A Night with the Gods of Metal

Heaven and Hell concert (Black Sabbath with Dio), with Coheed and Cambria opening!

On Tuesday night, we drove up to the Greek Theatre in North L.A. It's actually a pretty cool outdoor venue, with trees and rock formations surrounding the amphitheatre. We kept wondering if forest nymphs would hang out in the trees to listen to free music, but we didn't see any unfortunately.

The opening band was Coheed and Cambria--you remember them right? The lead singer with a high-pitched voice and a huge afro for hair? I was very concerned that he might have ditched the outrageous do, but he didn't and I was pleased.

They were great live and even blended one of their own songs with Iron Maiden's "The Trooper." That enlivened the crowd of Metal heads. And something must be said about the crowd. Rock concerts are the best place to people watch. Mullets, afros, long stringy hair, blue mohawks, bright pink locks, and just about anything else you can imagine are scattered around. It really is like going back in time, or some alternate universe, whatever you choose to call it. This also means people toking it up left and right, despite the policy forbidding such behavior. In front of us was an old man with crazy long, white hair and a beard to match. He was blazing the entire night. I am just glad the wind wasn't blowing in our direction.

Now, the main event: Heaven and Hell. I have seem them once before, when they toured under their original band name "Black Sabbath", with the tour being called "Heaven and Hell." A long time ago, Ozzy dropped out of Black Sabbath and Ronnie James Dio stepped in. If you don't know who Dio is, he is considered THE God of Metal. Tenacious D makes that case for me.

As always, these guys were amazing. They are some of the most talented musicians out there and are incredibly professional. Their set is awesome, with gargoyles, metal plates, wrought-iron fences, and a killer lighting design.

My husband and I keep talking about an epic movie that must be made with the band members as vampire slayers. I mean, just look at them.

And Tony Iommi (the guitarist) is one of the coolest people out there. He always wears black leather with a large silver cross gleaming against his chest and sports blue-tinted sunglasses (no matter what time of day). Iommi lost the part of two fingers in the sheet metal factory where he used to work, but he kept playing guitar with metal tips on his fingers. I think he uses something other than metal now, but regardless, he just screams vampire slayer to me.

Well, if these guys are still around and if I finally get a chance to make this rock opera, vampire slaying epic, it will be awesome I promise.