April 22nd

 

 My ticket and the reviews from the local newspapers for the Black Sabbath concert at Rexall Place in Edmonton on April 22nd, 2014. Opening the show was Reignwolf. Awesome concert!

July 16th

  July 16th, 1999 I was in Vancouver to see Ozzfest at Thunderbird Stadium in Vancouver. I got to see the original line-up of Black sabbath with a shit load of other bands such as Slayer, Primus, System Of A Down, Rob Zombie, Slipknot and bunch of others.

March 2nd

  March 2nd, 2016 saw me at Rexall Place in Edmonton catching, what was Black Sabbath's final tour. Sadly Bill Ward the original drummer for Black Sabbath wasn't in the lineup. Still, this was a great show, especially having row 2 on the floor for this one. Opening the show was Rival Sons.

Black Sabbath Live in Edmonton March 2nd 2016

Wednesday night I was off to see Black Sabbath play here in Edmonton. This was my third concert in six days, and all the bands I saw were British bands. This was my third time seeing the Ozzy led Black Sabbath in concert. This date was the make-up date for the show that was cancelled a few hours before show time at the end of January, when Ozzy was diagnosed with sinusitis. Didn't take long for them to reschedule, thank goodness. As this is the last time Black Sabbath will be touring, hence why the name of this tour is called The End. I was really stoked about this show as I scored row 2 on the floor for this show a week before the show. I haven't had a good seat for a big rock n' roll concert in a long time.

Opening the show was Long Beach, California band Rival Sons. I had never heard the band before this show, and have to say I thought they were quite good. Lead singer Jay Buchanan can scream like no other. Their sound is a mix of heavy heavy Led Zeppelin and a heavy Alice In Chains, kind of a classic rock sound but refreshing. I'm not too sure about the crowd reaction, as it's hard to tell when your in row 2 and would have to turn around to see what's going on. But I know the people around me seemed to be getting off on them. Before they started the stands weren't very full but by the time they were done they had filled up quite a bit. Their guitar player Scott Holiday had a cool stage presence and was very good on the guitar. All and all a pretty decent half hour opening set from Rival Sons.

Rival Sons at Rexall Place in Edmonton.

After a short break it was time for the mighty Black Sabbath. Again on this tour The End it was three original members Ozzy, Tony Iommi and Geezer Butler but sadly no Bill Ward, filling in for him was Tommy Clufetos who plays in Ozzy's solo band.

The show started with the song Black Sabbath which was fucking awesome, Ozzy looked like he was still battling some illness, as between verses he would cough and head to the bucket by the drums and spit in the bucket and drink some tea and water. He did ths a few times during the first two songs. Could have just been an itch in his throat because as the show went on he seemed to come around and wasn't coughing. I thought Ozzy sounded pretty damn good on vocals. But who really stole the show was Tony Iommi, but then maybe it was just because for an hour and a half he stood no more then ten feet away from me playing all the classic metal riffs that I grew up on, just amazing to be that close and watch him play. Geezer on bass held it together as he always does, some of them bass riffs are so intricate and heavy.

I really liked the setlist for this years tour more then the last time I saw them less then two years ago. Playing half a dozen songs from the classic 1970 Sabbath album Paranoid. They didn't do any songs from their last release 13, which was fine by me as all I really wanted to hear were the classics, I we definitely got that. The song Snowblind was a favorite for me, but there really wasn't a bad song in the set. Also it was cool to see that the band looked to be having fun on stage, as during the song War Pigs, Ozzy fucked up a bit with the words and you could see Tony and Ozzy looking at each other smiling and laughing. So nice to see a band just being human, fuck up and all, just a band fucking jamming it out. No super fancy light show, they did have a huge screen behind them, but other then that just a great heavy metal show. They closed out the show this time with the encore of Paranoid. An awesome show and worth every penny. Good times!!!

One more thing, to the asshole behind me somewhere on the floor, are you fucking stupid. You throwing your 50 dollar Sabbath lithograph poster that came in a hard shell cardboard tube could have been very dangerous. Luckily it only hit me in the shoulder and deflected off me and hit the guy next to me in the face. Thankfully no damage done, but it could have been a whole lot worse. What made me laugh was when the tube did hit the floor in front of me, the guy that picked it up and opened it and saw that the poster was still in it, turned around and held it in the air and thanked the asshole for the free poster. When the show was done, who shows up but the guy that the poster belonged to, asking for it back. Buddy that had the tube now, a fairly big guy, told the asshole to fucking beat it. I thought something might breakout, but nothing happened, buddy just walked away grumbling.

Black Sabbath setlist for the Edmonton show.

Edit this setlist | More Black Sabbath setlists

Black Sabbath at Rexall Place in Edmonton.

T-shirt front.

T-shirt back.

Limited Edition CD only available at the show, featuring for live songs and four songs from the 13 album sessions.

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.