Born Again Tour

The Born Again Tour was a concert tour by in support of Black Sabbath's Born Again album. Both the album and the tour were the only ones of Black Sabbath's to feature former Deep Purple frontman Ian Gillan on lead vocals. Ex-Electric Light Orchestra drummer Bev Bevan was hired to replace Bill Ward, who had returned to the band for the recording of the album after a two-year hiatus, for the tour. This was the final tour to feature original Black Sabbath bassist Geezer Butler until 1992's Dehumanizer tour.

Born Again Tour

Tour by Black Sabbath
Associated album	Born Again
Start date	7 August 1983
End date	4 March 1984
Legs	4
No. of shows	96
Black Sabbath concert chronology

Background

"There had been conversations during the Born Again sessions about going on tour," Bill Ward recalled, "and I was barely making it through the sessions, let alone touring. The thought of touring put me in such a state of panic, anxiety and dread that I couldn't possibly face the idea… but I was too ashamed to tell everybody. And rather than tell everybody, I drank and I disappeared. I escaped. That's how I used to do things: when I couldn't handle a situation, I would just drink and just run away… I came back to the United States, got hospitalised a couple of times, ended up back on the streets and, in the early part of January 1984, I went into my final detox. And from that point on I haven't taken a drink. And I haven't used any narcotics."

Meanwhile, between 7 and 14 August 1983, the band used the National Exhibition Centre, in Birmingham, England, to rehearse. The first leg of the tour consisted of seven European shows in August, followed by a second European leg in September and October, featuring 16 shows.

"We were on flight 666 to Helsinki," recalled Geezer Butler, "and even the baggage label said 'HEL'. We were all shitting ourselves getting on that plane. I got pissed, of course. I was severely boozing then. I was pissed for that whole tour."

Two North American legs consisted of 36 shows from October through November, then 34 shows from January through March 1984.

There were many cancellations during the North American tour owing to problems with an oversized Stonehenge stage set. This was the reason that initial shows in Canada were cancelled, delaying the first North American leg. The crew also got caught in a November blizzard while crossing the Continental Divide, forcing the cancellation of two shows in Salt Lake City and Reno.

There were more difficulties during the second North American leg which delayed their shows for nearly a week. One show in Salisbury, Maryland (28 February 1984) was beset by local religious protests that were noted in the local papers, but was ultimately cancelled due to poor ticket sales. Of the 96 currently confirmed shows, 30% were likely cancelled for one reason or another. The band did manage to sell out at least a dozen shows including Saginaw, Worcester, Rockford, Providence, Cleveland, Detroit, New Haven, Portland, Philadelphia, Toronto, East Rutherford and Chicago.

Tour dates

List of 1983 concerts

Date	City	Country	Venue
18 August 1983	Drammen	Norway	Drammenshallen
19 August 1983	Stockholm	Sweden	Johanneshovs Isstadion
21 August 1983	Helsinki	Finland	Helsinki Ice Hall
23 August 1983	Lund	Sweden	Olympen
24 August 1983	Copenhagen	Denmark	Falkoner Teatret
27 August 1983	Reading	England	Reading Festival
28 August 1983	Dublin	Ireland	Dalymount Park
10 September 1983	Mulhouse	France	Hippodrome de Schlierbach
13 September 1983	Barcelona	Spain	La Monumental
14 September 1983	Madrid		Estadio Román Valero
15 September 1983	San Sebastián		Velódromo de Anoeta
18 September 1983	Offenbach	West Germany	Stadthalle Offenbach
19 September 1983	Düsseldorf		Philips Halle
20 September 1983	Mannheim		Mannheimer Rosengarten
22 September 1983	Munich		Circus Krone Building
24 September 1983	Frauenfeld	Switzerland	Festhalle Ruegerhols
25 September 1983	Geneva		Pavillon Des Sports Del Champel Geneve
27 September 1983	Neunkirchen am Brand	West Germany	Hemmerleinhalle
28 September 1983	Böblingen		Sporthalle
30 September 1983	Paris	France	Espace Balard
1 October 1983	Brussels	Belgium	Forest National
2 October 1983	Zwolle	Netherlands	IJsselhallen
3 October 1983	Nijmegen		Concertgebouw de Vereeniging
13 October 1983	Moncton	Canada	Moncton Coliseum
15 October 1983	Halifax		Halifax Metro Center
17 October 1983	Rimouski		Colisée de Rimouski
18 October 1983	Chicoutimi		Centre Georges-Vézina
20 October 1983	Quebec City		Colisée de Québec
21 October 1983	Montreal		Montreal Forum
22 October 1983	Ottawa		Ottawa Civic Centre
24 October 1983	Sudbury		Sudbury Arena
25 October 1983	Toronto		Maple Leaf Gardens
26 October 1983	London		London Gardens
27 October 1983	Buffalo	United States	Buffalo Memorial Auditorium
29 October 1983	East Rutherford		Brendan Byrne Arena
30 October 1983	Uniondale		Nassau Veterans Memorial Coliseum
1 November 1983	Providence		Providence Civic Center
2 November 1983	Landover		Capital Centre
4 November 1983	Worcester		Worcester Centrum
5 November 1983	Philadelphia		Spectrum
6 November 1983	Portland		Cumberland County Civic Center
8 November 1983	New Haven		New Haven Coliseum
9 November 1983	Rochester		Rochester Community War Memorial
10 November 1983	Pittsburgh		Stanley Theater
11 November 1983	Detroit		Cobo Arena
12 November 1983	Cleveland		Public Auditorium
13 November 1983	Cincinnati		Richfield Coliseum
14 November 1983	Saginaw		Saginaw Civic Center
15 November 1983	Rockford		Rockford MetroCentre
16 November 1983	Ashwaubenon		Brown County Veterans Memorial Arena
18 November 1983	Chicago		UIC Pavilion
19 November 1983	Madison		Dane County Coliseum
20 November 1983	Bloomington		Met Center
22 November 1983	Salt Lake City		Salt Palace
23 November 1983	Reno		Lawlor Events Center
25 November 1983	Paradise		Aladdin Theatre for the Performing Arts
26 November 1983	Phoenix		Arizona Veterans Memorial Coliseum
27 November 1983	Tucson		Tucson Community Center
29 November 1983	Albuquerque		Tingley Coliseum
30 November 1983	El Paso		El Paso County Coliseum

