Ozzy's final gig with Sabbath

[TimR]

On 12/02/2025 at 11:14, Cosmo Valdemar said:

After 90 minutes in the O2 presale today, all that was left were two "ultimate side of stage experience" tickets. 

 

A mere £2932.50 each. 

 

Sadly I'd already decided to set my spending limit at £2930. Yeah, I know... tightarse.

 

And didn't those people look miserable. So many of them that during the day you couldn't tell who was in the band, who was stage crew and who was a VIP. 

 

Bad stage management in my opinion. Audience should see no one except the performers.

 

Oh, and who let that one stage hand wear white socks and white trainers. 😆

[David B]

Had a great day. 12 hour drive each way so it was quite a trek. Tickets were still available on Ticketmaster on the morning of the event and these were not showing as re-sales. I did notice a surprising number of empty seats. My weekend away was a retirement gift from my children so I did not have to delve into the budgetary aspects of the trip (other than parking and some fast food). I have read some reviews bemoaning various aspects of it but I liked the variety of bands, the quick turnaround times and the general vibe. Live music doesn’t need to be perfect, it just needs to be fun. An unforgettable gig.

[Russ]

Been working my way through videos of the show. Haven't watched it all yet, but Gojira slayed, Tool smashed it (loving Justin's "bohemian caveman" look these days), Halestorm were fantastic, loved Jack Black's video contribution with Scott Ian and Tom Morello's sons, Metallica were, well, Metallica. Good, but you know exactly what you're going to get, and the two superstar jams were probably the highlight outside of Ozzy and Sabbath - Nuno Bettencourt didn't miss a note the whole day. There's a man who's done his homework. Sammy Hagar and Steven Tyler both sound amazing for 77, and the tune with Whitfield Crane, Nuno, Scott Ian, Frank Bello and II from Sleep Token was probably my highlight from the whole thing (Frank's new Spector sounds the b0llocks). That Yungblood bloke was pretty bloody good too. The only set I couldn't get through was G'n'R's - was not impressed.

 

More to watch, but what an event. Jealous of those of you who got to go. 

[bassbloke]

5 hours ago, Russ said:

Frank's new Sansamp Pedal sounds the b0llocks).

FTFY.  Granted it was an excellent bass sound, but I am finding that rock and metal bass tones now fall into one of two categories

 

1) Sansamp

2) Darkglass

 

GnR were woeful.  Only polished thing about them were Axl Rose's teeth.  He absolutely butchered Never Say Die.  I haven't heard a singer that out of time since the vocalist in my first band and that was 28 years ago.

Edited yesterday at 07:34 by bassbloke

[Supernaut]

We'll just ignore Orange, Hiwatt and Matamp 😁

[JPJ]

We didn’t attempt to get tickets despite both being life long fans because we just don’t enjoy stadium gigs any more, especially not at the ridiculous prices they charge. As I said, I’ve been a fan for close to 50 years, and whilst I’ve loved the music, I didn’t really appreciate Geezer’s playing until I did a short stint in a Sabbath tribute and had to learn the songs properly. So far I’ve only seen YouTube clips from this latest final show, and looking at Ozzy, I’d say this really was the final ‘final’ show. But for me, they didn’t disgrace themselves or their legacy. Sure, they weren’t super tight but hey, it’s hardly like this gig was off the back of a tour where you could reasonably expect them to be road ready. Thinking out loud, I suppose Geezer and Tony could do a farewell gig with Tony Martin, just to close the whole thing down……….

[Russ]

5 hours ago, bassbloke said:

FTFY.  Granted it was an excellent bass sound, but I am finding that rock and metal bass tones now fall into one of two categories

 

1) Sansamp

2) Darkglass

 

GnR were woeful.  Only polished thing about them were Axl Rose's teeth.  He absolutely butchered Never Say Die.  I haven't heard a singer that out of time since the vocalist in my first band and that was 28 years ago.

Frank's bass was one of the few you could actually hear, apart from Geezer's (with his massive purple Ashdown rig, which I now really want  ) and Josh from Halestorm. Poor Rudy Sarzo deserved better in the all-star segments, he was completely buried in the mix. 

[Cosmo Valdemar]

56 minutes ago, Russ said:

Frank's bass was one of the few you could actually hear, apart from Geezer's (with his massive purple Ashdown rig, which I now really want  ) and Josh from Halestorm. Poor Rudy Sarzo deserved better in the all-star segments, he was completely buried in the mix. 

I thought the bass was surprisingly well-represented throughout. Mike Inez's Warwick/Fishman sounded incredible. It was only really Rex who suffered.

 

[RussFM]

Looking back at the few videos I took for my son, Rex's bass was only really audible during Planet Caravan. 

Robert Trujillo was cutting through the mix nicely though, even with the loud kick drum.

 

 

[Cosmo Valdemar]

24 minutes ago, RussFM said:

Looking back at the few videos I took for my son, Rex's bass was only really audible during Planet Caravan. 

Robert Trujillo was cutting through the mix nicely though, even with the loud kick drum.

 

 

I love Metallica, but Lars' drum sound is horrendous. It wouldn't be so bad if it wasn't always mixed to be the lead instrument.

[WHUFC BASS]

1 hour ago, Cosmo Valdemar said:

I love Metallica, but Lars' drum sound is horrendous. It wouldn't be so bad if it wasn't always mixed to be the lead instrument.

 

I actually like the St Anger drum sound. Better than that boring sound he used on the latter albums. 

[Cosmo Valdemar]

8 minutes ago, WHUFC BASS said:

 

I actually like the St Anger drum sound. Better than that boring sound he used on the latter albums. 

