Reviews from Coors Amphitheatre - Englewood (Denver), CO - July 24th, 2004

Thanks to Paul May for these live shots from Denver 2004

Rocky Mountain News article: 'Black together again - Sabbath masters harmony for latest edition of Ozzfest" [by Mark Brown - July 23rd, 2004] - Interview with Tony Iommi

News Release - 'Black Sabbath remove Bush image from War Pigs video' [24/07/2004 - 09:29:37]

Black Sabbath have axed footage of President George W Bush and Adolf Hitler from an Ozzfest video montage after upset band drummer Bill Ward expressed his dislike of the skit.

The metal group have also replaced another image of the American president Bush wearing a red clown nose, which featured on a big screen behind them while they performed classic heavy rock anthem War Pigs.

Ward posted a message on his website distancing himself from the video, stating: "This video structure does not represent my personal views towards President Bush. This video was made without my prior knowledge or consent."

Ozzfest aides insist the group didn't OK the inflammatory images, but only compiled pre-existing footage to accompany the anti-war song, which opens their set.

A spokesman says: "The image of President Bush and Hitler is taken from a CNN news feature that shows a protestor holding a sign with President Bush and Hitler. The video is part of a musical performance and the images should not be taken out of context."

Aides insist the video montage was edited because too many media outlets were taking the footage out of context, and it steered attention away from Black Sabbath's performance.

Insiders claim reports of complaints from the White House are completely untrue.

James Rollner: "Ozzfest is definitely not the best showcase for Black Sabbath, but just the same, I saw them this past Saturday night at Coors Amphitheater (formerly known as Fiddlers Green).  This may have been the rowdiest crowd I've ever witnessed.  During Slayer's late afternoon performance, the near capacity crowd started throwing plastic beer bottles at one another.  At one point during their set, there were literally hundreds of bottles flying through the air.  Now I understand why they take the bottle caps from the bottles before serving!  My friends and I were uninjured, though we (and everyone else in the crowd, I'm sure) took a few bottles to the heads and arms."

"By the time Sabbath took the stage (around 9:20), the crowd had thinned a bit - whoever was leaving early left before Judas Priest took the stage (Slayer and all of the earlier bands clearly have a different crowd) – but chants of 'Ozzy, Ozzy!' made clear that this was the madman's crowd.  The people sitting around us were all there to see Ozzy - most didn't even really know Sabbath's music!  The lady behind me (she was in her forties) told me that she thought Ozzy was 'adorable.'  She was not familiar with any of Ozzy's music, with or without Sabbath - she knew him from TV."

"With all that said - they really rocked the crowd.  Everything was tuned down even lower (!) than the REUNION tour (my friend with me said he thought if “Fairies Wear Boots” were tuned any lower, it would qualify as a sub frequency!), which made it fairly easy for Ozzy to hit the notes.  As a result, he sounded pretty good, though he did blow a few lyrics here and there.  Oz was not nearly as animated as he has been in recent years.  This is clearly due to the accident he suffered earlier this year, which he did make reference to early in the show.  But, the crowd LOVED him just the same and I have to admit that I was taken under his spell too.  Sure, his stage patter is inane and a man his age mooning the crowd is totally immature, but he is extremely charismatic.  He was laughing and smiling through out the show and his enthusiasm was infectious."

"Iommi, Ward and Butler were solid.  Ward blew a few fills early in “War Pigs”, prompting a smiling, almost laughing response from Iommi.  Iommi sounded a bit tentative at first, but by the time they launched into “N.I.B.”, they were clearly primed and ready.  The set list is very brief - 10 songs INCLUDING the “Supertzar” intro.  My friend Mike thought the show only seemed about 45 minutes long, but in actuality, the show lasted only about 70 minutes or so.  It was great to hear all of this music live for the first time."

The set list:

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/Paranoid

"Like many longtime fans, I'm disappointed by the lack of variety of music that they're playing.  Other than the siren intro to “War Pigs”, there was no discernible sign of Adam Wakeman at any point.  But I have to say it was still a great show.  I was honored to finally get the opportunity to see Tony Iommi and he didn't disappoint me.  At the end of the show, Ozzy admonished the audience to 'drive home safely, and ‘we'll be back next year to kick your fucking asses again' or something to that effect."

"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."