Black Sabbath, tour review: Bell tolls for a mighty rock farewell

It began, as it must, with the tolling of a bell. With it, on walked Ozzy Osbourne, Tony Iommi and Geezer Butler, summoned to a London stage for the final time.

For this tour, The End, is apparently exactly that: when it arrives in the band’s hometown of Birmingham next month, the Sabbath shall rock no more. While last night’s show at the O2 was hardly an argument for these sexagenarians extending their careers further, it was a glorious way to say goodbye.

With its tritone guitar riff and eerie lyrics, opener Black Sabbath had a genuine menace, even if Ozzy’s status as a harbinger of doom has been undermined somewhat by years spent as a bumbling bad-dad on reality TV show The Osbournes.

Still, the primordial riffing of Under the Sun was a reminder that, alongside Led Zep, Sabbath can lay claim to being the forefathers of heavy-metal, while anti-Vietnam rocker War Pigs proved they can pen a fine protest song.

Snowblind was dedicated to the band’s former keyboardist, Geoff Nicholls, who died of lung cancer at the weekend, but the prevailing mood was one of celebration rather than sadness.

Even Ozzy’s singing voice — slightly slurred, rarely in tune — proved a surprisingly good complement to Iommi’s mighty guitar riffs.

So farewell, Black Sabbath. You have rocked, you have shocked and, importantly, you have stopped — just at the right time.

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