All tour date information has been was compiled jointly by Robert Dwyer (www.sabbathlive.com) & Joe Siegler (www.black-sabbath.com) from various sources and contributors.  All text reviews and additional information was compiled & authored by Robert Dwyer.   If you'd like to use any of this text for non-commercial purposes, PLEASE OBTAIN PERMISSION FIRST.  Also, please add credit to authors of this original work.  Commercial utilization of this work in part or as a whole is prohibited unless rights have been obtained from the authors .  [Copyright 2002-2008, Robert Dwyer - Black Sabbath Live Project & Joe Siegler - Black-Sabbath.com]

SHOWS - PARANOID
Date Venue City State Country Opening Acts Comments
9/11/70 Bramwygn Hall Swansea
England
Official beginning of PARANOID tour
9/13/70 Fox At Greyhound - Greyhound Blues Club, Park Lane Croydon
England Bob Stevens
9/14/70 King's Head - Market Place Homford Essex England

9/15/70 The Marquee London
England The Dog That Bit People
9/20/70 L'Olympia (The Olympia Theater) Paris
France Manfred Mann Chapter III Beginning of European tour with Manfred Mann.
9/22/70
Bâle (Basel)
Switzerland Manfred Mann Chapter III
9/23/70
Zurich
Switzerland Manfred Mann Chapter III
9/24/70
Lausanne
Switzerland Manfred Mann Chapter III
9/25/70 The Paradiso Amsterdam
The Netherlands Manfred Mann Chapter III
9/26/70
Rotterdam
The Netherlands Manfred Mann Chapter III
9/27/70
Den Haag (The Hague)
The Netherlands Manfred Mann Chapter III
9/30/70 Seabathing Lake - Prince's Park Southport
England

10/1/70
Antwerpen
Belgium Manfred Mann Chapter III
10/2/70
Liege
Belgium Manfred Mann Chapter III
10/16/70 The Mayfair Ballroom - Buhring Birmingham
England Trapeze, Galliard, Rock Rebellion, Rockin' Chair This show as billed as The 1st Midland All-Night Head-Rock Explosion.
10/17/70 Queen Mary College - Stepney Green London
England Principal Edward's Magic Theater Farrm [sic?], Manfred Mann Chapter III (?)
10/18/70 King's Head - Market Place Romford
England Kripple Vision A newspaper article states that this was to be the last London date prior to their U.S. tour.
10/20/70 South Parade Pier Portsmouth
England
Ozzy Osbourne: “We opened with “Paranoid” as usual and suddenly the place went potty. There were kids rushing down the front and girls screaming and grabbing us. We couldn’t believe it – it was just like the teenybopper era all over again. We don’t need fans like those. But we’ll just have to grin and bear them and they’ll go away. We’re not changing our stage act to please the kids who just bought the single and it doesn’t take long to find out who your real followers are.” [Reflecting on the Portsmouth gig – from Chris Welch’s BLACK SABBATH, pg. #57]
10/23/70 Mayfair Ballroom Newcastle-Upon-Tyne
England Manfred Mann Chapter III [?], Audience There is a now legendary story about a riot that occurred while Black Sabbath was performing at the Mayfair Ballroom in Newcastle. Many accounts place the date for this occurrence on October 23rd, 1970, which may very well be true. First, here's the story...

Sabbath played to a very drunk and disorderly crowd at this gig. They were forced to deal with people crawling all over the stage and some who actually vandalized their equipment! 70 minutes later, the group begins playing their single "Paranoid" in an attempt to get them off of the stage, but by the time the show is over, the band has had their much of their equipment smashed or stolen. By the end, someone had put their foot through one of the big PA speakers, Bill's drum sticks and cymbals were stolen and a bass drum microphone was destroyed.

But if anything good could be said about this gig, it was obvious that the audience had gone crazy over the new single. Ozzy was made extremely & upset by the ordeal. He said "If it means us having to give up putting out singles then we will. We want people to listen to us, not try to touch us. I was really terrified, shocked out of my mind."

The fact that the band performed "Paranoid" at this show seems to confirm the 10/23/70 gig date for the Newcastle riot, as "Paranoid" was written in the studio in June of 1970.

Another legend surrounding a show at the Mayfair concerns the origins of the song "Fairies Wear Boots". It has been said that the lyrics for "Fairies" were inspired by a similar riot where skinheads wearing boots had attacked them. Their revenge was to dub the skinheads "fairies" in their song. But since "Fairies Wear Boots" was obviously written many months before, this could not have been the show that inspired it. Was there a riot at the 4/23/70 Newcastle gig as well??

An earlier theory had placed the "Fairies incident" at the June 13th Newcastle gig because (1) Chris Welch claimed that this happened one day prior to a gig in Croyden (June 14th) and (2) Tony Iommi had quite the shiner for the studio photos that were taken just a few days later. Unfortunately, there are two problems with this theory. In the June 13th edition of New Musical Express, Geezer mentions both “War Pigs” and “Fairies Wear Boots” as two of the songs they had written for their new album! So, this would push the date back to April 23rd if Newcastle were this riot took place. Also, I've confirmed that Sabbath were actually in Weston Super Mare on June 13th, 1970, thanks to David Andrews and a newspaper review from the Weston Mercury.

Phil Bushe of Stafford, England: "I was hopping from concert to concert in those days - Black Sabbath, Mayfair Ballroom in Birmingham, where everyone seemed to be smoking and stubbing out the dog ends in the thickest red pile carpet I'd ever seen." [from http://www.undergroundweb.org.uk/concert_memories.htm]
10/25/70 Bournemouth Pavilion Bournemouth
England

10/26/70 Royal Festival Hall London
England Emerson Lake & Palmer [HL - 9 PM], Freedom (with Procol Harum drummer, Bobby Harrison) According to a newspaper advertisement for this show, this was to be Sabbath's first solo headline. Black Sabbath headlined its own earlier show at 6:15 PM, while Emerson, Lake And Palmer played at 9 PM.

