Heaven And Hell in LA

Heaven And Hell in LA
Date : 08/11/09
Greek Theatre, Los Angeles CA
Review By: Aniruddh (Andrew) Bansal

As there was no General Admission section for this show, I had a reserved seat in the pit. I got to the place at around 6.30, had a look at the merch stand and bought a Heaven And Hell shirt before going to my seat. The show started at 6.50 with the opening band headed by and named after their guitarist Phillip Sayce. They played some interesting stuff. I would give them a listen at their myspace site. They finished at 7.20.

Coheed And Cambria hit the stage at 7.30 and played for 45 minutes. I didn't like this band at all. The only highlight of their show was the Trooper cover which kinda surprised me because I had no idea that they had done an Iron Maiden cover. I was glad when their show got over. After that I went out and met up with some friends who had also come for the show. I hung out with them for sometime before going back in. My seat was the leftmost in the third row of the pit. I had already decided that I would be standing in the first row while Heaven And Hell perform.

The lights went out at close to 9 o clock. The intro E5150 was accompanied by loud cheers. I can't think of a better opening for a Heaven And Hell show. It perfectly preludes to the whole theme of Heaven And Hell's music. This was followed by the hard-hitting Mob Rules and it was time to bang the head and give those vocal chords a stretch!! I realized at that point that these are the four guys from one of the legendary Black Sabbath line-ups. These are the guys who wrote possibly the greatest metal songs of all time. These are the songs that I cover on my bass all the time and here they are playing on a stage two feet away from me! Ronnie James Dio. Tony Iommi. Geezer Butler. Vinny Appice. Oh My God. Wow. I had seen them once before too, it was last year as support for Judas Priest but I had a crappy seat. This was a million times better!!!

For those who own the DVD or have seen their live videos would have seen that Dio walks around the edge of the stage shaking hands with people in the front row. Well, during Mob Rules he walked over to our side of the stage and I was the first person he shook hands with!! I don't think I've ever felt like I just met God, but this was definitely it. Ronnie James Dio shaking hands with me. I still can't come to think that it was real. Sorry about going all too crazy but it was a huge thing for me!

So they continued with another great song Children Of The Sea. This was followed by a song which inspires me a lot, 'I'. I think at least some would agree when I say that Dehumanizer is one of the most underrated albums of all time. With songs like 'I', 'Computer God', 'TV Crimes', 'Master of Insanity' and 'Time Machine' it should get more credit. Coming back to the show, after 'I' came the first of the new songs titled 'Bible Black'. This is another song which proves Dio still has the lyrics in him. I really enjoyed singing along to this one. I also noticed that not too many people were familiar with the new songs which is a little surprising as the album has been out for almost 4 months now. 'Time Machine' was played after this. It was a pleasant surprise to be honest, they usually do Computer God as the second song from Dehumanizer but its nice to see them change it up a bit.

After this Vinny Appice went crazy on the drums for his drum solo. His is one of the bigger drum kits I've seen. He had drums all around him. He was standing and hitting the vertical drums for a good minute or so. I'm a big fan of his and it was great to observe his style from that close! He led the band into the next song 'Fear' which is off the new album too. I'm happy they picked this as one of the new songs as I really love the riffs in the guitar solo. Dark and heavy. Just like what Heaven And Hell should sound like! Then came a few words of thanks from Dio before they played Falling Off The Edge Of The World. Another flat-out rocker which they've been playing at almost every show they've done recently. This was followed by 'Follow The Tears' from The Devil You Know and then by my favorite part of the night. Tony Iommi walked over to our side and started playing his solo. I can't even describe how I felt. A mixture of excitement and disbelief. Then the rest of the band came out and they went straight into 'Die Young'. I was amazed to see that Dio still has the range to sing such a song! Vocalists less than half his age should bow down and take notice.

The extended version of the song Heaven And Hell was played and the crowd were really getting into the sing-along parts which was good to see. At one point in the song, jets of red smoke came out rising on the stage, quickly after which blue smoke came out. This captures the true essence and meaning of the song Heaven and Hell, and the album as a whole. Kudos to everyone who was involved in the stage production. The stage props, screen, lights and smoke jets always reflected what each song represented.

The band went in after this and came out for the encore with a little snippet from Country Girl. Then came the closing song Neon Knights and the band played it immaculately well. That was the end of the show. Geezer came over and threw out a bunch of guitar picks in our direction. I didn't catch any at first but I saw one which fell on the stage. I didn't care about anything else and just dived on the stage and got it! I've been to a few shows but I don't think I've ever gone so crazy over a guitar pick! Definitely worth it this time. Then Tony also came over and threw out picks, I grabbed one of those too!! These souvenirs will surely be my most cherished ones.

On the whole I would say the band still has what it takes to deliver these songs live. I liked how Dio improvised on the vocals. He does a lot of it these days, but without losing the rhythm of the song being played. Tony, Geezer and Vinny were as amazing as ever. I think they still easily have a couple of years of touring left in them. It was an out-of-the-world experience for me and I will hope and pray that they come back to play more shows soon, may be even next year.

Here's the set list in order:

1. E5150
2. Mob Rules
3. Children Of The Sea
4. I
5. Bible Black
6. Time Machine
7. Drum Solo
8. Fear
9. Falling Off The Edge Of The World
10. Follow The Tears
11. Guitar Solo
12. Die Young
13. Heaven And Hell
14. Country Girl/Neon Knights