August 4, 2012 by A.S. Van Dorston

I really don’t get how anyone could have chosen to see the Black Keys over Black Sabbath last night at Lollapalooza. Don’t get me wrong, Black Keys are good. I’ve enjoyed them the three times I’ve seen them over the past 7 years. But there was no choice to be made, as there is just one Black to rule them all. Black Fucking Sabbath.

Any fears that Black Sabbath would not deliver should have been settled with the glowing reports of their May 19th hometown gig in Birmingham, and their June 10th performance at London’s Download fest. My only worry was that Tony Iommi wouldn’t be well enough to make the transatlantic trip, given he’s being treated for cancer. He made it, and Sabbath were firing on all cylinders, starting with the first track of their first album, devil’s tri-tones and all, “Black Sabbath.” I was excited to hear another favorite from that album, “The Wizard,” a bluesy harmonica-driven song with some brilliant drum breaks.

While Bill Ward’s swinging jazz-influenced drumming was an essential part to what distinguished the band from other proto-metal of the day, I was not disappointed to see Tommy Clufetos taking the chair behind the kit, as his youthful energy played a large part in the show’s success. Clufetos has drummed for Alice Cooper, Rob Zombie, and Ozzy’s solo gigs. He smiled (with crazy eyes to rival Ozzy’s) through the whole thing, and you could practically see the thought balloon above his head, “This is the greatest fucking gig of my life.” While drum solos can be tedious, his was completely amazing.

Thanks in large part to the previous gigs, the band sounded well-rehearsed and tight. Geezer Butler was flawless and full of energy, and Tony Iommi didn’t act like he was ill at all. While he mostly stayed put, he played brilliantly on his crucifix-adorned fretboard. Ozzy can be a bit of a wildcard. The man very well may have suffered multiple drug-induced brain damage and/or strokes since the early 80s. He’s probably died more than once by now. On the Osbournes reality show a decade ago, he was so liquored and drugged up you could barely understand what he was saying most of the time. So I was pleasantly surprised that Ozzy sounded as good as he did, thanks in part no doubt to his steady stretch of sobriety in recent years. He started missing more notes as the show progressed, but give the old Prince of Darkness a break!

The setlist was nearly perfect, as they played just about all my favorites from their first seven albums, even including the underrated “Dirty Women” from Technical Ecstasy (1976). There could always be more, of course, like “Hole In The Sky,” “Supertzar” and “Supernaut” in particular. But riff after riff after mind-melting classic riff, it was a clinic on reaffirming Iommi’s status as one of the greatest guitarists of all time, and Black Sabbath as the creators of heavy metal with elements that inspired nearly every one of its sub-genres, from of course doom, thrash and speed metal to black metal and pretty much every variation of stoner rock. My companion-in-rock Tomiiko was in from Oakland and promised she’d lose her mind if they played “Faeries Wear Boots.” Lost mind accomplished!

There’s no shortage of reunion shows and it’s easy to take them for granted. But it is pretty much a miracle (or gift from Satan) that I got to see Black Sabbath playing the classics in 2012, and in such ass-kicking form. I missed their reunion nearly a dozen years ago at Ozzfest, but all accounts was that they were far better this time around. It’ll be interesting to see how the new studio album turns out. I’d say it was the greatest reunion show I’ve ever seen with the exception of the first of the three Stooges reunion gigs I’ve seen since 2007.

Black Sabbath
The Wizard
Behind the Wall of Sleep
N.I.B.
Into the Void
Under the Sun
Snowblind
War Pigs
Electric Funeral
Sweet Leaf
Symptom of the Universe
Drum Solo
Iron Man
Fairies Wear Boots
Dirty Women
Children of the Grave
Encore:
Paranoid

(Sabbath Bloody Sabbath intro)

The last time I went to Lollapalooza several years ago to see The Stooges, I didn’t think I’d go back. It was muddy, stinky, dirty, over-crowded, and chaotic. But credit goes to the organizers, who seem to have fine-tuned it every year so that it was a well-oiled machine. Plentyful drink stations with reasonably priced $2 waters in cardboard cartons, good quality food stands including Kuma’s Corner, well-planned schedules and maps, and most importantly, vastly improved sound systems from the last couple times I attended Lolla. Black Sabbath’s sound and mix was exquisite, and that’s such a rare thing for large festivals that usually sound like shit and mud in a blender at best.

You couldn’t drag me back to attend all three days if my life depended on it, but Friday’s lineup was pretty damn good. We started our day with yet another “Black” band, Black Angels. I love their psych sound with a Stooges/Loop influence, even though I can’t really recognize individual songs. I’ve seen Australia’s Tame Impala twice before, and yesterday they were truly inspired. Now that they’re road-tested, their performance is so much better, nearly measuring up to Sweden’s Dungen, the closest comparison I can think of for their style of psychedelic rock. However, they are also incorporating heavier guitar tones at time, approaching a crunchier stoner rock sound with some strong bluesy Hendrix/Cream influences. I can’t wait to hear their upcoming album Lonerism, out Oct. 9 and previewed here.

The Afghan Whigs played an excellent set of 90s indie classics, with Greg Dulli looking relatively trim and fit, and thrilled to be there as he nearly pranced the stage at some points. Most attention was focused over years on Dulli’s louche persona and lyrics that deconstruct sexual politics of soul music and wallow in the apocalyptic angst of Joy Division. But their secret weapon has always been Rick McCollum’s inventive guitar leads that really made them a great band. They also used to do a great job interpreting both classic and modern soul songs, from “Band Of Gold” to TLC’s “Creep.” Tomiiko noticed that they did a great cover of Frank Ocean’s “Murder She Wrote,” and I didn’t even realize it. It was a nice touch, and maybe even a promising reminder that they are still present, still listening to new music, and perhaps might write some new songs? They closed their set with a juicy, long version of “Birth Of The Cool.”

Those who heard my 2010 mix or seen their almost frightening videos may have thought that South Africa’s Die Antwoord’s “Enter The Ninja,” “Rich Bitch” and “Jou Ma Se Poes In’N FishPaste Jar” were bizarre but amusing novelty songs. They are that and more. They may project an image of South Africa’s version of tattoed, cracked hillbillies, but they are just savvy artists and entertainers, with a great stage show. Co-emcee Yo-Landee has a hard time being intimidatingly weird on stage when she’s just cute as hell, with her chipmunk-on-helium voice, skittering around the stage like a squirrel and shaking and smacking her micro-booty adorned with pink boy-shorts. While their second album, Ten$Ion, was a big disappointment, the performances of songs like “I Fink You Freeky” makes me want to revisit it.

The blazing sun in the 90+ degree heat was so oppressive that Kevin Parker of Tame Impala said if the guitar sound seemed weird, it was because his pedal melted. We had to take a break and chill in the shade and eat and hydrate, so we skipped Band Of Skulls, The Shins, and M83, and went to the Black Sabbath stage a half hour early to get a decent spot, as there were people camping out in front of the stage all day, subjecting themselves to whoever was playing so as not to give up their prime spot for Sabbath. Their tenacity paid off with what may have been (for those unable to fly to the U.K. and Europe) a once in a lifetime show. Even if one only came for Sabbath, it would be worth the $95 ticket price. Before Lollapalooza was announced, I was seriously considering flying to France to see them at Hellfest, which would have cost six times more. I’m glad I didn’t, as that gig was just Ozzy & Friends, and this was pretty much as close to the real deal as you can get. I imagine the performance was better than pretty much anything they did from 1976-78. Long live Black fucking Sabbath!