Chris Welch's book says that this show was "a triumph" and that the band was given a "riotous reception". [BLACK SABBATH - pg. #60]
10/30/70 Glassboro State College Glassboro NJ U.S.
Sabbath’s 1st ever U.S. gig took place in this suburb of Philadelphia.

Paul Jarolimek: “In an interview from that period states that Ozzy mentioned first stateside show as being [near] Philadelphia and the crowd were mostly black. Apparently, some of the locals assumed from the band name that they racially black as well! Some of their audience took exception that they were white and confronted Ozzy. He thought he was going to get his ass kicked!
10/31/70 University Of Miami Coral Gables FL U.S. Canned Heat (HL) Osbourne: There were lots of ego problems. At the second show, the audience was stoned asleep, so Bill threw his drum kit at the crowd. His parents came to one of our shows, and Bill's mum had brought a fucking shopping bag. She goes into the backstage canteen and fills it full of knives, forks and spoons, all while security is watching her on camera. A guard comes to her and says, "Madam, I don't think what's in the bag belongs to you."

Iommi: If we made a movie, it'd leave Spinal Tap behind.
11/1/70 Ungano's Ritz Theater - Staten Island NYC
NY
From Eliot [bagdrag@mindspring.net]: In the timeline, the first American shows are listed as Ungano's in Staten Island. Actually at least the first one was at Ungano's in NYC. I have the address somewhere and maybe even an ad. I have heard stories from at least three people that were there. It's infamous among clubgoers from that period. Someone forgot to tell the roadies about the power difference between America and England and supposedly they blew all their amps up immediately. I guess they borrowed something. Anyhow, one guy I spoke with said it was hilarious because it was so loud and no one was expecting it and the first few tables cleared out quick.
11/7/70 Memorial Coliseum Complex? Portland ME U.S. Badfinger, Mungo Jerry
11/10/70 Fillmore East NYC NY U.S. Rod Stewart & The Faces (HL), Pig Light Show, If Sabbath played 2 shows on this day. Ozzy mentions on SPEAK OF THE DEVIL that he hadn't played "The Wizard" since this gig.

SixStRNgWiZaRd@aol.com: "I remember that I was very high up in the cheap seats ($3.00) and that I yelled out after their opening number ("Black Sabbath") “LOUDER”, much to the dismay of a passing usher with a flashlight! He responded "Are you serious?” because the band was extremely loud! Black Sabbath opened for Rod Stewart and the Faces, but many of us were spent by then from the Sabbath onslaught. I left before they finished, quite content with what I had just witnessed!"

Dave < Eltrcdave@aol.com>: “I did see Black Sabbath at the Fillmore East on November 10th 1970. Small Faces with Rod Stewart and Ron Wood were the headliners, though I went to see Sabbath. I believe I still have the program. It was a rainy night, so I thought it appropriate when they played "Black Sabbath", the song.

From "The Holy Sabbath" by Matt Diehl [Rolling Stone 4/21/2004]
Iommi: Our first tour was with Rod Stewart, and we went down better than him. When he went on, he'd get booed.

Tony Iommi: "When we first came to the States, we were on with Rod Stewart, which I thought was a total mismatch. We were on before Rod Stewart, and we went on, and we really went down well. Then Rod Stewart was on afterwards, which didn't go down so well. It was very good for us" [From ratethemusic.com - April 2004]
11/11/70 Whiskey-A-Go-Go Hollywood CA U.S. Alice Cooper (HL) 2 shows. This date has also been incorrectly listed as Fillmore East.

Ron Whitfield: “Most of this is hard to place in proper time frames, as these were very stoney/frisky times for me. The first time I saw Sabbath was at the Whiskey in Hollywierd with Alice Cooper in '70 or 71. We were under age and had a hard time getting in and staying in. I’m pretty sure Black Sabbath opened. It must have been the same time as when Sabbath came out (as the story goes) all in white tuxedos to upstage Alice Cooper, cause Ozzy had a cane for a while and Bill had a white top hat on at first the night I saw them. I've seen a promo pic of them all dressed in white, with top hats, tails and canes. So I've always assumed the story was legit. They opened with “Paranoid” (WOW) and Tony ended the show with its opening phrase. The rest of the set is mostly a blur. I remember Oz doing the song Black Sabbath, and using the cane to dramatize the lyrics so effectively, very spooky looking with a long black coat on. He really was everything I'd imagined he'd be, and more. “By far, the best Ozzy performance I've seen.”
11/12/70 Whiskey-A-Go-Go Hollywood CA U.S.
2 shows
11/13/70 Whiskey-A-Go-Go Hollywood CA U.S.
2 shows
11/14/70 Whiskey-A-Go-Go Hollywood CA U.S.
2 shows
11/15/70 Whiskey-A-Go-Go Hollywood CA U.S.
2 shows
11/19/70 Fillmore West San Francisco CA U.S. The James Gang (HL), Sugarloaf 2 shows.

Jesse W. James: “To tell you the truth, I don't remember too much about that show except that A: I was probably dosed, and B: the band projected the most intense "heavy vibe" I'd ever seen. While I liked their music at the time, the experience of their stage presence weirded me out much so that I never went to see them again, preferring to see the likes of Led Zeppelin and The Who.”

“As far as the recording capabilities at the Fillmore West goes, it is my belief that unless a remote truck was used for specifically recording multi-track live shows for album releases, any shows that were taped were done on a 2-track reel-to-reel deck fed from the soundboard. I cannot recall seeing any audience tapers at any of the numerous shows I attended. I hope this helps a little.”