List of 1984 concerts

Date	City	Country	Venue
16 January 1984	Calgary	Canada	TBA
17 January 1984	Edmonton		Northlands Coliseum
19 January 1984	Vancouver		TBA
20 January 1984	Seattle	United States	Seattle Center Coliseum
21 January 1984	Spokane		Spokane Coliseum
23 January 1984	Portland		Memorial Coliseum Complex
25 January 1984	Daly City		Cow Palace
26 January 1984	Long Beach		Long Beach Arena
28 January 1984	El Paso		El Paso County Coliseum
29 January 1984	Salt Lake City		Salt Palace
31 January 1984	Denver		University of Denver Arena
1 February 1984	Amarillo		Amarillo Civic Center
2 February 1984	Lubbock		Lubbock Memorial Civic Center
3 February 1984	Corpus Christi		Memorial Coliseum
4 February 1984	San Antonio		Henry B. Gonzalez Convention Center
7 February 1984	Houston		Sam Houston Coliseum
8 February 1984	Dallas		Reunion Arena
10 February 1984	Beaumont		Beaumont Civic Center
11 February 1984	Little Rock		Barton Coliseum
12 February 1984	New Orleans		Lakefront Arena
13 February 1984	Birmingham		Boutwell Auditorium
14 February 1984	Jacksonville		Jacksonville Memorial Coliseum
16 February 1984	Lakeland		Lakeland Civic Center
17 February 1984	Sunrise		Sunrise Musical Theater
18 February 1984	Savannah		Savannah Civic Center
20 February 1984	Atlanta		Fox Theatre
22 February 1984	St. Louis		Kiel Auditorium
24 February 1984	Toledo		Toledo Sports Arena
25 February 1984	Trotwood		Hara Arena
26 February 1984	Kalamazoo		Wings Stadium
28 February 1984	Salisbury		Wicomico Youth and Civic Center
29 February 1984	Utica		The Stanley Center for the Arts
1 March 1984	Albany		Palace Theatre
3 March 1984	Pittsburgh		Stanley Theater
4 March 1984	Springfield		Springfield Civic Center

Set lists

The set list featured two Dio-era tracks, "Heaven and Hell" and "Neon Knights", as well as a good helping from the new album, and a few fan favorites reappeared in the set, such as "Supernaut" and "Rock 'n' Roll Doctor". Each show on the tour ended with a two-song encore, with the first song being a cover of the Deep Purple classic "Smoke on the Water", as Ian Gillan was formerly of Deep Purple. This is one of the few cover songs Black Sabbath have ever done at live shows. They played the song on Iommi's suggestion. He felt it was a 'bum deal' that Gillan had to perform so many old Sabbath songs and none of his own.

