Van Halen destroyed Black Sabbath during their 1979 Tour

[JourneyTroll]

When Van Halen was the opening act for Black Sabbath, they outplayed them and the audience loved them. I have heard so many interviews of people claiming they were at the shows in MA and saw Van Halen for the first time.

Some people even felt bad for Black Sabbath because they knew the opening act, Van Halen, was so much better. Ozzy was in the band then too.

Journeytroll

[Fernando Ramirez]

I remember reading in an interview that Ted Nugent talked Eddie's guitar tech into letting him try out Eddie's gear.

Guess what? He still sounded like Ted!

[WardyS3]

Yeah it's been widely reported that Black Sabbath were blown away and they knew it. But bear in mind the Ozzy era was dying at that point and as most bands get to that point an up and coming bands with that extra something often outplay the main act.

The Ted story is hilarious!!!!!

[Abitaman]

Maybe that is why Eddie didn't want Neal's group opening for them on this last tour. With the way eddies was playing.........-ERIC

[Red13JoePa]

Yea, Eric.
Soul SirkUs opening for VH.....what a double header that woulda been. Would've helped SS establish a little foothold here staeside, too. Shame it didn't work out.

[Fernando Ramirez]

Yea, Eric.
Soul SirkUs opening for VH.....what a double header that woulda been. Would've helped SS establish a little foothold here staeside, too. Shame it didn't work out.

There were several stories/myths going around about that.

I heard/read that Eddie was still pissed at Neal from Journey treating them like shit back in the 70s when VH opened for them. I also heard/read that Eddie was pissed at Neal for trying to take Sammy and Michael away with PLANET US when he wanted to put VH together again. There's also the story that Eddie didn't want to be blown off the stage by SOUL SIRKUS.

I think the real thing is that Neal and company pre-maturely announced the dates.. before Eddie approved it. I don't blame him... I would have been pissed, too.

[rockeratheart]

I was too young to witness this myself, but my understanding is VH pretty much dominated that tour.. I have a bit of info for you diehard guitar fanatics. I don't know if you are aware of this or not, but check this out..Regarding the BS and Van Halen tour....At most arena rock concerts that you see there are usually a wall of guitar amps onstage , but only one or two are actually turned on. They mike one of the ampcabinets and the sound is then pumped through the PA speakers above the stage. But, TOny Iommi used to actually use ALL of the amps onstage and he hardly needed to be mixed into the PA at all cause he was so loud onstage.. Eddie loved the way this sounded when VH was touring with Black Sabbath and he started doing the same thing for many years afterward. Inm fact, if you read old VH interviews Eddie often makes the comment that it is so loud on his side of the stage that MIke and Dave dont even come over to where he is.. Now you know why....Also there is a great story in david Lee roth's book Crazy from The Heat about how Ozzy got left behind in one of the cities on the tour and the dudes from sabbath asked dave if he could sing for them that night, but he , unfortunatley , did not know any of thier lyrics...Can you imgaine if it acutally happened even for one show..DAVID LEE ROTH singing BLACK SABBATH songs with Sabbath for two hours..I would pay top dollar for that shit.. wouldnt his "Look at all the people here tonight" raps be kind of funny at a Sabbath show?

[NealIsGod]

I was too young to witness this myself, but my understanding is VH pretty much dominated that tour.. I have a bit of info for you diehard guitar fanatics. I don't know if you are aware of this or not, but check this out..Regarding the BS and Van Halen tour....At most arena rock concerts that you see there are usually a wall of guitar amps onstage , but only one or two are actually turned on. They mike one of the ampcabinets and the sound is then pumped through the PA speakers above the stage. But, TOny Iommi used to actually use ALL of the amps onstage and he hardly needed to be mixed into the PA at all cause he was so loud onstage.. Eddie loved the way this sounded when VH was touring with Black Sabbath and he started doing the same thing for many years afterward. Inm fact, if you read old VH interviews Eddie often makes the comment that it is so loud on his side of the stage that MIke and Dave dont even come over to where he is.. Now you know why....Also there is a great story in david Lee roth's book Crazy from The Heat about how Ozzy got left behind in one of the cities on the tour and the dudes from sabbath asked dave if he could sing for them that night, but he , unfortunatley , did not know any of thier lyrics...Can you imgaine if it acutally happened even for one show..DAVID LEE ROTH singing BLACK SABBATH songs with Sabbath for two hours..I would pay top dollar for that shit.. wouldnt his "Look at all the people here tonight" raps be kind of funny at a Sabbath show?

Great post! It's amazing Iommi and Eddie aren't deaf!

DLR singing with BS would have been crazy. But not as crazy as Ozzy singing "You Really Got Me"!

[rockeratheart]

Ozzy actually sings one bar of "you really got me" in the Penelope Spheeris documentary DECLINE OF THE WESTERN CIVILIZATION PART TWO..check it out.. The CHris HOlmes interveiw is hilarious.. You have to see it to believe it.