From "The Holy Sabbath" by Matt Diehl [Rolling Stone 4/21/2004]
Iommi: We first came to the U.S. to promote Paranoid.
Osbourne: It's every British band's dream to play the States. When we got there finally, we fucked as many groupies as we could. In San Francisco, they even had a Black Sabbath parade! Coming from Birmingham, England, where the fuckin' sun never shines, it was magic to us.
11/20/70 Fillmore West San Francisco CA U.S. The James Gang (HL), Sugarloaf 2 shows
11/21/70 Fillmore West San Francisco CA U.S. The James Gang (HL), Sugarloaf 2 shows
11/22/70 Fillmore West San Francisco CA U.S. The James Gang (HL), Sugarloaf 2 shows

By the end of this tour, Ozzy had discovered the meaning of jet lag and endured the 6,000-mile hop from New York to L.A. and back once too often for comfort.

Ozzy Osbourne: “People find it hard to believe, but I reckon I do three times as much work in a band as I would in a normal job. In America, I had to go into a hospital because my nerves were getting into such a state. It was all of the traveling that shook me up. When we started, we didn’t do too much work, but when the records started to sell it went from two gigs a week up to seven. That’s when you get hang ups with people trying to hassle you all the time.” [From Chris Welch’s book – pg. #60]
11/25/70 Eastown Theater Detroit MI U.S. Savoy Brown (HL), Quatermass Christopher Ferguson: "I can confirm this for you. My mother at the time lived in Grosse Ile (a suburb of Detroit), and she went there. She told me once that she went to a Black Sabbath concert, but couldn't remember which one. She told me that it was either 1970 or '71. I said, "Mom, that could have been when Sabbath first toured America!"

"According to your website, it was their 3rd gig in America. All she told me was that she lied to her parents to go to that concert, because it seems that they didn't approve of their children going to concerts for whatever reason. Or maybe it was just she. She told me that she didn't particularly want to go see Black Sabbath, but it was a concert, and she wanted to go. She told me that it was an auditorium with a lot of people in it, and that she was kind of high at the time, and that she couldn't hear the music that well, because of all the people there. She doesn't remember if Bill Ward threw his drum set out into the audience, though."

Bill had claimed in several interview that he had tossed his drums into the crowd when the band played the Eastown Theater, but later said this happened in NY?!
11/26/70 Eastown Theater Detroit MI U.S. Savoy Brown (HL), Quatermass
11/27/70 The Sunshine In Asbury Park NJ U.S. Cactus, Steel Mill [which included Bruce Springsteen] From Brucebase (Thanks to Peter Bambini): “TWO shows, triple bill, with the bottom-billed STEEL MILL opening for the 2nd billed CACTUS and headliner BLACK SABBATH (fronted by a spooked Ozzy Osbourne, who received death threats before the show). The above-mentioned 7-song, set list comes from a very recently surfaced excellent audio quality soundboard and represents the complete 76-minute performance from the early show, with no continuity breaks in the audio. This is not Steel Mill at its best, but it does contain the previously uncirculating "Do It Now". The original master tape had the recording date on it and, additionally, there is verifying commentary by Robbin Thompson during the performance. About 8 minutes into "Dancing" the generator power fails for 12 seconds, much to the frustration of Bruce who comments "we must be the Guinea Pigs here tonight". According to an attendee recollection each of the three bands played similar length sets. After the end of the evening Springsteen spent about an hour backstage jamming with Cactus bassist Tim Bogart. There is no circulating audio from the late show.”

Paul Jarolimek: “It was definitely 02/17/1971. (??) They played two shows with Cactus as an opening act. There is a story to this show .It all started with a towel.”

“Apparently, there was only one dressing room available at the Sunshine Inn and it was shared by both Cactus and Sabbath (No mention of Springsteen, I do not believe he was there). Sabbath had two white towels they left in the dressing room when they went to watch Cactus play onstage. Cactus had one white towel also left in the dressing room, but in theirs was their "head supplies" (wink, wink). After watching the show for a while, Tony [Iommi] came back to the dressing room and was told by a Cactus roadie that Cactus doesn't share a dressing room with anyone and was told to leave. The Roadie left to go find the promoter and Tony picked up the towels and left to go sit in the office. Unfortunately, he picked up the wrong towel...”

“A couple minutes later, the road-boy comes tearing into the office demanding that Sabbath return to the office, (at this time Tony had been joined by the others) claiming something had been stolen by Sabbath from the dressing room. Apparently this road-boy is going nuts, calling them liars and thieves, so Tony punches him in left eye and someone else punches him in the other eye, and someone else punches him a third time.”

“Well, as it turns out "the" towel was in Tony's hand the whole time and the towel was returned. We shouldn't have done it, but we're no bloody robbers!"

“Once Cactus comes off stage and hears about what happened, they go nuts. "How can you pick on a kid who is only 110lbs?" Cactus refuse to accept any apologies offered and claim they are going to go get a gun and shoot Sabbath while they are onstage. Cactus takes off and Sabbath goes on. At the end of the second song, one of the amps blows and they are whisked away by the promoters to their motel to hole up until their next set.”

“Sabbath didn't want to go back to the club, but were convinced no one would really shoot them over a towel. Besides, a plain clothed policeman was onstage. Meanwhile, after coming off their second set, Cactus made it known that they have not forgotten about the towel and they still intend to exact their revenge upon Black Sabbath. So, Sabbath was then escorted by 20 armed guards to the stage to play their second set.”

“They went to play their first song and all of their power cut off. The same thing occurred during the second song. Management felt it was sabotage at work, so they sent a guard to watch the power switch.”

