Black Sabbath

Hammersmith Odeon 8th / 24th May 1980 Pete Makowski, Sounds, 24 May 1980 THE SABS are back. And after a series of false starts to their British tour due to drummer Bill Ward contracting viral pneumonia they are now in full swing judging by their spectacular performance at the Hammy Odeon.The denim and leather clad children of the grave were out in full force and outside the venue the regular pirates were touting four year old tour t-shirts at ludicrous prices.Inside it was evident that this, the second of four nights at the venue, was an absolute sell out, proving that Sabbath's lengthy absence from the scene and change in line up have had no detrimental effects on their popularity. In fact the inclusion of Ronnie James Dio has pulled in some new faces from the Rainbow (band) camp.The evening's entertainment kicked off with a ripping set from Girlschool, who for the uneducated are a four piece all crumpet band from South London who have more balls than yer average NWOBHM bands.The group – Kim McAuliffe (rivvum guitar/vocals), Di Williams (bass/vocals), Kelly Johnson (lead guitar/vocals) and Denise Dufort (drums) – put on a good show winning the support of the kids who were on their feet by the second number, a thunderous version of ZZ Top 's 'Tush'. They worked hard and received a well deserved encore.Right from the start Sabbath had the audience in the palm of their hands, opening the set with a blazing version of 'War Pigs' with Ronnie Dio being welcomed as if he'd been with the band since their inception. His sheer presence has given a whole new lease of life to the group and this came over in the energy they put into the material off the new album which the audience were obviously familiar with as they were singing along with the new single 'Neon Knights' (which incidentally will be backed with a live version of 'Children Of The Sea', recorded tonight).The set featured a well balanced selection of old and new material. The old included 'Sweet Leaf, 'Iron Man' and an awesome version of 'Black Sabbath', all handled competently by Dio, no-'sone called for Ozzy Osbourne which is final proof of success innit.?The new material revealed how much the group have improved musically, especially Tony lommi whose guitar work had the flair and dynamics that weren't particularly evident before, lommi played some dazzling geetar in 'Heaven And Hell' and even included some jazz improvisation. Bill Ward showed us all he was fully recovered in a solo that actually had yours truly captivated thanks to some neat laser accompaniment.Thanks to the good ol' GLC the group couldn't use their full light show but that didn't really matter as there was enough entertainment coming off the stage to compensate for the fancy stuff.Yeah, the Sabbs are back, you better believe it chief, and they do a bloody amazing version of 'Paranoid', what more do you want? © Pete Makowski, 1980 Ronnie James Dio – Vocals Tony Iommi – Guitar Geezer Butler – Bass Bill Ward – Drums Geoff Nicholls – Keyboards Typical Set List: War Pigs, Neon Knights, N.I.B., Lonely Is The Word, Sweet Leaf Drum Solo, Sweet Leaf, Children Of The Sea, Black Sabbath, Heaven And Hell, Iron Man, Instrumental ???, Guitar Solo, Sabbath Bloody Sabbath (instrumental), Orchid, Die Young, Paranoid, Children Of The Grave, Lonely Is The Word. Also saw them at Reading 83 here

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