Known Videos - 2002 To Present

All information on this page was compiled by Robert Dwyer from various sources and contributors. These timelines and the text within is property of Robert Dwyer and sabbathlive.com. If you'd like to use any of this text for non-commercial purposes, please obtain permission first. Commercial utilization of this work in whole or in part is prohibited. [2002-2003, Robert Dwyer - Black Sabbath Live Project]

**Known Videos - 2002 To Present**
Date	Venue	City	State	Country	Set List	Comments
6/3/02	QE2 Jubilee Concert - Buckingham Palace	London		England	Paranoid	Ozzy Osbourne and Tony Iommi performed at the Queen's Jubilee Concert with a backing band.
1/1/04	Rhino Interview with Tony Iommi			U.S.		Promotional interview with Tony Iommi about the new BLACK BOX release. Running time is 24 minutes.
7/10/04	CTNOW.COM Meadows Music Theatre	Hartford	CT	U.S.	Into The Void [joined in progress], Sweet Leaf, Band Introductions, Black Sabbath, Snowblind, Iron Man, Children Of The Grave, Sabbath Bloody Sabbath (intro only) -> Paranoid.	Incomplete audience film of the last half of the show and is missing the first 4 songs. This was filmed from the center projection screen above the stage at a crooked angle with a MiniDV quality camera. The DVD copy that I originally received had a particularly noticable audio sync problem and was authored at well below DVD standards (Video: MPEG-2@4 mbps VBR; Audio: MPEG Surround 2.0@224 kbps). Overall, I'd give it a VG+. Andy Kitching: "The first night of the Ozzfest 2004 in Hartford we are already familiar with due to its excellent audio bootleg already doing the rounds. This video source (very likely to be DV) contains some excellent camera work, taking advantage of the Pro-shot video projections on the screens in the arena. Seems to be that the camera is positioned on the floor or very low down. On occasion, you can see some of the legs of fellow concert goers mooching around in the camera shot. The only snag with this is that it (on my copy at least) starts partway through 'Into the Void'. If anyone knows if this is just the case on my copy AND there is a more complete copy in existence, drop SabbathLive an e-mail. It's not until 'Iron Man' that Tony looks to be enjoying himself for some reason. He keeps motioning to the roadie on his left to turn down the amps - obviously the level was bugging him. Crisp sound too."
7/14/04	Tommy Hilfiger at Jones Beach Amphitheatre	Wantagh	NY	U.S.	Intro-Sabbath Medley-> Supertzar, War Pigs, N.I.B., Fairies Wear Boots, Into The Void, Sweet Leaf, Black Sabbath, Snowblind, Iron Man, Children Of The Grave, Paranoid	Audience film. Three confirmed audience sources, but there are likely more. There is also an audience film in circulation for this show. Ozzy’s unstable vocals make for a shaky overall performance in Wantagh. More on this in my review below. Source #1 is a mostly excellent stereo audience recording of complete show. Running time is just over 72 minutes. The recording itself is a well balanced digital stereo recording. We can hear each member of Sabbath very distinctly, even Geezer! There are a few spots where the volume drops abruptly, as if a limiter has kicked in. But these lulls are brief and not long enough to seriously mar this recording. During the introduction (“Sabbath Medley”), a lot of chatter can be heard around the taper. When the controversial projection screen visuals are shown behind “War Pigs”, the taper comments “Adolf & Bush – same shit”. Source #2 is a 'good' audience recording with some distortion around the edges. The tape starts during the middle of the intro, with no "Sabbath Medley". Source #3 is the audio track from the audience film. The Wantagh show begins with an awkward rendition of “War Pigs”. Ozzy begins the song a bit off-key and this is accentuated by the echo delay effects that were applied to his voice. Bill also stumbles a bit on his timing during a few sections. The band locks into gear during “N.I.B.”, but Ozzy gradually slips out of key again. Before a fair rendition of “Fairies Wear Boots”, Ozzy asks the audience “Is it still raining?” Although he rushes into the 1st verse of “Into The Void”, it is the first song that both he and the band get into sync. “ITV” is definitely a highlight during an otherwise wobbly show. Ozzy finds himself in trouble again with “Sweet Leaf”. Even with the rest of the band playing completely on the money, Ozzy sounds whiny and pitiful as he squeaks this song out only be sheer force of will. After hearing this rendition, it is safe to say that they made a good call by dropping this song from the set list for a while. (“”Sweet Leaf” is resurrected at least once more in Clarkston on 8/17/04) During his band introductions, Ozzy spares Bill Ward his usually melodramatic and overwrought presentation to the audience. Despite a few awkward vocal phrasings from Ozzy, Sabbath turn in a good rendition of “Black Sabbath”. Adam Wakeman makes his first appearance during “Snowblind”, adding his keyboards to climax of the song. Sadly, Ozzy is in trouble once again as he strains his way through the song. In a possible tactic to save face, Ozzy begins to joke it up a bit during “Iron Man”. He doesn’t even bother enunciating half of the 2nd verse! On the other hand, Iommi isn’t fooling around when he plays a blinder of a solo during “IM”. The band sounds solid during “Children Of The Grave” despite Ozzy’s ever wobbling pitch control. Before their closing encore, Ozzy acknowledges the rainy weather with his own rendition of “Singing In The Rain”. The show is closed with a workable “Paranoid”