“Two songs later, the management was made aware of some Turpentine appearing in Sabbath's drinking water glasses onstage. The second set ended after only five songs played and there were no further incidents. This is the source of the "Ozzy frozen in fear onstage waiting to be shot" story. It was not a rabid fan, it was Carmine Appice.”
12/5/70 The Stadium Liverpool
England Yes, East Of Eden, Stray
12/12/70 K.B. Hallen København (Copenhagen)
Denmark Daisy Beginning of 8-day European 'mini-tour'. This followed Sabbath’s first visit to America, which left them feeling quite drained!

Ozzy Osbourne: “We need a rest badly. We’re all very tired. We’ve never done traveling like we did in America.”

It is mentioned in Chris Welch’s book that the band had performed in Germany, Switzerland, Holland, Belgium, Denmark and Sweden. Interestingly enough, there is no mention of the famous gig at L’Olympia, where the legendary Paris ’70 was said to have been recorded.
12/14/70 Mercatorhalle Duisburg
Germany No opening act advertised
12/18/70 Sporthalle Wanne-Sued Wanne-Eickel
Germany No opening act advertised Michel and Melanie of Wanne-Eickel, Germany sent me some information about a gig that Sabbath played there back in 1970. Apparently, Sabbath performed at Sporthalle Wanne-Sued in Wanne-Eickel, Germany on 12/18/70. This was 2 days before the legendary Paris show. There were 600 people in attendance and the ticket price was 9,50 Deutschmark. I'm always happy to add gigs from the early years, so thank you both!

When I asked them where they found this review, they pointed me to a review of the show that they found on the Wanne-Eickel homepage! While the review is completely in German, I am looking for someone to translate this to English. What I could gather from the review was that people had protested against the concert promoters for setting the ticket prices too high.

Also, the author mentioned taping the show and letting his friends hear it! But since he felt the sound quality was equivalent to that of a broken television, he then decided to erase it. Doah!!
1/7/71 City Hall Hull
England Freedom [Curved Air did not appear] After being snubbed by the Royal Albert Hall for the bad behavior of their fans, the band was forced to begin their January '71 U.K. tour at this show in Hull.
1/8/71 Town Hall Birmingham
England Freedom, Curved Air Ticket prices for this tour capped at 18s (mentioned in Black Sabbath/Curved Air: 12-Day Tour article)
1/9/71 Colston Hall Bristol
England Freedom, Curved Air Review of this show mentions early performances of "After Forever" and "Into The Void"!
1/11/71 Guildhall Southampton
England Freedom, Curved Air
1/14/71 City (Oval) Hall Sheffield
England Freedom, Curved Air
1/15/71 Empire Theater Edinburgh
Scotland Freedom, Curved Air
1/16/71 Music Hall Aberdeen
Scotland Freedom, Curved Air
1/18/71 Newcastle City Hall Newcastle-Upon-Tyne
England Freedom, Curved Air
1/19/71 Albert Hall Nottingham
England Freedom, Curved Air
1/20/71 Free Trade Hall (Peter Street) Manchester
England Freedom, Curved Air
1/23/71 Leeds University Leeds
England Freedom, Curved Air The Leeds University site has date listed as 'Pink Floyd'?
1/29/71 Australian Press Reception Sydney
Australia
From Spock Wall's journal: "After a TV reception in a hotel, went back to airport for another six hours flying. Arrived at hotel in Adelaide after more TV and press on the way from the airport, 10 pm Friday (January 29)."
1/31/71 Myponga Open Air Festival Myponga
Australia 1-2pm Coney Island Jug Band, 2-3pm Daddy Cool, 3-4pm Hippo, 4-5pm Sunshine, 5-6pm Company Caine, 6-7pm John Graham & Margaret RoadKnight, 7-8pm Sons of the Vegetal Mother, 8-9pm War Machine, 9-10pm Steve Foster / Blackfire, 10-11pm Fraternity, 11-12pm Black Sabbath, 12-1am Spectrum From Spock Wall's journal: "Left UK starting at 5:30 Wed evening (January 27), flew to Frankfurt, Rome, Bahrain, New Delhi, Singapore, Perth, Sydney, which took thirty six hours. On arrival in Sydney, 9:30 Friday morning (January 29), discovered we were booked on the 3 pm flight to Melbourne thru to Adelaide."

"After a TV reception in a hotel, went back to airport for another six hours flying. Arrived at hotel in Adelaide after more TV and press on the way from the airport, 10 pm Friday."

"Saturday (January 30) was spent meeting people in charge, doing TV interviews and sorting out drums etc. Sunday (January 31) went to the [festival site] in afternoon to get ready for the evening. The lads played at 10 o'clock that night. All things considered, it went fairly well." [from HOW BLACK WAS OUR SABBATH, pg. #64]

Ozzy told one journalist, 'It looked like the audience had been to see the movie Woodstock several times, just to get the gist of how to behave at a festival.' People were stripping off their clothes all over the place, climbing the sound system towers and flashing peace signs to one another. The heat was scorching." [from HOW BLACK WAS OUR SABBATH, pg. #64]

Although only scant information is available today, this festival was important for many reasons, not the least of which was that leading British heavy rock group Black Sabbath gave their first Australian performance there. The group, arguably at the peak of their form, turned in barnstorming performance and it is reputed to have been by far the best of their several Australian appearances." [From Milesago site]

Ken Richards wrote: "My role at the festival was organizing the stage construction and supplying all the sound equipment plus audio engineers, etc. I recall when I stepped in to a disagreement with the Black Sabbath band members and Myponga Festival promoters, when they initially refused to play due to insufficient sound equipment on stage. This was rectified when Black Sabbath members were reminded of their contract -- it was a gutsy move and fortunately for the Australian audience, one that paid off. The threat of a non appearance was something no-one wanted to contemplate.”

“After 30 years, I finally have the opportunity to thank Black Sabbath for their appearance at the Myponga Pop Festival - Adelaide Australia Jan/Feb 1971. Thanks guys! All I need now are some photo's and/or press releases from the festival, hope you can help.”

