Born Again Tour 1983

Born Again 1983 Tour
World tour by Black Sabbath
Associated album Born Again
Start date 7 August 1983
End date 4 March 1984
Legs 4
No. of shows 81
Black Sabbath concert chronology

The Born Again Tour 1983 was a global 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.

Tour

Between 7 and 14 August 1983, the band used the National Exhibition Centre, in Birmingham, England, as rehearsal venue. The first leg of the tour consisted of seven European shows in August, followed by a second European leg in September and October consisting of 15 shows. There were also two North American legs consisting of 31 shows from October through November, then 26 shows from January through March 1984.[1]

Tour dates

Date City Country Venue
First European leg
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
Second European leg
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 Germany Stadthalle Offenbach
19 September 1983 Düsseldorf Philips Halle
20 September 1983 Mannheim Mannheimer Rosengarten
22 September 1983 Munich Circus Krone
24 September 1983 Frauenfeld Switzerland Festhalle Ruegerhols
25 September 1983 Geneva Pavillon Des Sports Del Champel Geneve
27 September 1983 Neunkirchen am Brand Germany Hemmerleinhalle
28 September 1983 Böblingen Sporthalle
30 September 1983 Paris France Espace Balard
1 October 1983 Brussels Belgium Vorst Nationaal
2 October 1983 Zwolle Netherlands IJsselhallen
3 October 1983 Nijmegen Concertgebouw de Vereeniging
First North American leg
17 October 1983 Rimouski, Quebec Canada Colisée de Rimouski
18 October 1983 Chicoutimi, Quebec Centre Georges-Vézina
20 October 1983 Quebec City, Quebec Colisée de Québec
21 October 1983 Montreal, Quebec Montreal Forum
22 October 1983 Ottawa, Ontario Ottawa Civic Centre
24 October 1983 Sudbury, Ontario Sudbury Arena
25 October 1983 Toronto, Ontario Maple Leaf Gardens
27 October 1983 Buffalo, New York United States Buffalo Memorial Auditorium
29 October 1983 East Rutherford, New Jersey Brendan Byrne Arena
30 October 1983 Uniondale, New York Nassau Veterans Memorial Coliseum
1 November 1983 Providence, Rhode Island Providence Civic Center
2 November 1983 Landover, Maryland Capital Centre
4 November 1983 Worcester, Massachusetts Worcester Centrum
5 November 1983 Philadelphia, Pennsylvania Spectrum
6 November 1983 Portland, Maine Cumberland County Civic Center
8 November 1983 New Haven, Connecticut New Haven Coliseum
9 November 1983 Rochester, New York Rochester Community War Memorial
11 November 1983 Detroit, Michigan Cobo Arena
12 November 1983 Cleveland, Ohio Public Auditorium
14 November 1983 Saginaw, Michigan Saginaw Civic Center
15 November 1983 Rockford, Illinois Rockford MetroCentre
16 November 1983 Ashwaubenon, Wisconsin Brown County Veterans Memorial Arena
18 November 1983 Chicago, Illinois UIC Pavilion
19 November 1983 Madison, Wisconsin Dane County Coliseum
20 November 1983 Bloomington, Minnesota Met Center
23 November 1983 Reno, Nevada Lawlor Events Center
25 November 1983 Paradise, Nevada Aladdin Theatre for the Performing Arts
26 November 1983 Phoenix, Arizona Arizona Veterans Memorial Coliseum
27 November 1983 Tucson, Arizona Tucson Community Center
29 November 1983 Albuquerque, New Mexico Tingley Coliseum
30 November 1983 El Paso, Texas El Paso County Coliseum
Second North American leg
25 January 1984 Daly City, California United States Cow Palace
26 January 1984 Long Beach, California Long Beach Arena
28 January 1984 El Paso, Texas El Paso County Coliseum
29 January 1984 Salt Lake City, Utah Salt Palace
31 January 1984 Denver, Colorado University of Denver Arena
1 February 1984 Amarillo, Texas Amarillo Civic Center
2 February 1984 Lubbock, Texas Lubbock Memorial Civic Center
3 February 1984 Corpus Christi, Texas Memorial Coliseum
4 February 1984 San Antonio, Texas Henry B. Gonzalez Convention Center
7 February 1984 Houston, Texas Sam Houston Coliseum
8 February 1984 Dallas, Texas Reunion Arena
10 February 1984 Beaumont, Texas Beaumont Civic Center
11 February 1984 Little Rock, Arkansas Barton Coliseum
13 February 1984 Birmingham, Alabama Boutwell Auditorium
14 February 1984 Jacksonville, Florida Jacksonville Memorial Coliseum
16 February 1984 Lakeland, Florida Lakeland Civic Center
17 February 1984 Sunrise, Florida Sunrise Musical Theater
20 February 1984 Atlanta, Georgia Fox Theater
22 February 1984 St. Louis, Missouri Kiel Auditorium
24 February 1984 Toledo, Ohio Toledo Sports Arena
25 February 1984 Trotwood, Ohio Hara Arena
26 February 1984 Kalamazoo, Michigan Wings Stadium
27 February 1984 Salisbury, Maryland Wicomico Youth and Civic Center
29 February 1984 Utica, New York The Stanley Center for the Arts
1 March 1984 Albany, New York Palace Theatre
4 March 1984 Springfield, Massachusetts 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.[2]