7/24/04	Coors Amphitheatre	Englewood	CO	U.S.	Intro-Sabbath Medley -> Supertzar, War Pigs, N.I.B., Fairies Wear Boots, Into The Void, Black Sabbath, Snowblind, Iron Man, Children Of The Grave, Sabbath Bloody Sabbath (intro only) -> Paranoid.	Jim Rollner: "I filmed this show with a DV camera - it was my first ever attempt at filming, but I did a good job, I think. I didn't have a tripod, but I kept the camera fairly steady, and aimed it at the screen or pulled back to show the band on-stage and the screen at the same time. I did get the whole show, save for a bit of 'I can't fucking hear you' chants before “Iron Man”, which I missed to make a tape change. Otherwise, it's complete."
8/26/04	Tweeter Center At The Waterfront	Camden	NJ	U.S.	Introduction by Tommy Conwell [black screen; audio only], Bill Ward reads Ozzy's letter of apology [black screen; audio only], Intro-Sabbath Medley -> Supertzar, War Pigs [no footage of the band; video collage for projection screens], N.I.B., Fairies Wear Boots, Into The Void, Black Sabbath, Iron Man, Children Of The Grave, Sabbath Bloody Sabbath [intro only] -> Paranoid	Definitely the most sought after recording from the OZZFEST 2004 tour. This was the show that featured Rob Halford on lead vocals, replacing Ozzy at the last moment due to his bronchitis. The band dropped “Snowblind” from the set list for the Camden show. It is said that Halford performed to a very mixed reception from the Camden audience, most of which were either disappointed or angry about Ozzy’s no show. Regardless of the reviews, the historical significance of this pairing was lost on no one. The pro-shot video that is currently making the rounds was first brought to my attention in October 2004. A person sent me a 1-song sampler DVD (containing "Children Of The Grave") to confirm the existence of the video, which was taken from a direct line recording of the A/V feed for the projection screens. (Note – There have been a number of other pro-shot Camden shows circulating, including shows from Audioslave and David Lee Roth.) Around that time, I had also received word of a possible unofficial Japanese release on audio CD and DVD, but this never materialized. In the meantime, Sabbath fans salivated over the prospect of such a film and whether it would ever surface. In December 2004, a complete copy of the Camden 2004 DVD appeared on E-bay. Within weeks, many Sabbath collectors had grabbed up copies through either purchase or trade copies. Inevitably, the disc was also posted on Easytree! Needless to say, Sabbath’s management has probably been none too pleased with this unanticipated leak. Nevertheless, I have my doubts they would have released the film commercially, both because of the overall performance and the legal complications of Halford being involved. The introduction for the video is ‘black’ (no video feed), but contains an audio recording of the introductions that were given by local DJ Tommy Conwell and drummer Bill Ward. "Philadelphia, you are about to witness a once in a lifetime performance. Unfortunately, I've come down with bronchitis and will not be able to perform tonight. However, my good mate from Birmingham, the "Metal God" himself - Mr. Rob Halford, has graciously agreed to step in and sing for me this evening." Conwell went on to explain - "This is from Ozzy. Let me here you go fucking crazy for Mr. Rob Halford.” Although it’s hard to tell from this direct line recording, the reception to this declaration was quite mixed. Many hardcore Sabbath fans were disappointed about Ozzy not appearing, but also quite amazed that they would be witnessing a historic moment. Some younger fans who had never seen Ozzy and Black Sabbath perform together weren’t quite as understanding. After Conwell finished Ozzy’s letter to the Camden audience, Bill Ward made a short, but uncharacteristically aggressive speech. Bill assured the audience that regardless of how they felt, they were going to play their f*cking balls off! The video portion of the film begins with the complete introductory collage of old Black Sabbath photos backed with the “Sabbath Medley” intro. The 2nd half of the intro film begins with a woman’s shriek and Boris Karloff’s voice saying “This is Black Sabbath!” The music for “Supertzar” is cued here and the sirens begin whining shortly thereafter to signal the beginning of “War Pigs”. Unfortunately, there is no live performance footage of the band during this song, as there is a song length war video accompanying the song. At the conclusion of “War Pigs”, we get our first glimpse of the band AND its singer for one-night-only, Rob Halford! With his shaven head and almost pointed looking ears, Rob almost looks like one of the characters from the LORD OF THE RINGS trilogy. Being both a huge Judas Priest and Black Sabbath fan, I (like many fans) had high expectations for Halford’s performance, even expecting him to easily surpass an average Ozzy performance. Unfortunately, the reality didn’t quite hold up to my fantasy scenario. Rob’s performance was decent under the circumstances, under which he had little time for preparation and a set of Judas Priest material to tackle beforehand. He simply had to trust his memory of these Sabbath classics and simply “get it on”. Halford’s uneasiness was almost palpable during the first three songs. His vocal meter during “N.I.B.” and “Fairies” had a sort of bouncy, unnatural feel and his tone seemed a little thin and reedy for those songs. I suppose we could write some of his awkwardness off to a lack of preparation, since he hardly had time to adapt these songs for his style. “Into The Void” (which he had performed in Costa Mesa back