Actually, I have no problem with the St Anger drums. They suit that album perfectly. It's his "normal" slappy sound I dislike.

[Russ]

1 hour ago, RussFM said:

Looking back at the few videos I took for my son, Rex's bass was only really audible during Planet Caravan. 

Robert Trujillo was cutting through the mix nicely though, even with the loud kick drum.

 

Obviously you could hear Rob during the For Whom The Bell Tolls intro, etc, but otherwise I found his tone a bit indistinct... kinda blurred into the guitars. Rex was playing his fretless Spector during Planet Caravan, and it had a nice deep tone. The Pantera set was spoiled by Wylde's frankly horrendous guitar sound though - sounded like it was being played through a crappy Bluetooth speaker. 

 

I forgot about Mike Inez - he always sounds good, although he was using maybe a little more distortion than was necessary. That Would? intro sounded fuzzy. 

[Cosmo Valdemar]

8 minutes ago, Russ said:

Obviously you could hear Rob during the For Whom The Bell Tolls intro, etc, but otherwise I found his tone a bit indistinct... kinda blurred into the guitars. Rex was playing his fretless Spector during Planet Caravan, and it had a nice deep tone. The Pantera set was spoiled by Wylde's frankly horrendous guitar sound though - sounded like it was being played through a crappy Bluetooth speaker. 

 

I forgot about Mike Inez - he always sounds good, although he was using maybe a little more distortion than was necessary. That Would? intro sounded fuzzy. 

On top of Wylde's questionable tone, I'm sure he was playing the riff to Walk incorrectly. Planet Caravan sounded totally wrong as well.

 

[Misdee]

 

 

If you consider the actual history (rather than the press release version) of what Sabbath has been as an institution and, indeed, as a business then it's a bit harder to get sentimental about them calling it a day. There's been an awful lot of water under that bridge and the four original members are far more business associates than friends. I'm really glad it went so well, though. It could easily have been an ignominious end for one of Britain's truly great bands. 

 

If you asked me what was the most influential British band of all time I would say the Beatles. If you asked me who was the second most influential I would say Black Sabbath. Look at the worldwide popularity of heavy metal/heavy rock music year after year, decade after decade, generation after generation. Sabbath made that mould, and no one has ever bettered them.

Edited yesterday at 17:17 by Misdee

[WHUFC BASS]

20 hours ago, Cosmo Valdemar said:

Actually, I have no problem with the St Anger drums. They suit that album perfectly. It's his "normal" slappy sound I dislike.

 

Same here. He's not a great drummer to start off with but that horrible plastic sound he consistantly gets on recordings just grates on me. 

[ian61]

Just clicked on a few vids today, I hadn't been that interested tbh and then watching them it dawned on me. I was 12 yr when Paranoid was released and I suddenly remembered how shocking it was, kinda scary. Death, Grunge, and all the rest owe them large ... Anyway the old eyes welled up today, who'da guessed. Cheers Ozzy.

Edited 6 hours ago by ian61

[Stub Mandrel]

1 hour ago, ian61 said:

Just clicked on a few vids today, I hadn't been that interested tbh and then watching them it dawned on me. I was 12 yr when Paranoid was released and I suddenly remembered how shocking it was, kinda scary. Death, Grunge, and all the rest owe them large ... Anyway the old eyes welled up today, who'da guessed. Cheers Ozzy.

 

Me too... when my brother told me about Ozzy saying 'this is the last time you'll ever hear us play Paranoid'.

 

I grew up with their music, my first non-provincial concert was 31 December 1981 which made up much of 'Live at Hammersmith Odeon' with my first serious girlfriend. 

 

Never saw Ozzy

 

[Bluewine]

On 05/02/2025 at 07:56, Stub Mandrel said:

 

That's been true since 1969, to be fair.

 

His singing seems to bypass his brain's mumble centre.

 

Looks like it was an incredible event!

 

Daryl

[Bluewine]

On 07/07/2025 at 12:16, Misdee said:

 

 

If you consider the actual history (rather than the press release version) of what Sabbath has been as an institution and, indeed, as a business then it's a bit harder to get sentimental about them calling it a day. There's been an awful lot of water under that bridge and the four original members are far more business associates than friends. I'm really glad it went so well, though. It could easily have been an ignominious end for one of Britain's truly great bands. 

 

If you asked me what was the most influential British band of all time I would say the Beatles. If you asked me who was the second most influential I would say Black Sabbath. Look at the worldwide popularity of heavy metal/heavy rock music year after year, decade after decade, generation after generation. Sabbath made that mould, and no one has ever bettered them.

 

 

I don't know a lot about metal.  But I know when a band touches the hearts and souls of millions over several generations they were onto something. 

 

I did see them in 1969. Must have been their first visit to the States. I was 15 years old. They played in the gymnasium at Montclair State College in New Jersey. I'm from Montclair. 

 

Daryl

[Bluewine]

On 06/07/2025 at 16:56, David B said:

Had a great day. 12 hour drive each way so it was quite a trek. Tickets were still available on Ticketmaster on the morning of the event and these were not showing as re-sales. I did notice a surprising number of empty seats. My weekend away was a retirement gift from my children so I did not have to delve into the budgetary aspects of the trip (other than parking and some fast food). I have read some reviews bemoaning various aspects of it but I liked the variety of bands, the quick turnaround times and the general vibe. Live music doesn’t need to be perfect, it just needs to be fun. An unforgettable gig.

 

I have no idea how long this show was in the works. However, considering how many bands played the planning and organization was top notch.

 

I can't "nit pick" tones or individual performance.  It looked like everyone had a " blast " and got more than what they paid for.

 

Daryl