Black Sabbath in Edmonton April 22nd 2014

On Tuesday night I went to the Black Sabbath and Reignwolf double bill here in Edmonton at Rexall Place. Again this was a show I was hesitant to about going too, it was on the expensive side and the original drummer of Black Sabbath Bill Ward wasn't involved. After thinking about it and reading reviews and finally actually being able to get a decent ticket, I took the bite and went to the show.

Am I ever glad that I did check this show out. I have always been a huge fan of Sabbath, and it had been fifteen years since I had last seen Black Sabbath (Ozzfest '99 Vancouver). I had also heard some good things about the opening band Reignwolf, whom hail from Saskatoon.

I got to the show plenty early as I just knew that the pat downs and line up to get into the venue was going to be a joke and it was, nonetheless I was prepared and no problems and made in lots of time, to have a few drinks and catch openers Reignwolf. I'm happy to say that it was good to catch the opener Reignwolf whom is fronted by Jordan Cook who also plays lead with his brother on guitar as well and not sure who plays drums in the band, having said that Jordan also plays a bass drum while givn'r on the guitar, during one song he also got behind the drum set and played the drums as well as playing the guitar. The band Reignwold reminded me of a mix of Jon Spencer Blues Explosion, Jack White, some old school rock like Cream and Hendrix. It was loud, in your face, noisy and made people take attention. All and all I thought they were pretty good. Good choice on an opening band, lots of people made it to their seats to see what all the noise was about.

Reignwolf in Edmonton at Rexall Place.

Up next one of my all time favorite bands Black Sabbath, original line up minus Bill Ward on drums which was a crying shame. Replacement Tommy Clufetos is a stellar drummer and did a great job, but I'm all held up on having Bill Ward there as he is the original and is still alive.

What can you say about this show, well it was even better then I was expecting. Opening with "War Pigs" while everyone scrambled to there seats after being outside smoking the sweet leaf was funny to watch, although I too was one of them scrambling. Next up was "Into The Void" from Masters of Reality, this is the song where Geezer Butler's bass really seemed to kick in for me. Then next up is "Under The Sun/Every Day Comes And Goes" from Volume 4 and you realize holy fuck, this is Tony Iommi THE riff master playing old school Sabbath in front of you, that's when I really got in the groove realized this is a special event. Ozzy sounded good, all things considered, he don't move like he used to, but the man can still sing. This was a great show with one great song after another, even the new songs from the album 13 worked into the set well. I thought the setlist was great, be nice if they would change it up night after night, but who am I to say. One thing I could have done without was the drum solo, though it was good, I am not a drum solo kind of guy, unless of course it is Neil Peart, but I understand the reasoning for it, the old guys need a breather. And after the drum solo, the boys came back full of spirit, you could see the guys were having fun performing together again, that to me is always an awesome thing to see. The place was packed to the hilt. What I also really liked was the simple set up where the music did the talking, not flashy or anything, just great music. Good times!!!

Black Sabbath at Rexall Place Edmonton.

Setlist for Edmonton show.

War Pigs
Into the Void
Under the Sun/Every Day Comes and Goes
Snowblind
Age of Reason
Black Sabbath
Behind the Wall of Sleep
N.I.B.
End of the Beginning
Fairies Wear Boots
Rat Salad
Supernaut
Iron Man
God Is Dead?
Dirty Women
Children of the Grave

Encore:
Paranoid

T-shirt front.

T-shirt back.