HEAVEN & HELL
The classic Dio-era line-up of Black Sabbath reformed.

I was lucky enough to catch the Heaven & Hell tour when they hit Albuquerque with Megadeth and Machine Head opening. It was a great show. Megadeth tore it up! However, I had just recently seen Megadeth on the end of their Gigantour, so it was really Heaven & Hell, aka Black Sabbath I was there to see. I had seen Sabbath in 1983 at the Spectrum in Philadelphia with Ian Gillan behind the mic and Quiet Riot opening. That show was one of the most memorable shows I have ever been to. The stonehenge stage setup and the band's performance is permanently engraved in my memory. I had seen Black Sabbath again during their reunion with Ozzy when they shared the headline performance of Ozzfest with Judas Priest. Again, the performance was outstanding and I was in awe of the band. All those classic songs came alive that night. However on April 28, 2007 in Albuquerque, NM at the Journal Pavilion I had tickets to see the much revered Dio line-up of Black Sabbath. As with the "Born Again" tour, the stage setup and performance were spectacular and shall forever be engraved in my brain. Having been blessed to attend this awesome tour, this CD and DVD are going to be a spectacular nostalgic listen for me each and every time. Upon my initial return from seeing the show, I had posted this on the Heart of Metal message board:

Heaven & Hell (aka Black Sabbath w/ Dio) were also outstanding! Geezer is still the man. Shouts of DIO, DIO, DIO, rang out throughout the show. Indeed, Dio commanded the stage and never sounded so great. As alway, Tony Iommi is amazing. I was in awe watching these veterans perform. I've seen Black Sabbath several times, including the "Born Again Tour" with Ian Gillan. This was actually the first time with Dio and I must say they were technically a lot better with Dio than they ever were with Ozzy. This could also be that there was none of the Ozzy material played. The entire set list consisted of Dio-era material. Every song was phenomenal. I know some people don't care for "Dehumanizer", but the songs from this album sounded just as great as the rest of the material. "I" was incredibly heavy! While I liked "Dehumanizer" before this show, hearing them live really made the songs come alive and made me appreciate the album even more than I did before.

The set was based around a castle. The band wasn't overly active, but there was enough going on with lighting effects and such to keep your eyes busy while injesting the heavy music that was being played. On either side of the stage there were windows with crosses in them. Smoke would emerge from these windows with lights that looked a bit like rays of sunshine coming through. It was very cool effect. For each song there was something different happening on the stage. I can't explain it all. All I can say is, if you get the chance, don't miss this tour.

The DVD/CD captures the magic live at Radio City Music Hall in New York City, NY, March 30, 2007. This was a special performance by the band, featuring no opening acts. The show sold out in less than an hour. The sound here is spectacular, capturing that live energy, while at the same time offering a clear recording.

I wanted to address one other thing, since it seems to come up continually. The extended live version of "Heaven and Hell" contains what many anti-rock preachers of old called the "devil's alter call" and used as ammo against all the "evil" rock band in the 70's and 80's. The band did this on their previous tours together, on Live Evil, and Dio did the same thing on his solo tours. What it is in reality is a dramatization and pure fantasy, as much of Dio's lyrics are, complete with red lights on Dio's face and lots of smoke and mirrors. His rant that end with, "I'm gonna burn in hell with you, and you, and all of you." may put some people off who see this as something aside from the stage show it is. I personally see it as part of the show. I am secure in what I believe, but I can also understand how this might put some people off.

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