Black Sabbath's reunion had already overcome more obstacles than most bands face in a lifetime. Tony Iommi's cancer diagnosis forced the original tour to be postponed, casting serious doubt over whether the guitarist would return to the stage at all. Thankfully, his treatment progressed well enough for the dates to be rescheduled, and the band eventually arrived in Paris touring behind 13, its first studio album with Ozzy Osbourne since 1978.
It is not quite the full original lineup. Bill Ward’s absence remains the obvious sore point, and Tommy Clufetos is a poor stylistic substitute. He is technically capable and hits with enormous force, but his rigid, blunt approach lacks the swing and elasticity that Ward brought to these songs. In a smaller room, that mismatch might have been more damaging. Inside a large arena, sheer volume covers some of the cracks.
After an oddly flat opening set from Uncle Acid & the Deadbeats, Geezer Butler, Ozzy Osbourne and Tony Iommi take the stage and launch straight into “War Pigs.” From that moment on, the arena becomes a heaving mass of bodies. The floor surges forward, sideways and back again for the next ninety minutes, the crowd responding to every riff as though these songs were still dangerous rather than decades-old standards.
Ozzy struggles in places, particularly when the melodies climb, but the imperfections only make the performance feel more immediate. There is no illusion of youthful precision here. What remains is commitment, personality and a catalogue strong enough to survive almost anything. The new material from 13 earns its place, but the evening belongs chiefly to the first four albums: “Into the Void,” “Snowblind,” “Behind the Wall of Sleep,” “Children of the Grave” and, inevitably, “Paranoid.”
The lineup is imperfect, the vocals are weathered and the drummer is too heavy-handed. None of it changes the essential fact. Once Iommi strikes those riffs and Butler locks beneath them, Black Sabbath still sounds like the source from which heavy metal first crawled.
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