The smoke crawled low to the ground like a marine in boot camp. The sounds of the record-setting audience at the Nutter Center in Dayton, OH ignited like an atomic bomb. Black Sabbath rose through the floor to "take the stage after their twenty- ear nap." The sirens rang out in the arena and the war began between being old and being legendary. Sabbath was not ready to be old yet. "War Pigs" reminded the audience that being a legend is like riding a bike: if you can do it at all, you will always be able to do it.
Definitely back with a vengeance, Ozzy and his crew proved that they could still hold with any of the new guys in rock today. Buckets of water slung on the eager crowd, spontaneous convulsing by the Madman, and endless screaming all become routine during the course of the show. The most significant sidekick to the band was the outstanding light show. The pyrotechnic effects were incredible! The highlight of this eye candy occurred during the properly titled song "Black Sabbath." Gothic chandeliers lowered from the sky, fires combusted all around like the Olympic torch on speed, and the lights and smoke worked together to put the crowd in one scary setting. The bells tolled, and you knew at that point that you and everyone else in the Nutter Center were under Sabbath's spell. This is the mark of a great band. (And yes, they played "lnonman.")
Pantera was the predecessor to Black Sab- bath, and they did one hell of a job pumping up the crowd for the Ozz-man. Playing many of the tracks off the live "101 Proof" album, the masters of metal certainly awoke the crowd after the Deflones performance. (l'm sorry to say that l was disappointed with the Deftones, despite the fact that l liked their studio albums. The mix was terrible, which was out of their hands, and the band just could not get the crowd hyped up like Pantera did.) l met someone that made acquaintances with Pantera's highly talented drummer, Vinnie Paul. Kristal was one of the lucky guests of the band to go backstage after the show. Hopefully she won't forget to share the wealth of some pictures and auto~ graphs with me! Major highlight: "This Love." Major letdown: Phil talked too much, but hey, l would take some breaks between songs too if l screamed like that! All in all, great show. lt was definitely worth the drive to get to see one of the bands my dad told me about seeing when he was young. What am I gonna tell my kids?