If you think about the state of rock music in the late ‘60s, there were dreamy, drugged out songs about going to San Francisco and wearing flowers in your hair, but across the pond in England a band called Black Sabbath was singing about death and destruction. Sabbath’s down-tuned music specialized in horror, and the evil, dreary opening chords of their self-titled debut album created a foundation for their sound, which eventually inspired what we classify today as “heavy metal.”
Yet, the band and their success has been nothing short of rocky. With frequent lineup changes, the instability of Ozzy Osbourne and a lot of drug and alcohol abuse, the band was nearly destroyed. But they’ve since buried the past, reuniting on and off since 1997, and are in the midst of a farewell tour, ending–hopefully–on a bright note.
But it wouldn’t be a Black Sabbath tour without a smidge of controversy, right? Ozzy and fellow founding members Tony Iommi and Geezer Butler round out the band’s lineup, but sadly due to contract issues, original drummer Bill Ward refuses to participate in a Sabbath reunion. Ward is replaced with Tommy Clufetos, who is quite familiar with Sabbath’s classic songs, for he’s the drummer in Ozzy’s solo band and has been filling in for Sabbath since 2012. And expect the band to focus on those classic songs from their early years, with the meat of their set list including “Paranoid,” “War Pigs,” “N.I.B.” and “Iron Man.”
It would be easy for Sabbath to capitalize on their momentum, recording new material and touring, but the band isn’t interested. Instead, the band is going to end it where it all began, in the industrial working-class town of Birmingham, U.K. When he was asked in a recent interview with Rolling Stone if the tour has been emotional, Ozzy explained: “It’s sad that it’s the last tour, but this is the best fun I’ve ever had.” But Ozzy must know better than anybody that all good things must come to an end, and that great endings sometimes lead to even better beginnings.
MGM Grand, 7:30 p.m. Sept. 17, $49.50-$175 plus tax and fee. 800.745.3000 Ticketmaster