Arhhhhhh London in summer – British Summer Time or Black Sabbath Time as today is being billed, it’s one hot day in Hyde Park. It always seemed a bit strange to put on this gig in direct competition with Sonisphere (Soni review ) but the crowds that had swelled the arena by 3pm seemed to justify it. With a rejuvenated arena and a back drop of the great oak stage with its wrap around screens our first port of call is the bar….. wowzers £5.50 a pint!!!! It’s getting to the point where “it’s a London gig so things are going to be more expensive” isn’t going to work anymore.

Photo: Pooneh Ghana

Soulfly are first on stage and the imposing figure of Max Cavalera introducing ‘Prophecy’ gets the crowd on their toes instantly. Max is a very humble man and talks to the crowd at every opportunity, although they don’t have long on stage the band are on top form and with ‘Roots Bloody Roots’ and ‘Eye for an Eye’ give the crowd some moments to savour.

With a break in the music on the Oak stage we are off exploring the site in search of cheaper beer and some food, finding a beer for £5 seems to be a better deal and with a huge selection of food on offer we settle down for a customary ‘gourmet burger and chips’ in anticipation of one of the greatest frontmen of rock and with those immortal words “we're Motörhead and we play rock n roll” we are graced with the presence of Lemmy, Phil & Mikkey of Motörhead the band start with ‘Damage Case’ and with blistering pace launch into ‘Stay Clean’, the band go through their set with great gusto but there is something about Lemmy that feels he’s still not quite recovered from his health issues, he’s never been one for bounding around the stage but he’s almost statuesque at times unlike the crowd that has gathered before him. The topical ‘Going to Brazil’ is always a crowd pleaser just not in the same way as ‘Ace of Spades’ and the permanent set closer that is ‘Overkill’. It’s nice to see them back on stage and hopefully on a UK tour soon.

Other acts we caught glimpses of were Hang the Bastard on the Village Hall Stage, Blitz Kids & Turbowolf with so many bands on its always difficult to see them all but one band we weren’t going to miss was Soundgarden who absolutely smashed Hyde Pack a couple of years ago, this time it was very different – No Rain, Bright Sunshine and a much bigger crowd, who get the chance to worship their ‘Superunknown’ album in full (well almost). With the stage in full visual mode the band set about playing what is considered one of their best albums. Chris Cornell delivering his vocals with as much passion as he recorded them with all of those years ago, for the sing-a-long factor ‘Black Holed Sun’ wins but for me ‘Spoonman’ has the track of the day written all over it, how fitting ‘4^th of July’ gets to be played but skipping over ‘Half’ is just one of those things and with ‘Like Suicide’ finishing the set its back to the bar to talk of what we have just witnessed using words such as ‘stunning’, ‘wow’ and ‘incredible’ many, many times.

Now it's officially ‘Black Sabbath Time’ and with the intro to ‘War Pigs’ being sung by over 55,000 people you get to see the reason why they got back together, there is definitely still a place for Black Sabbath at the table of Heavy Metal greats and on tonight’s performance they just reserved the centre seats. Ozzy for all of his celebrity shenanigans is still a very worthy frontman of this great band even if his voice can’t get to some of those notes anymore. Tony lommi looks so well after his cancer scare a couple of years ago and his guitar playing is still on top form never missing a chord along with stunning solos, Geezer Butler pounding out the bass lines that make this band one of the heaviest around and with Tommy Clufetos behind the drum kit keeping up with him the band play some of the best live, heavy music you will hear all year. Concentrating on the early years the band deliver a set that is both consuming and inspiring to the older and younger generations in attendance, ‘Snowblind’, ‘Age of Reason’ and the haunting ‘Black Sabbath’ leave the crowd in delight but things only get better ‘N.I.B’, ‘Fairies Wear Boots’, ‘Rat Salad’ follow in quick succession. With the huge screen focusing on Tony ‘Iron Man’ fills our ears with musical mayhem. ‘is god dead?’ who knows but this is one song off the latest album that fits into this set so well it could have been on their first album. The rumbling of ‘Children of the Grave’ is met with huge roars of approval and it seems quite fitting that we are being rained on from above. Could this be the last time we see the mighty titans of Heavy Metal? Maybe but if so then departing with (in my eyes) the greatest Heavy Metal song of all time ‘Paranoid’ has the crowd on their toes and air guitars in hand, and with that it’s all over as the fireworks zoom into the night sky we are left with those words again ‘Stunning’, ‘wow’ and ‘Incredible’ many more times.

Review: Andy Jamieson