in ’92) gave Rob a bit more of a comfort zone and sounded much better than the opening songs. “Snowblind” was dropped from the set that evening, so there was no need for him to tackle that one. Although he fares okay on the remaining numbers, he suffers a moment of embarrassment at the very end of the show after botching the final verses to “Paranoid”. Rob Halford obviously fared much better at the Costa Mesa shows in November ’92, when he replaced Ronnie James Dio for their DEHUMANIZER grand finale. Sadly for us, the Costa Mesa ’92 films cannot compare to the quality of this excellent digital video source. Still, it’s wonderful to see all of these guys together onstage having some fun together for this one unique concert in New Jersey. Rob’s admiration for BLACK SABBATH is obvious and he appears to be quite humbled by his fateful opportunity. The curiosity factor of seeing the legendary Judas Priest singer perform an entire set with the original Black Sabbath will be plenty enough for people to ignore my criticisms and judge the show for themselves. The following are some of the previously published statements from Halford and the members of SABBATH about the Camden performance: Rob Halford: "That was a remarkable moment in itself. I mean, that just came out of the blue one day. It was the day after my birthday, actually. I was in Philadelphia and we had a show that evening in [New] Jersey. And I got a call from Sharon [Osbourne]. And I thought she was calling me to say, 'Did you get the gift that Ozzy and myself sent you?' which was like this really beautiful hand-made luggage with, like, skulls and crossbones all over it — typical Osbourne material. But then she said Ozzy wasn't feeling too good and he got a really bad case of bronchitis and he couldn't sing, so 'Can you help us out?' And I said, 'Sure, what do you want me to do?' 'Well, can you sing tonight?' 'You're kidding me!' I'm about two hours away from a PRIEST show. [And she said], 'We really need your help, because if we can't have you kind of helping out, stepping in for Ozzy, then SABBATH will have to cancel,' which would have been nothing short of a riot had that happened. So I said to Sharon, 'It's a bit short notice, but send me a tape of everything that they do' — I'd seen most of the shows standing on the side of the stage, being the BLACK SABBATH fan that I am — but she sent me a video of the performance and I was singing along with Ozzy in the back of the tour bus going to the show. Got off the bus, did the PRIEST show, took a shower, [and] 10 minutes later I was back out fronting SABBATH. And it was such a whirlwind. I mean, I got back to the hotel room that night and my whole body was, like, humming. Like it was this [makes buzzing noise] going on for two days. As I said, being a huge BLACK SABBATH fan, it was just an ultimate moment for me. But yeah, you do what you can. I mean, Ozzy and I, we're mates. We've known each other forever; we're from the same neighborhood in Birmingham. The originators of metal are SABBATH and PRIEST, so it was a spectacular evening." [from interview with Doug Podell on Detroits’ WRIF FM] Bill Ward: "When [Ozzy] fell sick, we had a very difficult situation to deal with, and before going any further, I want to salute every single audience member at the now infamous Camden, NJ gig. I love playing Camden, and my heart went out to that audience. Rob Halford deserves a medal for coming in like he did. Rob was great. There is no doubt. I think that night, everybody — Tony, Geezer, Rob and myself — worked our nuts off. We were very sorry that the Camden audience was disappointed, and at such a late hour in that day. We poured it out, and now I think there's a live bootleg somewhere, of that show." Tony Iommi: "One thing that sticks in my mind [about last year's Ozzfest] was the day in New Jersey when Ozzy couldn't perform so we had Rob Halford sing, which was the second time he saved the day for us." [Halford had previously joined SABBATH for two gigs to support Ozzy on his last shows for the "No More Tours" tour in November 1992 in Costa Mesa, CA after SABBATH's singer at the time, Ronnie James Dio, refused to take the stage.] "At first we were worried, because people expect Ozzy, but if Rob hadn't helped us out, there wouldn't have been a show at all. When our manager told me Ozzy had bronchitis and couldn't sing, he asked me what I thought about Rob doing it. I said, 'I think it's a good idea as long as you tell everybody beforehand so they know.' Of course, they told the audience right before we went onstage, so I thought, 'Oh, no.' But the crowd received him really well." DVD Bootlegs: IRON GOD (Japanese)
8/31/04	Alltel Pavilion At Walnut Creek	Raleigh	NC	U.S.	Intro-Sabbath Medley -> Supertzar, War Pigs, N.I.B., Fairies Wear Boots, Into The Void, Band Introductins, Black Sabbath, Iron Man, Children Of The Grave, Sabbath Bloody Sabbath [intro] -> Paranoid	Audience film. No "Snowblind". Andy Kitching: "I've found this show in Raleigh to be awesome. Ozzy is on fire on this night and is obviously enjoying himself. This seems to bring up the musicianship from 'N.I.B.' onwards with Bill Ward pounding the hell out of the skins. This recording has some great camera work and uses both the pro-shot projection screens around the arena to great effect. There are some nice zooms to the band onstage, following them accordingly. The actual handling of the camera is certainly more steady than the Hartford and Englewood videos I've seen. This is the complete show - from 'War Pigs' through to 'Paranoid'. The Sound is great here too. Alltel Pavilion has a good PA system."

