Black Sabbath @ P.O.P.B., Paris - December 2nd, 2013

Black Sabbath had long been one of my favourite bands and it's only now that I get to see them live. Sure, I've seen Ozzy before. And I've seen the Dio version of the band under their new name Heaven & Hell. But since they reunited a little over fifteen years ago I was never able to see the original Black Sabbath.

It looked like it wasn't going to happen, too, because after it was originally scheduled, the tour had to be scrapped because of Tony Iommi's cancer diagnosis. Thankfully, he is responding to the treatment and the dates could be rescheduled and I was finally able to see the true Sabbath.

Of course, it can be argued that I still haven't as Bill Ward isn't part of this reunion, as while this is definitely a sore point, this is close enough.

Not that Tommy Clufetos is worthy of his seat, mind you. He is bland, generic and., get his... too heavy. You read that right. His brute force and rigidity could have been a problem in a smaller venue but thankfully it worked for this arena.

But enough about the drummer! After a flaccid set by Uncle Acid & the Deadbeats, whose records I enjoy but on this occasion were boring and uninspired, it is time for Geezer, Ozzy and Tony to take the stage. And from the opener War Pigs until the end, the whole arena went insane.

It was everything I hoped it would be. Ozzy struggled a bit here and there, which should squash the rumours of backing tapes, but really it was glorious. They played a few songs from their latest record "13" as they are touring in its support, but the bulk of the set was classics from their first four albums. 

The general admission section was just one constant wave moving back and forth and left and right, during the whole hour and a half that the show lasted. So much so that I had to move back a few rows... I guess I'm getting too old for this. But the music... finally getting to hear those songs live... Into the Void, Snowblind, Behind The Wall Of Sleep, Children Of The Grave and closer Paranoid... 

Finally this is something I can check off my bucket list.