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.

Background After recording the Born Again album, drummer Bill Ward left the band before the start of the born Again Tour due to personal problems, and was replaced by Bev Bevan.

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 concertsDateCityCountryVenue18 August 1983 Drammen Norway Drammenshallen19 August 1983 Stockholm Sweden Johanneshovs Isstadion21 August 1983 Helsinki Finland Helsinki Ice Hall23 August 1983 Lund Sweden Olympen24 August 1983 Copenhagen Denmark Falkoner Teatret27 August 1983 Reading England Reading Festival28 August 1983 Dublin Ireland Dalymount Park10 September 1983MulhouseFranceHippodrome de Schlierbach13 September 1983 Barcelona Spain La Monumental14 September 1983 Madrid Estadio Román Valero15 September 1983 San Sebastián Velódromo de Anoeta18 September 1983 Offenbach West Germany Stadthalle Offenbach19 September 1983 Düsseldorf Philips Halle20 September 1983 Mannheim Mannheimer Rosengarten22 September 1983 Munich Circus Krone Building24 September 1983 Frauenfeld Switzerland Festhalle Ruegerhols25 September 1983 Geneva Pavillon Des Sports Del Champel Geneve27 September 1983 Neunkirchen am Brand West Germany Hemmerleinhalle28 September 1983 Böblingen Sporthalle30 September 1983 Paris France Espace Balard1 October 1983 Brussels Belgium Forest National2 October 1983 Zwolle Netherlands IJsselhallen3 October 1983 Nijmegen Concertgebouw de Vereeniging13 October 1983MonctonCanadaMoncton Coliseum15 October 1983HalifaxHalifax Metro Center17 October 1983 Rimouski Colisée de Rimouski18 October 1983 Chicoutimi Centre Georges-Vézina20 October 1983 Quebec City Colisée de Québec21 October 1983 Montreal Montreal Forum22 October 1983 Ottawa Ottawa Civic Centre24 October 1983 Sudbury Sudbury Arena25 October 1983 Toronto Maple Leaf Gardens26 October 1983LondonLondon Gardens27 October 1983 Buffalo United States Buffalo Memorial Auditorium29 October 1983 East Rutherford Brendan Byrne Arena30 October 1983 Uniondale Nassau Veterans Memorial Coliseum1 November 1983 Providence Providence Civic Center2 November 1983 Landover Capital Centre4 November 1983 Worcester Worcester Centrum5 November 1983 Philadelphia Spectrum6 November 1983 Portland Cumberland County Civic Center8 November 1983 New Haven New Haven Coliseum9 November 1983 Rochester Rochester Community War Memorial10 November 1983PittsburghStanley Theater11 November 1983 Detroit Cobo Arena12 November 1983 Cleveland Public Auditorium13 November 1983CincinnatiRichfield Coliseum14 November 1983 Saginaw Saginaw Civic Center15 November 1983 Rockford Rockford MetroCentre16 November 1983 Ashwaubenon Brown County Veterans Memorial Arena18 November 1983 Chicago UIC Pavilion19 November 1983 Madison Dane County Coliseum20 November 1983 Bloomington Met Center22 November 1983Salt Lake CitySalt Palace23 November 1983 Reno Lawlor Events Center25 November 1983 Paradise Aladdin Theatre for the Performing Arts26 November 1983 Phoenix Arizona Veterans Memorial Coliseum27 November 1983 Tucson Tucson Community Center29 November 1983 Albuquerque Tingley Coliseum30 November 1983 El Paso El Paso County Coliseum

+ List of 1984 concertsDateCityCountryVenue16 January 1984CalgaryCanadaTBA17 January 1984EdmontonNorthlands Coliseum19 January 1984VancouverTBA20 January 1984SeattleUnited StatesSeattle Center Coliseum21 January 1984SpokaneSpokane Coliseum23 January 1984PortlandMemorial Coliseum Complex25 January 1984 Daly City Cow Palace26 January 1984 Long Beach Long Beach Arena28 January 1984 El Paso El Paso County Coliseum29 January 1984 Salt Lake City Salt Palace31 January 1984 Denver University of Denver Arena1 February 1984 Amarillo Amarillo Civic Center2 February 1984 Lubbock Lubbock Memorial Civic Center3 February 1984 Corpus Christi Memorial Coliseum4 February 1984 San Antonio Henry B. Gonzalez Convention Center7 February 1984 Houston Sam Houston Coliseum8 February 1984 Dallas Reunion Arena10 February 1984 Beaumont Beaumont Civic Center11 February 1984 Little Rock Barton Coliseum12 February 1984New OrleansLakefront Arena13 February 1984 Birmingham Boutwell Auditorium14 February 1984 Jacksonville Jacksonville Memorial Coliseum16 February 1984 Lakeland Lakeland Civic Center17 February 1984 Sunrise Sunrise Musical Theater18 February 1984SavannahSavannah Civic Center20 February 1984 Atlanta Fox Theatre22 February 1984 St. Louis Kiel Auditorium24 February 1984 Toledo Toledo Sports Arena25 February 1984 Trotwood Hara Arena26 February 1984 Kalamazoo Wings Stadium28 February 1984 Salisbury Wicomico Youth and Civic Center29 February 1984 Utica The Stanley Center for the Arts1 March 1984 Albany Palace Theatre3 March 1984PittsburghStanley Theater4 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:

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."Tommy Vance's Friday Rock Show, BBC Radio 1, 28 June 1992, transcribed in Sabbath fanzine Southern Cross #14, October 1994, p40

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 but filmed a year beforehand in 1982. "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)

References

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