Tony Iommi star of Black Sabbath reunion show, says Australian review

It has been four decades since Black Sabbath and the Prince of Darkness hit the city of churches and thanks to guitarist Tony Iommi, it was worth the wait.

Arriving onstage shortly after 8pm, Black Sabbath, unlike its fans, were after an early night. Air-raid sirens rang out as the opening chords of War Pigs signalled the return of the hard rock juggernauts.

Iconic frontman Ozzy Osbourne shuffled around the stage putting on his best vocal performance of the night for the opening track, letting the crowd handle every second verse of the song. The stage was minimal. A handful of speakers backed by three screens focusing on Osbourne, Iommi and bassist Geezer Butler. It was a greatest hits set to die for.

Snowblind, Black Sabbath, Fairies Wear Boots, Into the Void and Children of the Grave were but a few that had Ozzy, and the fans screaming. His vocals were quite often all over the place - for a man who has made a career out of singing along with the melody of the song, the frontman’s pitch jumped around as quick as Butler’s fretwork. With his vocals way up in the mix alongside Iommi’s guitar it was very easy to hear the bum notes. But no one cared - it was Sabbath. Fans were in the palm of Osbourne’s hand as he encouraged them to wave, scream and “go crazy”.

In between songs he was almost inaudible as his thick Birmingham accent washed over the audience, before the faint title of a song could be heard as an introduction.

Tommy Clufetos did a fine job standing in for Bill Ward, adding a thrilling drum solo to the hit-filled set. Osbourne continually rushed to a bucket of iced water in front of the kit to cool down in between songs before throwing it on the vocal audience as he left the stage.

The band returned for the finale of Paranoid, which cemented Iommi as the star of the show.
His seminal guitar lines are the basis for any hard rock act these days so it was no wonder the crowd saved its biggest roar for the veteran guitarist as he left the stage.

It was loud, dark and left your ears ringing for hours after the show and despite Osbourne not being at the top of his game, all was forgiven for these masters of darkness.

Sam Kelton for AdelaideNow, 8 May 2013