Adrian Rawlins wrote the following in his book “Festivals In Australia: An Intimate History”: "I was sole compere at Myponga. This festival was held on a far from perfect site -- a flat treeless farm not far from a lovely beach, but quite a way from Adelaide. The event was organized by gentlemen who were not without capital. They had arranged for Cat Stevens and Black Sabbath to headline. Through no fault of theirs, Cat Stevens failed to honour his agreement, but Black Sabbath arrived, and delivered a performance of insane, unbridled energy, such as they never did again -- neither in 1973, '74 or '80."
2/17/71 Sunshine In Asbury Park NJ U.S. Sun Mash, Dirt Road, Phoenix Thanks to Ray Taylor of Portland, OR for sending in a ticket stub to confirm this gig. The opening acts mentioned on the stub are Sun Mash & Dirt Road. However, a review of the show from the Monmouth College paper only mentions an act called Phoenix?

"Then they went back to America for another tour, which started in New Jersey's Asbury Park on 17 February 1971." [from HBWOS, pg. #66]
2/18/71 Union Catholic High School Scotch Plains NJ U.S. Everyman John: "I just came across this Sabbath book [Martin Popoff's upcoming DOOM LET LOOSE] that is supposed to be released in August of 2006 and on the cover is a flyer for a show at Union Catholic High School here in New Jersey! I always heard rumors that they had played there on their first tour of America but never was sure and when I checked your database years ago there was no mention so I kind of wrote it off, but heres proof. Not from their first tour but their second. I don't know if they played the show, but at least it was advertised. And it fits in nicely between Asbury Park and NYC."
2/19/71 Fillmore East NYC NY U.S. Pig Light Show, J. Geils Band, Sir Lord Baltimore Sold out! 2 Shows – 8 pm and 11:30 pm

These Fillmore East shows sold out 3 weeks in advance, according to Rolling Stone!
"Bands that were just getting started loved Graham's approach: if your music was good, Graham would stand up for you. Opening for Black Sabbath, the J. Geils Band took the stage for their first Fillmore East show only to hear to the crowd roar for Ozzie and his group. Graham was furious. He strode to the microphone and said, "Listen, I personally invited this band down. It seems that some people here are just interested in seeing Black Sabbath. If ... you don't have the patience to spend the time to give this band an opportunity, will you please leave the theater? We'll ... give you a stub so you can come back for Black Sabbath. But would you please shut the fuck up and give this band a chance?!". Needless to say J. Geils was sensational that night, and went on to enthusiastically play many more dates for Graham at both Fillmores." [from Wolfgang's Vault - http://www.wolfgangsvault.com/About.aspx?Type=BillGraham.htm]
2/20/71 Fillmore East NYC NY U.S. Pig Light Show, J. Geils Band, Sir Lord Baltimore 2 shows? - 8 pm and 11:30 pm?
2/22/71
Seattle WA U.S.
Need venue name.

"Appearing in Seattle on 22 February, Sabbath stayed at the Edgewater Inn, a one-time sleepover for The Beatles. It was also the scene of the infamous story involving Led Zeppelin, a groupie and a freshly caught red snapper..."

"Ozzy's room overlooked the waterfront, and he decided to do a spot of fishing from his balcony. Guests could obtain a rod and line from the hotel reception desk in order to fish the waters of Elliott Bay. Ozzy got right into it, catching a couple of mud sharks which he placed in the batch to show off to anyone visiting his room."

"He then hit upon the idea of holding a television set out above the water, with the contrast set to give the maximum white light from the screen. Fish are attracted to bright light and will investigate anything that shines. Luckily for the fish, he lost his grip on the TV, and it reached the end of its working life at the bottom of the wharf."

"The Edgewater Inn is situated on a wharf, cut off from the downtown area by a rail track. Sabbath had the misfortune to be setting off for their Seattle gig at exactly the same time that a massive, slow-moving freight train was beginning its trundling, thirty minute journey past the rail crossing. They only just made their onstage deadline." [from HOW BLACK WAS OUT SABBATH, pg. #66]
2/23/71 The Forum Inglewood CA U.S. Grand Funk Railroad, Ten Years After (?) The appearance of Ten Years After at this show remains in question, due to other information that indicates that they were in Europe at the time. However, one fan remembers them as having played at this show....

Mark Pritchard: "I went to their concert at the LA Forum on Feb 23, 1971 and 3 bands played that night. The bill that night was Grand Funk, Ten Years After, Black Sabbath. Grand Funk was very hot band at the time; there was a lot of excitement about Ten Years After because of their appearance in the Woodstock movie. But very few people were aware of Black Sabbath at the time and they blew the audience away."
2/24/71 The Forum Inglewood CA U.S. Grand Funk Railroad
2/27/71 Denver Coliseum Denver CO U.S. Mountain [HL]
2/28/71 Centennial Concert Hall Winnipeg Manitoba Canada Salt Special thanks to Joe Siegler for sending me this newspaper review of these shows in Winnipeg. This review was written by Peter Crossley for the Winnipeg Free Press and appeared in the 3/1/71 edition:

Black Sabbath appeared at the Centennial Concert Hall Sunday evening for two sell-out shows. Black Sabbath is not so much a musical group as it is a musical experience. Sunday evening, the audience at the first show rose to their feet in a standing ovation for every number. The group’s showmanship has a lot to do with its success. Their visual presentation is enough to turn off every person who has never come into contact with this type of show. In the center of three walls of sneakers, the four young men work into a frenzy of emotion and are totally involved in their lyrics as well as their music. They performed numbers from their first two albums, BLACK SABBATH and PARANOIA [sic].

