Twenty-eight years ago seems like a fucking lifetime ago. Sometimes it blows my mind that I am even old enough to have been a teenager 28 years ago. July 26, 1992, I was 18 years old and turning 19 in September of that year. I had just graduated from high school in June, and with a ticket in hand, I waited very impatiently for Sunday, July 26, to roll around for this would be a night I never thought I would get to experience. I was finally going to have the opportunity to see the legendary Heaven & Hell/Mob Rules/Dehumanizer era of Black Sabbath.
Ronnie James Dio, Tony Iommi, Geezer Butler, and Vinny Appice. Black motherfucking Sabbath was going to be in my town, and I was ecstatic. I still remember it very clearly. I wore my Dio Holy Diver shirt, cut off jean shorts (past the knee), and black Chuck Taylors. Hey, I didn’t say I had a sense of fashion. I rolled up to the Atlanta Civic Center with my buddy Phil and we qued up in line to secure our seats in the balcony.
The bill was supposed to feature opening acts Danzig and Love/Hate. When we got inside, we heard that Love/Hate had either dropped off the tour or wasn’t playing that night. I was totally fine with this because I fucking hated (and still hate) Love/Hate. “Blackout in a Red Room?” No thanks. The big buzz in the room was Danzig. Danzig was touring for Danzig III: How The Gods Kill, and they would be opening the show.
Danzig came on, and the front of the stage became a fucking insane mosh pit. Bodies were flying all over the place, and the place was going apeshit for the. Honestly, I thought they were good. They were entertaining, but I still to this day don’t know what I was missing that everyone wasn’t. Glenn Danzig did a lot of screaming and a lot of “Yeah, eh”s. The drummer was a beast, and honestly, the one that had the most talent was guitarist John Christ. I went out and picked up How the Gods Kill the next day. I think I listened to it maybe five times and then I gave it to a friend.
A fair number of people from the floor started to bail after Danzig’s set, so we used this opportunity to make it to the 20th row or so. Some dude broke his leg in the pit and was crying, so some paramedic dudes hauled him off. The Atlanta Civic Center was only half full at most as I eagerly awaited Black Sabbath. The house lights went down to a massive roar from the diehards that came out. The intro “E-5150” played, and then Tony Iommi stepped up and ripped the deafening opening riff for the song “Mob Rules.”
When Ronnie James Dio took center stage with his battle cry of “OHHHHHHH C’MAHHHHHHHN,” I absolutely lost my goddamn mind. For the next hour and a half, Black Sabbath would blow me away with a great selection of songs from their (at the time) latest album Dehumanizer with the song “I” being a highlight for me.
While the Ozzy-era Sabbath classics like “Iron Man,” “Black Sabbath,” and “Iron Man” were huge hits, it was the Dio era selections that I found to be superior. “Children of the Sea” was mesmerizing, and “Heaven & Hell” was everything I hoped it would be. I was so moved, and I had chills watching Dio up on that stage and pouring every bit of energy, passion, and fire that he had. The show drew to a close with an encore of “Neon Knights” and “Paranoid.” “Neon Nights” had me losing my shit so much I about blew out my vocal cords.
The house lights came up, and everyone started making their way to the exits. Even my buddy was like, “I gotta jet,” and he bolted. I just sat in my seat, trying to process what I had just seen. I saw a group of kids standing on the side of the stage, and when I went over there, there was Ronnie James Dio, just talking and signing stuff. He looked at me, and I just kind of froze. He smiled and said, “I know. I know.” He reached over and took a setlist and handed it to me. I just smiled and walked away. It’s crazy that this was my only interaction with such a legend, but in all honesty, I wouldn’t change it for the world.
I always get a lot of shit for this, but Dio era Sabbath will forever be my #1 era of Sabbath. Don’t get me wrong; I will ALWAYS love those first 3 Ozzy era albums. Those albums are flawless, but the Dio era, for me, is where I felt a connection. Dio, like he would continue to do as a solo artist, had a way of making you feel like you were the only person in the room. Instead of using gimmicks like buckets of water, bubble guns, and whatever dumb shit Ozzy was doing at the time, Dio filled the room with class, dignity, and appreciation and respect to not just the fans but for the songs. He even had a way of doing the Ozzy era songs like he fucking wrote them himself.
This show was a piece of magic, a bit of heavy metal history that so many people WERE NOT there to see. Everyone that was there knew that they saw an amazing show, but honestly, even for as much as I loved Dio and Sabbath, I don’t think I realized what a huge thing I was experiencing. I hear so many people my age or a little younger talking about how much they wish they could’ve seen Dio with Black Sabbath. I look back now with a sense of pride and appreciation that I got to see such a monumental performance in a time where Black Sabbath was sadly underappreciated.
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