Black Sabbath live in Vienna

Written by The Rock Radio staff, June 2005 © The Rock Radio

"Ai, ai, ai... I can't fucking hear you... Oooohooohoooohoooo... Make some fucking noise". With the houselights shining bright, the voice of the Prince of Darkness makes its way through the Stadthalle in Vienna, Austria on June 20, 2005.

Black Sabbath are back - and the main question is: How is Ozzy doing? Is he still able to deliver a good rock show or is he just the MTV-generated comedy figure? Well sort of both. Yes, there were elements of stand up comedy - especially when Ozzy jumps around the stage like a crazy frog. But the longer the show runs, the fitter he gets as if by a miracle. And, torwards the end, when he sings anthems like "Paranoid" paired with his famous "Ai, ai, ai..." his screams take you back to the good old seventies.

While it took Ozzy just the opener, "NIB", to both sweat like a pig and present the 5,000 fans his bare ass, guitarist Tony Iommi remained cool and unsweaty delivering his ass-kicking riffs with the energy of a teenager.

In a no-nonsense enviroment - just Bill Ward's Drum kit with double bass drums baring the Sabbath winged demon logo, and Geezer and Tony's trademark wall of Laney and Ampeg amps - the original Sabbath lineup stormed through 102 minutes of the finest material such as "Symptom of the Universe", "Iron Man" and "Into the Void".

Supported by Alan Wakeman (YES that's Rick's Son) on keyboards, Ozzy & co. managed to entertain aging Sabbath fans in their mid-fifties - wearing their no longer black "Sabbath Bloody Sabbath" shirts - and 13 year old screeming girls in their brand new "The Osbournes" t-shirts. Paranoia...

Click here for photos of the Vienna concert

The setlist was as follows:

NIB
After Forever
War Pigs
Dirty Women
Fairies Wear Boots
Symptom of the Universe / Sweet Leaf / Electric Funeral
Iron Man
Into the Void
Black Sabbath
The Wizard
Sabbath Bloody Sabbath
Paranoid

Encore
Children of the Grave