Although I already saw Sabbath in Toronto last summer, I wasn’t about to pass up the chance to catch ‘em again just a few minutes away. Of course, 45 minutes turned into an hour and a half in rush-hour traffic, but I still showed up early enough to see some of the opening act’s set. Let me just say that the floors at FirstOntario Centre are a long way’s away from the ACC Platnium Club. The only washrooms they had down there were of the portable variety!
But hey, the good news is that I was 10 full rows closer to the stage at the rink formerly known as Copps Coliseum than I was in The House That MLSE Built. Pretty much dead-centre, too, which gave me a good opportunity to take a few pictures:
Give it up for Burger King Sabbath! ;)
Set-opener “War Pigs” came with an impressive visual backdrop:
Hey look, it’s Not Bill Ward!
I always thought Iommi looked a lot better in the blue light…
But sometimes, it just looks better on the big screen:
The band had a few more visual tricks up its sleeve this time around. For their signature song, they used lights to create the effect of rainfall:
I Can’t Believe It’s Not Bill Ward! was again afforded an extended drum solo:
Then, for an encore (“Paranoid”–what else!?), they dropped balloons and confetti into the crowd:
All in all, it was definitely worth the trip.
