Black Sabbath is the band that started it all, they say. Hard Rock was given a new, darker edge and became Heavy Metal as a result of the efforts of these four Brits: Ozzy Osbourne, Geezer Butler, Bill Ward and father of the Metal guitar Tony Iommi. Every Hard Rock/Metal musician has found inspiration in their music and most likely all have played a Sabbath song or two in their bands. Today their music holds a level of power still and is listened to with reverence. History was to be made at one of the Ozzfest concerts when the original members made an appearance (sans Bill Ward) and performed a couple of tunes to the elation of everyone present. Shortly after that monumental event, the discussions started and the wounds mended. From there a full world tour was planned for Black Sabbath's official Reunion. The final shows were recorded for a live CD release and footage from these shows culled together to give the fans something to own as a reminder on video. The DVD is shot very well and the legendary songs sound pretty good considering there was not a lot of preparation time before the tour. However, I felt there were a number of concerns which proved this DVD to be a larger disappointment than I expected.
My first concern was that the full show was not delivered on DVD, as opposed to what is on the CD. Usually this is the other way around, although this may be due to the DVD being an older release. As a result, you get the typical "hits" one expects to see at such a show. But here is where the producer of the DVD should be fired: breaking up each song for some length is interview dialogue. When I watched this and would get into a song, it would break to Ozzy or Geezer talking about the old days. While this is fantastic information to have, my response was a resounding "HOLY CRAP". It made watching from this point on almost annoying, for you never knew if you were going to be able to enjoy a full song; and don't worry, you wont get the chance before someone is talking. The interviews should have been a separate menu option for the viewer to choose, to allow them to feel as if they were at a Sabbath show. Regarding the interview footage, it seems as though Ozzy was holding his normal self back. He was not as funny or animated as we know he can be. There are some interesting comments from the band on their history and I feel a full documentary segment would have been quite enjoyable. There are also far too many audience shots and I fail to see the reason for that.
This DVD is more for the Black Sabbath fanatic. While I like them, I will settle for the live concert CD due to the problems I have with the film. It is 2 hours in length and maybe others will be a little more tolerant of it than I was. I admit that it was nice to see the original lineup performing despite all of this.
Song Listing
1. Program Start
2. War Pigs
3. N.I.B.
4. Electric Funeral
5. Fairies Wear Boots
6. Into The Void
7. Sweet Leaf
8. Snowblind
9. After Forever
10. Dirty Women
11. Black Sabbath
12. Iron Man
13. Children Of The Grave
14. Paranoid
15. Closing Credits
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