Heaven and Hell

[vwall]

So- what's it gonna be-
Satan or God???
Where will YOU spend eternity????
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ok- enff horseshit!!

Ronnie James Dio, Tony Iommi, Geezer Butler and Vinny Appice will reunite for the first time in 15 years as Heaven and Hell Live to cast a dark spell over spring as the quartet tours the U.S
JOINING THEM WILL BE MEGADETH AND DOWN w/Lacuna Coil singer--

Anyone seen the Heaven and Hell tour yet?
Got reserve tickets last minute today for the show tonight!
Taking the wife and our 15 year old aspiring bass and guitar player!
Should be an interesting show.
Any reviews?


I'll let ya know how it was here in Houston.

[Dreamland_Rebel]

i saw it in NYC. it was fucking awesome!
going to go again later this month to maryland.

[Sinistas]

2 weeks. Can't wait!

[Nuclear Vampire]

I saw them in March and it was a fantastic show. Missed Down and a few Megadeth songs, but H&H was the real reason for going. RJD is the man. \m/

[vwall]

Yeah- RJD ROCKS!!!!

[Venomboy]

Executive Summary:
Metal. Pure metal. Ozzy who?

The Details:
I didn't get to see Machine Head due to the stupidly long line the General Admission ticket holders were forced to stand in. So by the time I got into the venue, Machine Head had just finished playing. I like some of the new stuff and really wanted to see them. However, the people watching was most entertaining. Here we find a guy in line, looking around nervously like a meth-head, uh, looks around, walks underneath a staircase, and begins to urinate. Nevermind that we're on Santa Clara street. A busy street. In public. But hey bro, when you gotta go, you just gotta whip it out, bro. Speaking of ho's, what about the two skanks behind my buddy and I? I thought fishnets and shorts went out of style in 1987. I'm happy to report that the back patch will never die. The loudmouth in the Oakley glasses and Harley vest is still talking about the best fuckin concert ever bro no it was the best fuckin concert bro they fuckin tore it it up bro now that's what I'm talkin bout fuckin dude I was there bro. Rrrow. Here comes the 50-ish lady looking ever enticing in a 1-piece tank top flared pants open back ensemble complete with clear Hustler pumps and helium breasts and biker boyfriend man does it jiggle and not in a good way. Sorry to interrupt, will everyone remove their studded belts and place them in this pile on the ground? If I was the devious sort, I would grab the pile, wrap them around me and become a leather encrusted warrior. Can U Deliver? Why yes, I can!

Tag with: scabies, infection, Hirax t-shirt, roach clip earring

Like I mentioned previously, I'll never know if Machine Head delivered, because they were done by the time I got in. The Megadeth backdrop is up. The lights go down. Megadeth. Hits the stage. I'll be the first to admit that Megadeth has disappointed me possibly moreso than Metallica in the past. Live and on record. Post RIP material, well, let's just say I think 95% of it is warm diarrhea on a paper plate, not hot shit on a silver platter. Well the band must have ingested a healthy dose of Pepto and Immodium. They were so tight, so full of...of...of...METAL. Glen Drover nailed the Friedman and Poland solos. He captured the phrasing, the dynamics. He knows when to use his neck pickup. He knows when to sweep. He knows if you've been bad or good. So let's be good. Not for me...but for GOODNESS sake. Mustaine doesn't have a great voice, but a distinct voice. He wasn't whiny or shrill. He delivered with attitude. Thankfully he didn't talk to the crowd much and focused on the music and the 1980's spandex tight guitar playing. During Holy Wars, he messed up a line; instead of singing first mistake, no more mistakes, he sang "no more mistakes, no more mistakes" then chuckled. When it came time to repeat it, he got it right and stressed the NO MORE MISTAKES with a smile. Speaking of smiling, Dave was grinning a lot up there. Maybe he received a truckload of his new Dean guitars?

Speaking of guitars, Mustaine played 2 Dean VMNT Deans: a silver one, and one with gear graphics in dazzling metallics. Glen Drover (brother of Ben Dover, cousin of Phil McCrackin?) played a white Dean Cadillac, blue Dean strat style with Dean Hardtail style headstock, and another Dean strat style guitar, metallic silver in color, all equipped with black hardware and black Kahler trems. I red on the Dean forum that his new Deans are copies of his trusty Charvel Model 5. Bassist James Lomenzo had a tight, punchy sound and alternated between picking and fingering his bass. He played a natural finish Explorer style bass; I couldn't make out the logo on the headstock. The sound of the band wasn't consistent. Mustaine's voice should have been louder in the mix and his guitar felt like it was pushed back in the mix; he's got a bit too much treble and not enough balls in his sound. Glen Drover's guitar was always audible and his solos were louder than Dave's. I was impressed with Dave and Company. They flat out tore it up onstage. Unfortunately their set got cut a bit short and Mustaine introduced Holy Wars as a possibility for his campaign song. I would pay to see them again. I think they are on the way to winning back their thrash crown. Setlist? From what I recall they played The System has Failed, Hangar 18, Peace Sells, Eye of the Tornado, Take No Prisoners, Symphony of Destruction, Washington is Next, and Holy Wars. Some geek project manager/Dream Theater fan probably texted the setlist to a Megadeth wiki last night.