Known Videos - 2002 To Present

Date

Venue

City

State

Country

Set List

Comments

6/3/02

QE2 Jubilee Concert - Buckingham Palace

London

England

Paranoid

Ozzy Osbourne and Tony Iommi performed at the Queen's Jubilee Concert with a backing band.

1/1/04

Rhino Interview with Tony Iommi

U.S.

Promotional interview with Tony Iommi about the new BLACK BOX release. Running time is 24 minutes.

7/10/04

CTNOW.COM Meadows Music Theatre

Hartford

U.S.

Into The Void [joined in progress], Sweet Leaf, Band Introductions, Black Sabbath, Snowblind, Iron Man, Children Of The Grave, Sabbath Bloody Sabbath (intro only) -> Paranoid.

Incomplete audience film of the last half of the show and is missing the first 4 songs. This was filmed from the center projection screen above the stage at a crooked angle with a MiniDV quality camera. The DVD copy that I originally received had a particularly noticable audio sync problem and was authored at well below DVD standards (Video: MPEG-2@4 mbps VBR; Audio: MPEG Surround 2.0@224 kbps). Overall, I'd give it a VG+.

Andy Kitching: "The first night of the Ozzfest 2004 in Hartford we are already familiar with due to its excellent audio bootleg already doing the rounds. This video source (very likely to be DV) contains some excellent camera work, taking advantage of the Pro-shot video projections on the screens in the arena. Seems to be that the camera is positioned on the floor or very low down. On occasion, you can see some of the legs of fellow concert goers mooching around in the camera shot. The only snag with this is that it (on my copy at least) starts partway through 'Into the Void'. If anyone knows if this is just the case on my copy AND there is a more complete copy in existence, drop SabbathLive an e-mail. It's not until 'Iron Man' that Tony looks to be enjoying himself for some reason. He keeps motioning to the roadie on his left to turn down the amps - obviously the level was bugging him. Crisp sound too."

7/14/04

Tommy Hilfiger at Jones Beach Amphitheatre

Wantagh

U.S.

