The Never Say Die! Tour was a concert tour by the English heavy metal band Black Sabbath. The tour began on 16 May 1978 in Sheffield and ended on 11 December 1978 in Albuquerque, New Mexico. It was the last full tour with Ozzy Osbourne until the band reunited for Ozzfest 1997.
| Tour by Black Sabbath | |
| Location |
|
|---|---|
| Associated album | Never Say Die! |
| Start date | 16 May 1978 |
| End date | 11 December 1978 |
| Legs |
|
| No. of shows | 100 |
| Black Sabbath concert chronology | |
Background
editEurope (1st leg)
editVan Halen opened. "We did 23 shows in 25 days," recalled Eddie Van Halen. "I didn't know they had that many places! But to meet Tony Iommi when I was so into him was really incredible." David Lee Roth summed up the experience as "a real shot in the ass". The Liverpool Empire Theatre date was attended by future members of Apollo 440 – who, in 1997, issued an adaptation of Van Halen's 'Ain't Talkin' 'bout Love' as 'Ain't Talkin' 'bout Dub'.[1]
"We had a great time with the Sabbath guys…" recalled Alex Van Halen. "It was really special because Ed and I were big fans of the band. Every time they came to LA, I was out there in the audience, fighting tooth and nail to get to the front so I could get my eardrums destroyed. But I learnt a lot from them about audience participation… One time, we were up near Leicester, about half an hour before showtime, and Ozzy and Bill Ward were out there on the front lawn with the punters, having a beer. I thought, 'Fuck me, none of this star-type shit.' I was really impressed."[2]
"Ozzy used to tell a funny story…" recalled onetime Osbourne sidekick Don Airey. "Sabbath had done a tour for a year [sic] with Kiss… and it nearly killed him because Kiss had been so good. And he said, 'We're never doing that again. Next tour, we just want a bar band from LA. That's all we want.' And then he got to the first gig. Ozzy said they walked in as 'Eruption' was going on. Ozzy said, 'We just went into the dressing room. We sat there going, That was incredible… and then it finished, and we were just too stunned to speak. Then there was a knock on the door and the best-looking man in the world walked in and said, Hello' – you know, David Lee Roth. I think they only lasted about two months on that tour. Then the record broke… I went to see them at the Rainbow when they supported Sabbath. By the time they played the Rainbow again a month later, they were headlining. Incredible!"[3]
Support for the end of the UK leg of the tour was from psychedelic punk group Tanz Der Youth who received a hostile response from the audience.[4]
North America (1st leg)
edit"At all our shows on this tour," Ozzy told Circus, "there's one guy that gives me the evil eye. It's not the same guy at each show – at least I don't think it's the same guy. But it's kind of frightening to feel those vibes." Of the tour, he said: "The crowds are going fucking wild. In Cape Cod the other night [4 September], they were going fucking insane. Man, it was scary up there. We didn't expect this response." Van Halen, he said, "are so good they ought to be headlining the tour."[5]
Tour dates
editBox office score data
edit| Date (1978) |
City | Venue | Attendance | Gross | Ref(s) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| September 4 | South Yarmouth | Cape Cod Coliseum | 7,100 | $53,888 | [11] |
| September 5 | Portland | Cumberland County Civic Center | 7,744 | $57,606 | |
| September 8 | Niagara Falls | Convention Center | 8,186 | $62,267 | |
| September 9 | Baltimore | Civic Center | 9,253 | $65,887 | |
| September 10 | New Haven | Coliseum | 7,438 | $52,289 |
Personnel
editReferences
edit- ^ Heatley, Michael (March 2000). "The story behind the album". Classic Rock. No. 12. p. 30.
- ^ unsourced clipping, reproduced in Sabbath fanzine Southern Cross #12, January 1994, p6
- ^ "Don Airey revealed". The Highway Star. Retrieved 13 December 2022.
- ^ "Tanz Der Youth & Bryan James & The Brains". punk77. Retrieved 3 March 2022.
- ^ Napierala, Cathy (10 October 1978). "The Crowds Are Wild". Circus. No. 193.
- ^ "47 Ozzy Osbourne Wallpapers & Backgrounds for FREE".
- ^ "1978 Tour — Black Sabbath Online". Archived from the original on 29 June 2013. Retrieved 7 October 2015.
- ^ "Van Halen: Joint Tour with Black Sabbath in 1978 (Matter+Dates+Reviews+Photos)".
- ^ "Van Halen: Van Halen: Turnê Conjunta Com o Black Sabbath em 1978". van-halen5150.blogspot.com. Archived from the original on 6 August 2012.
- ^ "David Lee Roth on van Halen's 1978 tour with Black Sabbath". 9 November 2013.
- ^ "Billboard Top Box Office". Billboard. Vol. 90, no. 38. Nielsen Business Media, Inc. 23 September 1978. p. 52. ISSN 0006-2510. Retrieved 22 February 2021.