Songs played on the tour

• "Supertzar"
• "Children of the Grave"
• "Hot Line"
• "War Pigs"
• "Born Again"
• "Supernaut"
• "Rock 'n' Roll Doctor" ("Horrible," recalled Iommi. "It was difficult for him [Gillan] to sing certain Sabbath songs.)"
• "Stonehenge"
• "Disturbing the Priest"
• "Keep It Warm"
• "Black Sabbath"
• "The Dark"
• "Zero the Hero"
• "Heaven and Hell"
• "Neon Knights"
• "Digital Bitch"
• "Iron Man"
• "Smoke on the Water"
• "Paranoid"
• "Children of the Sea" (extract)

Songs rehearsed for the tour, but never played live

• "Sabbra Cadabra"
• "Evil Woman"
• "Never Say Die"
• "Symptom of the Universe"
• "N.I.B."
• "The Wizard"
• "Tomorrow's Dream"

Staging

There were many problems surrounding the tour for the album, including having little room on stage owing to it being decorated with Stonehenge replicas. In 2005, Geezer Butler explained:

It had nothing to do with me. In fact, I was the one who thought it was really corny. We had Sharon Osbourne’s dad, Don Arden, managing us. He came up with the idea of having the stage set be Stonehenge. He wrote the dimensions down and gave it to our tour manager. He wrote it down in meters but he meant to write it down in feet. The people who made it saw fifteen meters instead of fifteen feet. It was 45 feet high and it wouldn’t fit on any stage anywhere so we just had to leave it in the storage area. It cost a fortune to make but there was not a building on Earth that you could fit it into.

Ian Gillan maintained that Stonehenge was indeed Geezer's idea – and that, asked for details by set buildings Light and Sound Design, Geezer had simply said: "Life-size." Filling three containers, it was too big for any stage, so only a small part of it was used at a time, but the band and crew still had problems edging between the monoliths.

"We couldn't believe the size of it when we saw it," recalled Iommi. "We seen it when we rehearsed at the NEC [in Birmingham] for a whole and we'd only seen it on the floor; parts of it – they hadn't finished it… It gets to [the 1983] Reading [festival] and we've got these huge ones at the back that are just, like, gigantic."

Photos of the Born Again tour show that at least some of the stones were present on stage.

The tour's early stages featured a dwarf, dressed to look like the demon-infant from the album cover.

The dimension problems and use of dwarfs bear strong similarities to the infamous Stonehenge scene in the movie This Is Spinal Tap, released a year after Sabbath's tour. "It was great when I saw that film, though," recalled Butler, "because it was at the end of that tour with Gillan… I thought they'd had a spy with us or something – it was so like us."

Personnel

• Tony Iommi – guitar
• Geezer Butler – bass guitar
• Ian Gillan – vocals
• Bev Bevan – drums
• Geoff Nicholls – keyboards (performed off stage)

Bill Ward was unable to play the Born Again tour because of personal problems. He explains:

We did the Born Again album but I fell apart with the idea of touring. I got so much fear behind touring, I didn't talk about the fear, I drank behind the fear instead and that was a big mistake. So, I blew the Born Again tour and Bev Bevan, who is a very, very, very nice man, a very good drummer, took over the drum chair on that one.

Opening acts

Pretty Maids were the support act on the initial Scandinavian dates (18–24 August 1983). The Irish date was part of a one day festival including Mama's Boys, Anvil, Twisted Sister, and Motörhead. Diamond Head provided support on the remaining European dates (13 September to 3 October) together with Lita Ford (27-28 September), but was also supplanted by Girlschool during the Spanish gigs (13–15 September 1983) and Belgian speed metallers Acid in Brussels (1 October).

Streetheart were originally scheduled to be the support act at the beginning of the 1983 Canadian leg, but those initial shows were canceled. Instead, Scottish rockers Nazareth filled in on the majority of the Canadian shows (from 20 October through 24th) until Quiet Riot were available for the show in Toronto (25 October). However, Nazareth paired with Quiet Riot in London, Ontario (26 October) and replaced Black Sabbath as the headliner when their Stonehenge set wouldn't fit into the arena!

Quiet Riot appeared with Sabbath for the remainder of the first North American leg and all U.S. dates through 30 November. Fastway also made an appearance in New Haven on 8 November.

Heaven provided support at the beginning of the 2nd North American leg from 25 January through at least the end of January. Ratt appeared only at the first show in Daly City on 25 January. Girlschool reappeared for a single show in San Antonio on 4 February. Night Ranger joined the tour from 7 February through 26. They were replaced by Canadian band Helix for two shows in New York. The final show in Springfield, MA was supported by Cryer and Lodestar that featured guitar virtuoso Tony MacAlpine.

External links

• Gillan the Hero – Fan site with information on the tour.
• Black Sabbath Online - Long running fan site with information on tour