Intro-Sabbath Medley-> Supertzar, War Pigs, N.I.B., Fairies Wear Boots, Into The Void, Sweet Leaf, Black Sabbath, Snowblind, Iron Man, Children Of The Grave, Paranoid

Audience film.

Three confirmed audience sources, but there are likely more. There is also an audience film in circulation for this show. Ozzy’s unstable vocals make for a shaky overall performance in Wantagh. More on this in my review below.

Source #1 is a mostly excellent stereo audience recording of complete show. Running time is just over 72 minutes. The recording itself is a well balanced digital stereo recording. We can hear each member of Sabbath very distinctly, even Geezer! There are a few spots where the volume drops abruptly, as if a limiter has kicked in. But these lulls are brief and not long enough to seriously mar this recording.

During the introduction (“Sabbath Medley”), a lot of chatter can be heard around the taper. When the controversial projection screen visuals are shown behind “War Pigs”, the taper comments “Adolf & Bush – same shit”.

Source #2 is a 'good' audience recording with some distortion around the edges. The tape starts during the middle of the intro, with no "Sabbath Medley".

Source #3 is the audio track from the audience film.

The Wantagh show begins with an awkward rendition of “War Pigs”. Ozzy begins the song a bit off-key and this is accentuated by the echo delay effects that were applied to his voice. Bill also stumbles a bit on his timing during a few sections. The band locks into gear during “N.I.B.”, but Ozzy gradually slips out of key again.

Before a fair rendition of “Fairies Wear Boots”, Ozzy asks the audience “Is it still raining?” Although he rushes into the 1st verse of “Into The Void”, it is the first song that both he and the band get into sync. “ITV” is definitely a highlight during an otherwise wobbly show.

Ozzy finds himself in trouble again with “Sweet Leaf”. Even with the rest of the band playing completely on the money, Ozzy sounds whiny and pitiful as he squeaks this song out only be sheer force of will. After hearing this rendition, it is safe to say that they made a good call by dropping this song from the set list for a while. (“”Sweet Leaf” is resurrected at least once more in Clarkston on 8/17/04)

During his band introductions, Ozzy spares Bill Ward his usually melodramatic and overwrought presentation to the audience. Despite a few awkward vocal phrasings from Ozzy, Sabbath turn in a good rendition of “Black Sabbath”. Adam Wakeman makes his first appearance during “Snowblind”, adding his keyboards to climax of the song. Sadly, Ozzy is in trouble once again as he strains his way through the song.

In a possible tactic to save face, Ozzy begins to joke it up a bit during “Iron Man”. He doesn’t even bother enunciating half of the 2nd verse! On the other hand, Iommi isn’t fooling around when he plays a blinder of a solo during “IM”. The band sounds solid during “Children Of The Grave” despite Ozzy’s ever wobbling pitch control.

Before their closing encore, Ozzy acknowledges the rainy weather with his own rendition of “Singing In The Rain”. The show is closed with a workable “Paranoid”

7/24/04

Coors Amphitheatre

Englewood

U.S.

Intro-Sabbath Medley -> Supertzar, War Pigs, N.I.B., Fairies Wear Boots, Into The Void, Black Sabbath, Snowblind, Iron Man, Children Of The Grave, Sabbath Bloody Sabbath (intro only) -> Paranoid.

Jim Rollner: "I filmed this show with a DV camera - it was my first ever attempt at
filming, but I did a good job, I think. I didn't have a tripod, but I
kept the camera fairly steady, and aimed it at the screen or pulled back to show the band on-stage and the screen at the same time. I did get the whole show, save for a bit of 'I can't fucking hear you' chants before “Iron Man”, which I missed to make a tape change. Otherwise, it's complete."

8/26/04

Tweeter Center At The Waterfront

Camden

U.S.

Introduction by Tommy Conwell [black screen; audio only], Bill Ward reads Ozzy's letter of apology [black screen; audio only], Intro-Sabbath Medley -> Supertzar, War Pigs [no footage of the band; video collage for projection screens], N.I.B., Fairies Wear Boots, Into The Void, Black Sabbath, Iron Man, Children Of The Grave, Sabbath Bloody Sabbath [intro only] -> Paranoid

Definitely the most sought after recording from the OZZFEST 2004 tour. This was the show that featured Rob Halford on lead vocals, replacing Ozzy at the last moment due to his bronchitis. The band dropped “Snowblind” from the set list for the Camden show. It is said that Halford performed to a very mixed reception from the Camden audience, most of which were either disappointed or angry about Ozzy’s no show. Regardless of the reviews, the historical significance of this pairing was lost on no one.