Tag with: rrrepidemick; permeate them; I wanna watch the news; this is the news

Time for a bathroom break. Soft pretzels sound good too (not in the bathroom though). My oh my precious. What do we have here? A woman. Easily pushing 40. Black shiny platform boots. Spandex tiger stripe pants. Yellow and black. Wait, the black is sheer. And her man. Man oh man. High waisted baggy pants. Puffy silk shirt. Color Me Badd, it's 1991 all over again! +1 to the military guy in camo pants and Iron Maiden Dubai Desert Rock shirt. How can you beat Eddie on a camel? Is it me or are there a lot of midgets at this show? Vertically challenged...sonically empowered! Well, it was a Dio show...

Tag with: Theyrrrrrrrre Grrrrrrrreat!; keflex; lollipop kids

Speaking of wee folk...Black Sabbath! The real one, not the fake one that can only play 4 songs. The one with a singer. That sings. For real. He has time to sing because he doesn't have to visit his family in rehab. What can I say that others didn't say? I got really close to the stage. Iommi smiled a lot. Geezer's feet were glued to the floor. The stage, while huge and in Dubly, was impressive but the lights weren't utilized much. During Heaven and Hell there was some cool pyro and lighting but I wanted more. Many of Sabbath's songs are slow to mid tempo and I found myself a bit bored at times. I think more visual trickery would have livened things up a bit. Jar-Jar Dio? Hmm... The sound was damn near amazing compared to Megadeth. Everything was loud and proud. Iommi's guitar was a bit shrill at times (right! more treble luftennant!) but damn...1 guitar, 1 bass...full and heavy. Droppin' a duece indeed. You already know the setlist (hell, there's only 3 records to pick from). My favorites were Die Young, Neon Knights, I, and Heaven and Hell. Even the drum solo was digestable (Mike Portnoy, are you taking notes?).

Speaking of notes, Iommi's rubber hands graced 3 SGs, 1 being a creme Gibson with Floyd Rose tremolo, and 2 being JDs possibly? One looked like it had been sitting in the Osbourne mansion too long, completely scuffed, worn, and torn. Geezer stuck to his Fender basses (sadly no Ironbird or Eagles). The 64 year old Dio relied on hand gestures, skips, and grins to punctuate his dope rhymes and phat beat boxing. During the set, audience members were handing Dio a variety of handmade goodies including a magic marker drawn Dio shirt (7 year olds have to start sometime or another), a poster requesting Iommi's guitar picks (Dio fulfilled this request), and a bra thrown on stage which the 98 year old frontman gave to a roadie to try on. Tiger stripe spandex or man in bra...decisions, decisions...

Tag with: look out!; poet's blouse; moobs; prosthetics; moon = sun at night

Conclusion: Impressive. Worth the wait and the money. Megadeth, thrash innovators. Sabbath, legends.

[sl2lover]

Sabbath played a longer set than I woulda thought!
Megadeth is good as usual, but sound like shit as usual too.
I don't like Machinehead so....

[Nuclear Vampire]

Venomboy, that made my night!

[RacerX]

:ROTF: Venomboy needs to review more shows!


Hey, my band's got a gig coming up....

[Big D]

I'm going to this show in MN this coming Sunday, can't wait. I've heard nothing but great reviews of the tour so far.

[Emperor Nakoo Hiryuu]

Brilliant review, sir.

[SEEGERMANY]

Megadeth is good as usual, but sound like shit as usual too.

Now THAT'S a review!

[Venomboy]

Thanks.

I usually post my reviews here:

http://www.dinosaurrockguitar.com/phpbb/viewtopic.php?t=3124

http://www.dinosaurrockguitar.com/phpbb/viewtopic.php?t=38

http://www.dinosaurrockguitar.com/phpbb/viewtopic.php?t=264

I'll have more posted soon from past years.

[jk2171]

Went to the Saturday show here in Chicago. All 3 bands were great; Megadeth and Heaven and Hell really shined. Megadeth played great; very little talk from Dave since he was trying to cram as many songs as he could into the 45 min. They did get to do one encore though.

Heaven and Hell played and sounded great. A lot of energy for those old guys. My only complaint was they started the music for E5150 and you expected them to launch into Mob Rules as the opening song. They didn't. Other than that, it was very cool. Go check it out if you can!

[fr0sty]

I saw them in Minneapolis last night. Caught the last 2 or three songs from Machine Head. They really seemed impressed with the crowd and commanded them to "back the fuck up" and make a most pit. The crowd happily complied.

I have see megadeth twice in the past, both times opening for Iron Maiden. They always sounded like shit. Granted, I was never a huge fan. I will say symphony of destruction and peace sells sounded very good.

Venom boy pretty much summed up Heaven and Hell. Dio was funny laying the smack down on some dill holes trowing beer cups on stage. I never was much into Dio era Sabbath. To me Dio as a solo act was where it was at. The stage set was coo, but nothing earth shattering. They could have used some pyro. The only stuff on stage was a few jets of dry ice with red/orange lighting in them to simulate fire.

I was glad they played Heaven and Hell before the encore. My wife and son booked out as they started Neon Nights for the encore.