Written by Ken Ebbens, The Flash (on DAB and theflashonair.co.uk) radio presenter, for the Portsmouth Guildhall.
Over a decade ago four female musicians were hand-picked by Sharon and Ozzy Osborne to play at the first Ozzfiesta in the US; fast forward to the Lens Studios in Portsmouth Guildhall, a small but intimate venue where, once in the throes of a show you feel you are in a much bigger arena with a much larger audience.
On a sultry, sweaty evening (I chose the wrong clothes to wear for sure, the perils of being a cyclist), even before the show began, a surprising mixture of the (expected) “grey” music fan but also a lot of women, and quite a few teenagers and younger in family groups were part of a sizeable audience.
Females bands are thankfully much more common these days and this quartet are certainly up there; this was not a bunch of impersonators doing a tribute note for note but four really good musicians, Angie on drums driving the music forward as good as any drummer I have seen of late, only once dropping the drumstick after tossing in the air, telling a funny story about a Barry (apparently a peculiarly English name) who years before had said she would never make it, her response being pretty blunt as you can imagine. Melanie on bass was prominent throughout, throwing in a very good solo later on, overcoming a few sound issues although the bass felt a tad too heavy at times to me (not others clearly). Emily on guitar, holding her instrument almost Bill Wyman-like, proving very adept at those famous Iommi riffs, then there is Alice on vocals, very impressive and her relaxed stage presence, for me, even better than Ozzy on some of the songs (I was never the biggest Ozzy fan); she sang happy birthday to a fan at the front via harmonica, a nice touch.
The set was predominantly from the first four Black Sabbath albums, a lot of which was not familiar to me, being more a Deep Purple fan, but that made the whole show more refreshing as the only songs I recognised were War Pigs (the opener), Fairies Wear Boots, Snowblind, a fantastic Wizard and of course the finale of Paranoid.
Two highlights for me (not Paranoid funnily enough although a really good rendition) was Under the Sun and then the medley at the end of Wizard, Basically, NIB and Children of the Grave, quite masterful in fact. Sound-wise was pretty good, all instruments (apart from comment about the bass above) and vocals clear as you would like, not too loud, a really good balance.
Really worthwhile seeing, would do again, and very nice to hear music I never got round to in the day, one of the main reasons why bands like this are so valuable to the music fan.
by Ken Ebbens
The Flash (on DAB and theflashonair.co.uk) radio presenter for the Portsmouth Guildhall