The pro-shot video that is currently making the rounds was first brought to my attention in October 2004. A person sent me a 1-song sampler DVD (containing "Children Of The Grave") to confirm the existence of the video, which was taken from a direct line recording of the A/V feed for the projection screens. (Note – There have been a number of other pro-shot Camden shows circulating, including shows from Audioslave and David Lee Roth.)

Around that time, I had also received word of a possible unofficial Japanese release on audio CD and DVD, but this never materialized. In the meantime, Sabbath fans salivated over the prospect of such a film and whether it would ever surface.

In December 2004, a complete copy of the Camden 2004 DVD appeared on E-bay. Within weeks, many Sabbath collectors had grabbed up copies through either purchase or trade copies. Inevitably, the disc was also posted on Easytree! Needless to say, Sabbath’s management has probably been none too pleased with this unanticipated leak. Nevertheless, I have my doubts they would have released the film commercially, both because of the overall performance and the legal complications of Halford being involved.

The introduction for the video is ‘black’ (no video feed), but contains an audio recording of the introductions that were given by local DJ Tommy Conwell and drummer Bill Ward.

"Philadelphia, you are about to witness a once in a lifetime performance. Unfortunately, I've come down with bronchitis and will not be able to perform tonight. However, my good mate from Birmingham, the "Metal God" himself - Mr. Rob Halford, has graciously agreed to step in and sing for me this evening." Conwell went on to explain - "This is from Ozzy. Let me here you go fucking crazy for Mr. Rob Halford.”

Although it’s hard to tell from this direct line recording, the reception to this declaration was quite mixed. Many hardcore Sabbath fans were disappointed about Ozzy not appearing, but also quite amazed that they would be witnessing a historic moment. Some younger fans who had never seen Ozzy and Black Sabbath perform together weren’t quite as understanding. After Conwell finished Ozzy’s letter to the Camden audience, Bill Ward made a short, but uncharacteristically aggressive speech. Bill assured the audience that regardless of how they felt, they were going to play their f*cking balls off!

The video portion of the film begins with the complete introductory collage of old Black Sabbath photos backed with the “Sabbath Medley” intro. The 2nd half of the intro film begins with a woman’s shriek and Boris Karloff’s voice saying “This is Black Sabbath!” The music for “Supertzar” is cued here and the sirens begin whining shortly thereafter to signal the beginning of “War Pigs”. Unfortunately, there is no live performance footage of the band during this song, as there is a song length war video accompanying the song.

At the conclusion of “War Pigs”, we get our first glimpse of the band AND its singer for one-night-only, Rob Halford! With his shaven head and almost pointed looking ears, Rob almost looks like one of the characters from the LORD OF THE RINGS trilogy. Being both a huge Judas Priest and Black Sabbath fan, I (like many fans) had high expectations for Halford’s performance, even expecting him to easily surpass an average Ozzy performance. Unfortunately, the reality didn’t quite hold up to my fantasy scenario. Rob’s performance was decent under the circumstances, under which he had little time for preparation and a set of Judas Priest material to tackle beforehand. He simply had to trust his memory of these Sabbath classics and simply “get it on”.

Halford’s uneasiness was almost palpable during the first three songs. His vocal meter during “N.I.B.” and “Fairies” had a sort of bouncy, unnatural feel and his tone seemed a little thin and reedy for those songs. I suppose we could write some of his awkwardness off to a lack of preparation, since he hardly had time to adapt these songs for his style. “Into The Void” (which he had performed in Costa Mesa back in ’92) gave Rob a bit more of a comfort zone and sounded much better than the opening songs. “Snowblind” was dropped from the set that evening, so there was no need for him to tackle that one. Although he fares okay on the remaining numbers, he suffers a moment of embarrassment at the very end of the show after botching the final verses to “Paranoid”.

Rob Halford obviously fared much better at the Costa Mesa shows in November ’92, when he replaced Ronnie James Dio for their DEHUMANIZER grand finale. Sadly for us, the Costa Mesa ’92 films cannot compare to the quality of this excellent digital video source. Still, it’s wonderful to see all of these guys together onstage having some fun together for this one unique concert in New Jersey. Rob’s admiration for BLACK SABBATH is obvious and he appears to be quite humbled by his fateful opportunity. The curiosity factor of seeing the legendary Judas Priest singer perform an entire set with the original Black Sabbath will be plenty enough for people to ignore my criticisms and judge the show for themselves.

