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| photo: Ross Halfin Photography |
Black Sabbath launched its farewell tour – a.k.a. “The End” – at the CenturyLink Center in Omaha, Nebraska on Wednesday.
The group performed a 14-song set featured nine tracks from the band’s first two albums: 1970’s self-titled debut and “Paranoid” – and included the rarity “Hand Of Doom”, which hasn’t been played live since 1978.
"Singer Ozzy Osbourne's voice wasn't great,” writes Kevin Coffey of Omaha.com. “It wasn't awful, really. It simply wasn't very good. On Wednesday, he was sometimes flat. He was sometimes pitchy, occasionally off-key. He almost never hit the notes he was looking for.
"It was the first show of the tour, so maybe his voice will warm up. Maybe they're still working out the sound in his monitors. Maybe it's just that he's 67 years old."
Coffey reveals the band changed up the setlist during the show.
“It's not clear what the cause was, but Sabbath also shuffled around its original setlist and skipped three songs,” he writes. “After Osbourne and Tony Iommi consulted on stage, ‘Children Of The Grave’ was moved from the end of the setlist. They then skipped ‘God Is Dead?,’ ‘Under The Sun’ and ‘After Forever’ and finished the show with ‘Dirty Women’ and ‘Paranoid.’ The show came in 30 minutes under it's originally scheduled runtime.”
Three original Sabbath members – including bassist Geezer Butler – were once again joined by Osbourne’s solo drummer Tommy Clufetos as Bill Ward continues to sit out a reunion with his bandmates over various issues.
Butler may have reignited a feud with Ward this week over the dispute as to his status for the “13” and farewell tours, with claims the drummer is not healthy enough to participate – which brought a quick response from Ward.
“Not the truth, Geezer. Simply not the truth”, tweeted Ward.
The first North American leg of the farewell tour wraps up with two shows at New York’s Madison Square Garden late next month.
See also:
Black Sabbath feud reignites over failed reunion attempt
VIDEO: Black Sabbath rehearse rarities for farewell tour
Black Sabbath to issue unreleased songs on farewell tour CD
Black Sabbath reveal farewell tour drummer in rehearsal video
Search Black Sabbath at hennemusic