Black Sabbath is made up of three accomplished musicians and one talented singer. The drums, bass and lead guitar form a musical web in which the vocals become entwined and fully formed. The singer’s voice rises and falls in and out of the musical framework in a pattern of emotional consistency. The members of the group are John Osbourne (vocals), Tony Iommi (guitar), Geezer Butler (bass) and Bill Ward (drums). The highlight of their set, if one could be picked out, was the fine jazz guitar work by Mr. Iommi.

The first group of the evening was Salt. They have sloppy arrangements and even sloppier musical abilities. They were not together as a unit and, although they worked very hard on stage, they failed to capture the spirit or imagination of the audience. They tried every trick in the book to get the audience on their side but all in vain. They tried hand clapping, sing along lyrics and even a rock ‘n’ roll revival version of “Johnny B. Goode”. It didn’t work. Before this group makes another appearance, they should try working as hard on their music as they do on their presentation. There must be a happy medium.

There was a delay in getting the show started because of the arrival of equipment. The audience was well behaved throughout the ordeal and overly patient with the seemingly endless “five-minute delays”.
3/1/71 Overton Park Shell Memphis TN U.S.
There are many stories about the strange occult figures that approached the band when they reached Memphis in early '71. Some versions of this tale claim that the dressing room walls had been covered with cross symbols, painted in blood. Ozzy and Bill have mentioned seeing a cross painted on their hotel room door in different interviews. Yet other Memphis '71 tales have Geezer trying to scare off a coven of witches whom had gathered at their hotel room door with a fake hex.

Tony Iommi [from Guitar World 8/92]: "One night, after finishing a show, we returned to the hotel and found the corridor leading to our rooms completely filled with people wearing black cloaks, sitting on the floor with candles in their hands, chanting, 'Ahhhh.' So we climbed over them to get to our rooms, but could still hear them chanting. We called security, but that didn't work. So we synchronized our watches, opened our doors at the same time, blew the candles out and sang "Happy Birthday" to them. Pissed 'em off. They freaked - they were expecting us to help them conduct a Satanic mass and they got 'Happy Birthday' instead."

"Traveling on to a gig in Memphis, Tennessee on 1 March, Sabbath had a scare onstage when, half-way through their set, a man hauled himself up on to the stage and made a dash towards Tony Iommi. As he lunged forward, one of the crew members, David Hemmings, saw that he was holding a large knife. In a flash, David flew at him and disarmed him by twisting his arm up his back. Members of the venue's security staff forcefully bundled him offstage and held him until the police arrived to take him off to the cells."

"Shaken, Sabbath finished the set and returned to their two-storey motel. As they arrived, they were greeted by a group of people in black cloaks. Given what had happened at the gig, the band were quite disturbed by the reception committee. When Luke reached his room, he was shocked to find the door daubed with blood in the shape of an inverted cross, about four inches square."

"The entourage complained to the receptionist, who called the local police. Eventually, the officers called by to disperse the weirdos, promising to make regular checks during the night to ensure the band's stay was safe. So much for Sabbath as veterans of the black arts..." [from HOW BLACK WAS OUR SABBATH, pg. #67]

Robert (Memphis): “Venue was the Overton Park Shell where Elvis Presley made his public debut in 1954. The Sabbath show was abbreviated after a few songs due
to lightning and one or more blown amps.”
3/2/71 University Of North Carolina Chapel Hill NC U.S.

3/4/71 Bayfront Center St. Petersburg FL U.S. Fleetwood Mac [HL]
3/5/71 Sports Stadium Orlando FL U.S.

3/6/71 Pirates World Dania FL U.S. Fleetwood Mac [HL] From Fleetwood Mac.net: As 1971 opened, Fleetwood Mac was in its fifth incarnation. As luck would have it, however, it was not destined to last. In February, as Fleetwood Mac was in Los Angeles during another US tour, Jeremy Spencer walked out of his hotel room. Since he missed that night's gig, the crew went looking for him. By the time they found him, two days later, Jeremy's hair had been shorn and with glassy, brainwashed eyes announced that he had joined the Children Of God, one of L.A.'s many religious cults, and was quitting the band. Although clearly a shock to the band and its entourage at the time, this move was in fact long in coming. Never very comfortable in the new leadership role thrust upon him by Green's departure, Spencer, who'd been known to carry a bible sewn to the lining of his jacket, gradually began to lean more heavily on this aspect of his personality.

Green, ironically enough, was drafted to fill out the rest of the tour dates, but ardently declined to play any of the songs that made him (and the band) famous. The shows, as a consequence, consisted mostly of extended jamming, with Green allegedly ambling up to the microphones yelling "Yankee Bastards!" and laughing at the audience.
3/7/71 Painters Mill Music Fair Owings Mill MD U.S. Fleetwood Mac [HL]
3/8/71 The Dome Virginia Beach VA U.S. Sir Lord Baltimore From Eliot [bagdrag@mindspring.net]: "Hey I was looking on the site under the questionable shows. I saw a contract among the belongings of late photographer John Bellissimo (which I hope to buy) for Sir Lord Baltimore 3/8/71 at the Dome in Virginia Beach. They were paid $750.00 to open for Sabbath."
3/9/71 Century's Paramus Theatre Paramus NJ U.S. Spider Sabbath performed two shows for charity in Paramus. The show was sponsored by St. Matthews Episcopal Church Coffee House. The profits from this show went towards work support projects and inner-city missions.