The following are some of the previously published statements from Halford and the members of SABBATH about the Camden performance:

Rob Halford: "That was a remarkable moment in itself. I mean, that just came out of the blue one day. It was the day after my birthday, actually. I was in Philadelphia and we had a show that evening in [New] Jersey. And I got a call from Sharon [Osbourne]. And I thought she was calling me to say, 'Did you get the gift that Ozzy and myself sent you?' which was like this really beautiful hand-made luggage with, like, skulls and crossbones all over it — typical Osbourne material. But then she said Ozzy wasn't feeling too good and he got a really bad case of bronchitis and he couldn't sing, so 'Can you help us out?' And I said, 'Sure, what do you want me to do?' 'Well, can you sing tonight?' 'You're kidding me!' I'm about two hours away from a PRIEST show. [And she said], 'We really need your help, because if we can't have you kind of helping out, stepping in for Ozzy, then SABBATH will have to cancel,' which would have been nothing short of a riot had that happened. So I said to Sharon, 'It's a bit short notice, but send me a tape of everything that they do' — I'd seen most of the shows standing on the side of the stage, being the BLACK SABBATH fan that I am — but she sent me a video of the performance and I was singing along with Ozzy in the back of the tour bus going to the show. Got off the bus, did the PRIEST show, took a shower, [and] 10 minutes later I was back out fronting SABBATH. And it was such a whirlwind. I mean, I got back to the hotel room that night and my whole body was, like, humming. Like it was this [makes buzzing noise] going on for two days. As I said, being a huge BLACK SABBATH fan, it was just an ultimate moment for me. But yeah, you do what you can. I mean, Ozzy and I, we're mates. We've known each other forever; we're from the same neighborhood in Birmingham. The originators of metal are SABBATH and PRIEST, so it was a spectacular evening." [from interview with Doug Podell on Detroits’ WRIF FM]

Bill Ward: "When [Ozzy] fell sick, we had a very difficult situation to deal with, and before going any further, I want to salute every single audience member at the now infamous Camden, NJ gig. I love playing Camden, and my heart went out to that audience. Rob Halford deserves a medal for coming in like he did. Rob was great. There is no doubt. I think that night, everybody — Tony, Geezer, Rob and myself — worked our nuts off. We were very sorry that the Camden audience was disappointed, and at such a late hour in that day. We poured it out, and now I think there's a live bootleg somewhere, of that show."

Tony Iommi: "One thing that sticks in my mind [about last year's Ozzfest] was the day in New Jersey when Ozzy couldn't perform so we had Rob Halford sing, which was the second time he saved the day for us." [Halford had previously joined SABBATH for two gigs to support Ozzy on his last shows for the "No More Tours" tour in November 1992 in Costa Mesa, CA after SABBATH's singer at the time, Ronnie James Dio, refused to take the stage.]

"At first we were worried, because people expect Ozzy, but if Rob hadn't helped us out, there wouldn't have been a show at all. When our manager told me Ozzy had bronchitis and couldn't sing, he asked me what I thought about Rob doing it. I said, 'I think it's a good idea as long as you tell everybody beforehand so they know.' Of course, they told the audience right before we went onstage, so I thought, 'Oh, no.' But the crowd received him really well."

DVD Bootlegs:

IRON GOD (Japanese)

8/31/04

Alltel Pavilion At Walnut Creek

Raleigh

U.S.

Intro-Sabbath Medley -> Supertzar, War Pigs, N.I.B., Fairies Wear Boots, Into The Void, Band Introductins, Black Sabbath, Iron Man, Children Of The Grave, Sabbath Bloody Sabbath [intro] -> Paranoid

Audience film. No "Snowblind".

Andy Kitching: "I've found this show in Raleigh to be awesome. Ozzy is on fire on this night and is obviously enjoying himself. This seems to bring up the musicianship from 'N.I.B.' onwards with Bill Ward pounding the hell out of the skins. This recording has some great camera work and uses both the pro-shot projection screens around the arena to great effect. There are some nice
zooms to the band onstage, following them accordingly. The actual handling of the camera is certainly more steady than the Hartford and Englewood videos I've seen. This is the complete show - from 'War Pigs' through to 'Paranoid'. The Sound is great here too. Alltel Pavilion has a good PA system."