BRISTOW, Va. — Black Sabbath still forges impressive heavy metal.
The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductees (Class of 2006) took the stage here to flashing red lights and the sound of sirens, thundering drums and a devilish laugh — "Ha, ha, ha!" — emitted unmistakably by frontman Ozzy Osbourne.
Quickly, the band lit into War Pigs from the band's seminal 1970 album Paranoid, the beginning of a by-the-numbers tour through the heavy metal pioneers' past and present.
Over the next two hours, bassist Geezer Butler, guitarist Tommy Iommi and singer Ozzy Osbourne — three-fourths of the original quartet — and new drummer Brad Wilk (ex-Rage Against the Machine) leaned heavily on tracks hammered out more than 40 years ago. Also welded into the set: four new songs from the first Ozzy-fied Sabbath studio release in 35 years, the album 13, which hit No. 1 after its release June 11.
"Thank you for helping us finally getting a Number One record in America, man," Osbourne told the crowd early on. "We couldn't have done it without you."
As is common with so-called legacy acts, a few concert-goers skittered off to the restroom or concession stand when a new selection was introduced. But most listeners deemed the latest material — Age of Reason, End of the Beginning,Methademic and God is Dead?, all from 13 — to be of similar metallurgical makeup.
They performed in front of a backdrop that resembled the Batcave with four stalagtite-separated video screens. Butler tended his stage right territory, intently providing heart-stopping bass lines with the appropriate amount of sludge. Some of his fastest finger work came during the pounding two-fer Behind the Wall of Sleep and N.I.B., both from Sabbath's eponymous first album.
Meanwhile, Iommi stalked the stage with purpose. Like the others, dressed in dark clothing but primped in a black leather overcoat, the guitarist delivered dinosaur rock riffs aplenty.
And his swift shredding propelled an instrumental jam that turned into a solo for Wilk, who subbed for longtime drummer Bill Ward in the studio before the tour. His hard-pounding attack won over the crowd and he wooed any laggards with a pound-and-response routine to end the solo.
Osbourne, now as much an icon for his reality TV hijinks as his heavy metal bona fides, was commendable on vocals, if not as capable as in the past. He relied heavily on his teleprompter, as is common among singers these days.
When free to cavort, Ozzy led a virtual hard rock aerobics class, running in place and hopping and coaching the crowd to clap and wave their arms. Three times he took to his knees to bow before Iommi, as the guitarist threw forth transportive streams of notes. Several times he dunked his head into a blue bucket of water before tossing it on the audience near the set's end.
Speaking of the audience, there were the thousands donning black T-shirts with Black Sabbath and Ozzy designs in the packed 10,000-seat Jiffy Lube Live ampitheater. Thousands more watched from the lawn.
Ages ran from those in their 70s to pre-teens with their parents. "It was fantastic!" said Pat Harris, 27, of Waldorf, Md. "Ozzy and the boys were so crisp. Brad Wilk brought his A game to show us traditionalists not to worry about the future of the band. Hands down, the best show I have been to in three years."
This was just the third date of a global tour that includes more than a dozen North American dates, as well as stops in South America, Europe and ending in the U.K.
These heavy metal dinosaurs still walk the earth and, as evident here, are far from extinct.
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