Yowza. Where to begin with that article.
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Well, that busted open a couple of my elderly brain cells. I remember the show not much differently from that rather weird review. By 1978 I wasn't much of a metalhead, much more a punk rocker. But I did make some $$ selling tickets at concerts and I was able to score a fist full of them for this show via some box office connections.
My best friend was a huge Sabbath fan though, and we knew some of the guys on the stage/sound crew at Cobo, so we got in to hear both bands' soundchecks. They were indeed LOUD. It seemed like Eddie VH and Tony Iommi were kind of competing, as both ripped off some seriously hot guitar solos.
After I sold all of my tickets but 2, a couple of pops at a nearby bar [[I think it must've been the Post), a fat one, and some handy pharma, my friend and I wandered in in the middle of Van Halen's set. I really didn't know much about them, but I do remember David Lee Roth repeatedly screaming and looking like he was trying to strut the stage in a Robert Plant imitation. Eddie though was hot as hell and had my friend wailing in the aisles with a couple of his long solos.
I had seen Sabbath before, but they looked a little listless after VH's assault. A couple of songs in they really got going though and had the whole place rocking. Then, as described in the review, it all went a bit flat in the second half. We thought that it seemed like Ozzie's drugs had kicked in, because it seemed like he was having some trouble remaining vertical towards the end. On the way out, on the sidewalk on Jefferson, a girl puked on my shoes.
Ahhh, such good times.
Jump... Jump, go ahead jump.
Damn, I miss these detective threads.
Solved. https://youtu.be/I7fEC0IQoAo
apparently, he switched to copy editor
http://www.pub.umich.edu/node/348