Ken Riccio: "I was at this show so I can confirm that it took place. I was 15 at the time and this was the very first concert I ever attended. The opening act was a great local band called Spider, they were an excellent band with some really good originals but they just seemed to disappear."
3/11/71 William & Mary College - Blow Gym Williamsburg VA U.S. Sir Lord Baltimore Mentioned on the web site for William & Mary College as having taken place in 1970-71. This would be my best guesstimate for the approximate date.
3/12/71 Eastown Theater Detroit MI U.S. Fleetwood Mac [HL], Sir Lord Baltimore Replaced show in Hackensack, NJ.
3/13/71 Eastown Theater Detroit MI U.S. Fleetwood Mac [HL], Sir Lord Baltimore Replaced show in Hackensack, NJ.
3/16/71 Memorial Hall Kansas City KS U.S. J. Geils Band Tom Farnsworth: "I saw Black Sabbath several times in the 70's. The first time was in Kansas City, Missouri at Memorial Hall. The J. Geils Band opened for them!?! As far as I know it was their first tour of USA. The set was plagued with sound problems, but they managed to play about an hour and a half. It was awesome. I was way into Sabbath at the time and it was a religious experience for me. I got the show on cassette tape, which I wore out. I know, I'm a dumb shit! At the end of the show, Bill Ward punched and threw his snare drum out of frustration."
3/17/71 Market Toronto Ontario Canada

3/21/71 Annex St. Louis MO U.S.

3/24/71 Civic Center Music Hall Oklahoma City OK U.S. Mountain [HL]
3/25/71 Henry Levitt Arena Wichita KS U.S. Mountain [HL]
3/26/71 Memorial Coliseum Dallas TX U.S.
I've seen the venue listed as 'Reunion Arena', but this is absolutely wrong. Reunion Arena didn't open until 4/28/80!

Chris Slenker: "Here are the choices of venues for Dallas at the time."
Memorial Auditorium Dallas, TX 8,088
1970-71 Moody Coliseum at SMU , Dallas, TX 8,500
Tarrant Convention Center Fort Worth, TX 13,500
"The most likely venue for Black Sabbath I have researched was a place called Dallas Memorial Auditorium though it could of been Moody. However SMU is a religious college so it would have been quite ironic if Sabbath performed there. I rule out the convention center entirely as it is in Fort Worth."
The Dallas Memorial Auditorium, built in 1957, was expanded in the 1970s to become the Dallas Convention Center. Subsequent additions and expansions in 1984, 1994 and 2002 have created a modern facility containing over two million total square feet with heliport/vertiport and light rail access. The Convention Center, with its exhibit halls, ballrooms, meeting rooms, arena and theater, can host two or more conventions simultaneously. An additional ballroom, new meeting rooms , and an adjoining convention center hotel is a key element of the DCC long-range plan.
"From at least 1967 to 1979 this was the venue of Dallas where big acts like Zeppelin, Grateful Dead, The Doors and Fleetwood Mac performed."
3/27/71 'A Warehouse' - 1820 Tchoupitoulas New Orleans LA U.S. Seatrain, Melting Pot
3/28/71 Municipal Auditorium San Antonio TX U.S. Mountain [HL] According to the San Antonio Express and News, this show took place on March 30th. This obviously conflicts with the NYC show.

San Antonio Express And News (9/19/1971): "Black Sabbath was in San Antonio last March 30 with a group called Mountain and stole the show, so that they are now returning by public demand, according to promoter Joe Miller."
3/30/71 Rock Pile Long Island NY U.S. Sir Lord Baltimore, Dust Tony Iommi: “I was pleased with the American tour. I thought it went well for us except for one New York gig when we were tired and couldn’t get into it. But in any case, the kids don’t rave ALL the time. We’ve still got a hardcore of British fans and our records do well here, but I don’t think we’re being unfaithful.” [from Chris Welch’s BLACK SABBATH – pg. #63]
3/31/71 Onondaga War Memorial Syracuse NY U.S. Mountain [HL] Possibly two shows?

Syracuse Post-Standard (Review by Don Lawless titled UNSEATED DELAY POWER ROCK SHOW from 4/1/71): "It is inconceivable that people would pay up to $5.50 per seat to hear the two power rock gropus Mountain and Black Sabbath at the War Memorial and then not sit them. But that is exactly what happened last night. Part of the near 5,000 crowd ignored requests from ushers and policemen to take their seats, holding the show up for more than 20 minutes at one point and threatening to have it canceled at another."

"But despite the crowd problems, 280-pound Leslie West, lead guitar and his gaunt (by comparison), Felix Pappalardi on bass, both of the Mountain group, gave a well received performance. Felix's bass was the first in many concerts to have the power and the skill behind it to come off well in a solo. It is the first bass guitar to play lead effectively for even longer. West, formerly of the old New York Vangrants, and Pappalardi, formerly producer for the now defunct Cream, often have been compared to the power blasts of the Grand Funk Railroad. Comparison between Mountain music and the bellowing thump, thump of the GRF is not fair. Mountain is way ahead."

"Co-featured onf the bill was the lesser-known Black Sabbath, which despite their cooperation with officials, are strictly bad news."
4/2/71 The Spectrum Philadelphia PA U.S. Humble Pie, Mountain 'Mountain Dance Concert'.

Tony Iommi: “The first American tour was really like an experiment. We got there and played as well as we could, and let people see what we could do. It was hard work, but it was successful. The second tour came as the LP [PARANOID] was released, and it was really great. We played very well and that helped the LP get away. The first tour was to small venues and the second one was to 20,000 seat stadiums – and we filled them.” [from Chris Welch’s BLACK SABBATH – pg. #62]

