong that he
left
>just before Sabbath begun their set. How could it be possible!? :-(

A NATURAL BORN MORON?

SLEEPING VILLAGE

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Jun 9, 1998, 3:00:00 AM6/9/98

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I was going to say something rude too but resisted, but now that it's
been said, what more can you say?

Raddion

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Jun 13, 1998, 3:00:00 AM6/13/98

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Hey I remember seeing the Black and Blue Tour twice..... except I left before
Blue Oyster Cult's set both times. Front row and I was deaf, anyway. We brought
a bedsheet that we had written "Black Sabbath Rules" on, and in smaller letters
under that it said "we want Ozzy". After we held it up a couple times ( and
annoyed everybody behind us) we threw it up on stage. RJD pranced over to it,
picked it up and held it up facing the crowd! Then he wrapped it around his
waist and gave us the Dio smile-nod, and pranced around some more! He then
threw it out to, well, the Children Of The Sea, who ripped it into free
souvenirs. I'll never forget that night! RADDION