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The SINGFEST'08 issue!
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Featured interviews

CANCER BATS: Chaos tastes like beard-bro sandwiches. [Read more]

ANGELS AND AIRWAVES: Tom DeLonge believes Modlife is the future of music. He might be right. [Read more]

ILAN RUBIN (THE NEW REGIME): The new Nine Inch Nails drummer is planning a coup of his own [Read more]

MARK HOPPUS: Musician, podcaster, producer, non-believer in unicorns ("They break my heart.") [Read more]

JUSTIN SANE & CHRIS #2, ANTI-FLAG: Still fighting the power. Justin talks more about UK move [Read more]

[More interviews here]

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Going to a concert? Pick your own set list

Sunday, October 28, 2007

28 October 2007: Heaven and Hell at Fort Canning Park

[Heaven and Hell: Tony Iommi, Geezer Butler, Ronnie James Dio, Vinny Appice]

Fort Canning park never proved to be a better venue for a band of eminence like Heaven and Hell. As a parade of flags greet tonight's punters, the open stage is decorated with smoking angels, gothic windows and tall spiked gates guarding Vinny Appice's formidable drumset...welcome to the medieval years.

If dragons existed, Ronnie James Dio would be the one slaying them without breaking a sweat (let's not forget his glorious collection of swords); indeed, it is gratifying to witness and know that one of heavy metal's greatest icons -all 5'4" of him- is still alive and rocking out for the 5,500 strong crowd. Together with Appice, Tony Iommi and Geezer Butler, their collective ages tip slightly over 230, believe it or not. And these legends rock harder than those one-third their age.

The set opens with the instrumental "E5150" as serious hero worshipping from the crowd (comprising at least three generations) would carry on for the next 90 minutes. Heaven and Hell lives up to expectations with Dio's endearing persona and vocal vitality, not without the classic devil horns and bewitching hand movements as a stylishly leather-clad Iommi and Butler treat the crowd to a non-stop audio and visual display of bombastic skill and precision on "The Mob Rules", "Voodoo", "Computer God", "Die Young", several tracks extended for good measure. It has to be reiterated that Mr. Iommi is truly one of the greatest riffmasters to ever walk the earth. Black Sabbath wouldn't be Black Sabbath without him.

Between songs, Dio thanks the crowd at every opportunity and even introducing each song for our benefit and smiling affectionately for the cameras. In closing, smoke machines crank up and rapidly-ticking metal meters eventually explode with the title track from H&H's very first album "Heaven and Hell" featuring Dio, with the beloved dragonslayer's menacing vocals soaked in a devilish red glow to bring the very pits of hell to Fort Canning. Hair-raising as it is eye-popping, the exhilarating Heaven and Hell experience -topped with Appice's ace drum solo and lighter-waving track "Falling Off the Edge of the World"- is one that's hard to beat. Even as the marching crowd exits, the chanting goes on and on and on...

Predictably, H&H die-hards would be suffering the post-metal weekend withdrawals, so go pick up "Live from Radio City Music Hall", the double-album chronicle of the band's performance on March 30, 2007 at Radio City Music Hall in NYC. Also out on DVD.

Setlist:
E5150 (from "Mob Rules")
The Mob Rules (from "Mob Rules")
Children of the Sea (from "Heaven And Hell")
I (from "Dehumanizer")
Sign of the Southern Cross (from "Mob Rules")
Voodoo (from "Mob Rules")
-drum solo-
Computer God (from "Dehumanizer")
Falling Off the Edge of the World (from "Mob Rules")
Die Young (from "Heaven And Hell")
Heaven and Hell (from "Heaven And Hell")
encore: Neon Knights (from "Heaven And Hell")

[Click images to enlarge]