Article in Melody Maker (4/3/71) mentions that Sabbath were in America through the 5th of April.
4/14/1971 K.B. Hallen? København (Copenhagen)
Denmark Jonathan Swift? According to Melody Maker (4/3/71), Sabbath were scheduled to play in Copenhagen twice on this tour - on this date and on April 18th.
4/15/71 Fyens Forum Odense
Denmark Jonathan Swift
4/16/71 Vejlby-Risskov Hallen Århus
Denmark Jonathan Swift
4/17/71 Holstebro Hallen Hostebro
Denmark Jonathan Swift
4/18/71 Falkoner Centret København (Copenhagen)
Denmark Jonathan Swift Jan Hoel found an article from 4/21/71 that confirms this gig, but says that it was a total flop with only 800 people in attendance! The show was said to be a flop because of the fact that the band had played there so recently (12/12/70). This gig has also been listed as 4/14/71.
4/20/71 Konserthuset (Concert Hall) Stockholm
Sweden Jonathan Swift That same article from 4/21/71 (mentioned above) called this gig a success, due to the attendance of 4,000 people. [Thanks to Jan Hoel]
4/21/71 Konserthuset (Concert Hall) Göteborg (Gothenburg)
Sweden Jonathan Swift
4/22/71 Njaardhallen Oslo
Norway Jonathan Swift; Salen? Jan Hoel found an article from 4/21/71, which confirms this gig and gives us the venue name. “The article mentions that Sabbath was going to play on Thursday, April 22nd at 7:30 pm in "Njaardhallen". I trained acrobatics in this hall as a kid!!"

“This comes from a newspaper article on 4/23/71. 780 people attended Sabbath’s Oslo performance. Troubadour Jonathan Swift played warm-up for 45 minutes without anyone caring, then 15 minutes of disco music followed. Finally, Black Sabbath came on and seemed totally bored and uninterested in the crowd. The only good thing about this show in the reviewer’s opinion that Iommi’s guitar playing had elements of classic and jazz in it. Ozzy hung on to the mike-stand and his voice was almost impossible to hear. They played some of their well-known riffs and tunes, but the set consisted of mostly very introverted pieces and un-engaging jazz improvisations. The reviewer concluded that the crowd was totally bored and the concert was a flop. This went to show that they were indeed no better than the shitty performance aired on National TV on New Years Eve”.

The TV concert mentioned was more than likely from the Paris show. This also goes towards proving that 12/20/70 may not have been the true date of that concert, since it is unlikely they would have had the show edited and distributed in two weeks.

To read Jan’s complete article about this show, go to the Articles section.
4/23/71 Konsertpaléet Bergen
Norway Jonathan Swift? This date is often listed as Berlin due to a misprint in the April 3rd, 1970 edition of Melody Maker.

Albert Iversen: "I live in Bergen, Norway and as you know Black Sabbath are coming to do a show here in the summer. Today I read a local paper and they were writing a short, but a cool story about Black Sabbath playing here in Bergen on the PARANOID tour. The date was 23 of April 1971. In your tour dates section you have Berlin. According to the promotor from that gig, Sabbath played 2 shows on the same night. One at seven and one at nine. They played at an old movie theater called "Konsertpaleet". Here is the link to the story:

http://www.ba.no/puls/musikk/article1474514.ece

It`s in Norwegian, so you won`t understand much, but here it is anyway. The promoter stated that the Sabs were so loud that the crowd were shocked and the equipment took so much electric power that the streets went dark!! Luckily, they had extra power supplies so they could carry on with the concerts. Can`t wait for the summer gig!!!"


Roy Svendsen: "I have a question about the PARANOID tour. For years, people here in Bergen, Norway have claimed that Sabbath played here on the Paranoid tour in 1971. A couple of years ago, when Bob Dylan was in town, it was even brought up in the newspaper I work in (I'm a journalist), about great artists who had played here previously. I checked the Paranoid tour dates on your page, and noticed that Sabbath toured Scandinavia towards the end of the tour."

"I have reason to believe that the April 23rd Berlin show is in fact the show in Bergen, Norway. It would be very odd for a band to play in Oslo, then bring their equipment to Germany the next day, and then back again to Sandnes - a small town in Norway - the day after that. Sandnes is situated on the west coast of Norway, around 300 kms south of Bergen. It would make much more sense if the band played in Oslo, then took off to Bergen by plane or train, and then went south to Sandnes. Do you have any more information about this date? The venue for the gig was "Konsertpaléet", a large cinema building in the town centre. Jethro Tull and Procol Harum also played there in 1971."
4/24/71 Giskehallen Sandnes
Norway Jonathan Swift? According to Tom Lindberg, this show was documented in the local newspaper AND the band also signed the guest book. Sabbath played a 45-minute set for this show.

The city for this show is listed as “Stavinger” in Melody Maker (4/3/70).
4/26/71 Royal Albert Hall London
England Freedom The last show of the PARANOID tour was a triumph for the band. After being snubbed by the Royal Albert Hall when they had tried to book it as the opening date of their January ’71 tour, the management relented and allowed the band to perform this time around.

Ozzy Osbourne: “I don’t know what prompted their decision. I think they must have just listened to our albums and decided the lyrics are true-to-life. I suppose we prick a few consciences in a way.” [from Chris Welch’s BLACK SABBATH – pg. #63]

“When we played at the Royal Albert Hall last year [this gig], it was really emotional. We never enjoyed ourselves so much.” [same source as above – pg. #65]

"They continued to tour themselves into the ground, playing 10 dates in Europe in April and returning for a show at the Royal Albert Hall, from which they had previously been banned. This sudden, unaccountable change of heart by the Albert Hall management took everyone by surprise, and no one knew why it had happened. It was probably a financial rethink, since the management would have known that Sabbath could sell out the venue, no problem. On the night, the band played a sensational gig and ran over their time by about fifteen minutes."

"A couple of weeks later, the band received a bill from the Royal Albert Hall - not for damage to the ornate hall as originally feared, but for staff overtime for Sabbath's extra quarter of an hour. Ironically, they had only exceeded their time limit because they had been detained by executives from their record company before they played, presenting them with gold discs for sales of their first two albums, BLACK SABBATH and PARANOID, and advance sales of MASTER OF REALITY, before it had even hit the shops." [from HBWOS, pg. #68]