Songs played on the tour

[3] "Supertzar"
"Children of the Grave"
"Hot Line"
"War Pigs"
"Born Again"
"Supernaut"
"Rock 'n' Roll Doctor"
"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"

Songs rehearsed for the tour, but never played live

"Trashed"
"Sabbra Cadabra"
"Evil Woman"
"Children of the Sea"
"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 due to it being decorated with Stonehenge replicas.[4] In a 2005 interview, Geezer Butler states that it was an error in the dimensions (feet vs. meters) that resulted in stones that were three times bigger:[5]

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 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 recounted in interview that Stonehenge was indeed Geezer's idea, and that when asked for details by set buildings Light and Sound Design, Geezer simply said: "Lifesize".[4] Filling three containers, it was too big for any stage, so only a small part of it was used at a time, but still the band and crew had problems edging between the monoliths.

Photos of the Born Again tour show that at least some of the stones were present on stage.[6]

Early in the tour, there was also a dwarf that was dressed to look like the demon-infant from the album cover.[4] The dimension problems and use of dwarfs bear strong similarities to the infamous Stonehenge scene in the movie This Is Spinal Tap, which was released a year after Sabbath's tour. This is undoubtedly a coincidence, however, because the "Stonehenge scene" was already in a 20-minute early demo of the film from 1982.[7]

Personnel

Bill Ward was unable to play the Born Again tour because of personal problems. He explains:[8]

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

Quiet Riot was the opening act on the first American leg of the tour. In Ottawa, Ontario, Canada, the opening act slot was filled by Scottish rockers Nazareth. The bands Heaven and Ratt supported the band on their U.S. tour in 1984. The European tour featured Diamond Head and Tony Iommi's then girlfriend, Lita Ford with future Sabbath drummer, Eric Singer on drums.

References

  1. "Gillan the Hero fan site-Tour Dates". Home.swipenet.se. Retrieved 2009-01-13.
  2. Iommi, Tony; Lammers, T. J. (2011). Iron Man: My Journey Through Heaven and Hell with Black Sabbath. Da Capo Press. p. 228. ISBN 978-0-306-81955-1.
  3. "Gillan the Hero fan site-Live Tracks". Home.swipenet.se. Retrieved 2009-01-13.
  4. 1 2 3 "Caramba!-Anecdotage". Gillan.com. Retrieved 2014-05-19.
  5. Archived October 26, 2007, at the Wayback Machine.
  6. Karl French. "This is Spinal Tap | Books | The Guardian". Books.guardian.co.uk. Retrieved 2014-05-19.
  7. "Bill Ward: From Jazz to Black Sabbath Part 2-2". Allaboutjazz.com. Retrieved 2014-05-19.

External links

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