I’m staring at myself in the mirror as I layer on black eyeshadow, heavy black eyeliner and black mascara. I choose the darkest red lipstick I own, and apply to my lips generously. Happy with my suitably dark aesthetic, I pull on my ripped jeans, black tee, torn up flannel and my docs. Do I look the part? Do I look like a Black Sabbath fan yet? Does my pink hair give me away? I ask my husband, he shrugs “you look fine”. I’m satisfied.
I remember the first Sabbath concert I went to. I was 20, and I didn’t know their music. My then boyfriend (now husband) wanted to go, so together we made our way to Auckland to see one of his heroes perform live. I wasn’t expecting to enjoy it – metal isn’t (wasn’t) really my thing. But the hype, the excitement got me caught up. Shihad opened, it was badass. I remember Jon Toogood excitedly exclaiming something like “I’M OPENING FOR BLACK FUCKING SABBATH! OH MY GOD!” and everyone cheered. Soon Black Sabbath entered. The seated audience stood. War Pigs blew my mind. I was a changed woman – I liked metal now.
The reason I’m so concerned with my appearance is because last time around I tried to attend in a pink, polka dot dress. My boyfriend insisted I change, and was not convinced by my comments such as “no one will care! They’ll be looking at the band. We’re seated anyway. It doesn’t matter!” I put on black jeans and a black tee. When we arrived at the venue, and I looked out into an ocean of black clothes, I turned to my boyfriend and said thank you.
Black Sabbath formed in 1968 and released their first album in 1970. So this means that they’ve been going for 48 years. Their last album was released in 2013, and while that was three years ago, and they’ve had their breaks during their time, it’s still bloody impressive. Front man Ozzy Osbourne turns 68 this year. He is known for his bizarre behaviour. Biting off the heads of bats and birds, doing copious amounts of drugs, drinking far too much alcohol, partying like a fucking rock star. He’s a caricature. He’s unstoppable.
At the moment, the lives of musical heroes seem to be standing on a precarious ledge. Earlier this year fans were devastated by the death of David Bowie, Motorhead singer and songwriter Lemmy within the same month, and just a few weeks ago, Prince. The musical genius’ of the 60s, 70s and 80s feel like they’re all growing old and falling away. It’s surprising when looking at Ozzy’s history, that he’s still standing. In the taxi on the way to the concert last Saturday, I was discussing this with the taxi driver. “It’ll be him and cockroaches” he said. “What?” “Ozzy Osbourne. He’ll survive the apocalypse. Him and the cockroaches – and nothing else.”
We arrive; I buy a War Pigs tee and put it on straight away. This time we’re in standing. This time I’ll be in the thick of it, in the atmosphere. It’s exciting. There’s a mix of old and young attending, but most seem drunk. A lady stumbles towards me as we head towards the gate. My friend comments that the hordes of people ambling towards the venue are like zombies from the Walking Dead.
Black Sabbath is one of the most influential bands of all time. They spearheaded their way to the top, fast, and developed a new genre. There’s a grocery list of bands which cite Black Sabbath as a direct influence on their work - everything from Metallica, to Nirvana, to The Smashing Pumpkins - pretty much any heavy rock band since the 70s. Very few bands make it this big and there are even less that can take credit for creating something totally new.
The lights dim. The crowd begins to scream. Up on the big screens a heavily CGI video begins to play. In the centre of a dark room is a black egg. Out from the egg bursts a devil. It screams, twists its head exorcist style, and stamps its foot, and ignites a fire-y explosion. He breathes fire into the camera, and out of the flames appears the name Black Sabbath. And suddenly, the band is on the stage, and they’re playing the start of the song Black Sabbath. Ozzy is in a long black coat, sequins adorning his shoulders. His eyes are thick with eyeliner; his hair is long and glorious. It is epic and ridiculous and heavy handed all at once. It’s perfect. The crowd is going nuts.
They weren’t always intending to be so dark. Black Sabbath started out as a blues rock band by the name of Earth. However, after being mistaken for another band named Earth, they decided to change. There was a horror film showing at the time, titled Black Sabbath, and the bassist (Geezer Butler), noted that people paid a lot of money to see horror films. Soon after, the song Black Sabbath was written, and the new band formed, beginning down a much darker road than originally planned. Their music infuses rock, blues, jazz with heavy distortion to create their particular sound - and honestly, there’s really nothing else out there like it. Even more so, the music was so incredibly different to everything else in the 60’s.
Christian circles have labelled Black Sabbath a Satanist band, and while Osbourne denies those claims, stating that he is a member of the Catholic Church, the band has definitely used that infamy to promote their doomy style of music. The Auckland concert in 2013 Osbourne would thank the crowd politely between each song. What really stuck with me was his comment “god bless you” before launching into singing the song God is Dead. It’s such a contrast to the image curated by the band – there they all are in their black and leather, and there’s the devil on the screen, and here’s the dark creepy music with the sinister lyrics… and here’s the friendly (although unbalanced) lead singer blessing and thanking us politely for attending his humble concert.
Between songs Osbourne introduces the band members: keyboardist Adam Wakeman, founding bassist Geezer Butler, drummer Tommy Clufetos, and founding guitarist Tony Iommi. Each member is met with cheers from the crowd, but none more than Iommi. He is considered one of the greatest guitarists of all time, known for his legendary riffs. Watching him play is magical. He smiles and waves a hand while the crowd screams for him.
At the end of the concert there’s an encore, obviously. Osbourne makes the crowd chant “one more song” before returning to the stage to play Paranoid. The concert ends. As we’re leaving the venue I feel a sense of sadness. As the name of the tour suggests, this was the end. This was my last opportunity to see Black Sabbath live. Sure, their tour has extended further, and this wasn’t the last show they are ever going to play, but it’s most certainly the last concert they’re going to play in New Zealand. And it was good, but not as good as the one in 2013.
Perhaps I was too sober for the night. I didn’t drink. Maybe to be in the crowd, you need to be drunk to deal with the crap, to ignore the creeps. It was a good concert. War Pigs is still my (and everybody else’s) favourite.
Goodbye, Black Sabbath. The End.