BLACK SABBATH ”PHILADELPHIA, PA, US - PARANOID TOUR” (1971-04-02)

There are actually TWO known audience recordings of this show. Until recently, most Sabbath collectors (myself included) believed that the various versions of this tape were different generations of the same source. After comparing two different versions a bit more carefully, Lars Bernstroem determined that these were in fact completely different sources. Source 1 contains a good bit of talking near the recording, none of which can be heard on the second source! Good ears, Lars!

After much debate and research, I have decided to rule out Glassboro, NJ (or Philadelphia) 10/30/70 as a possible source for these tapes. They have long been traded with this date and the claim that these recordings were from Sabbath's 1st U.S. show. In fact, these tapes are from the tail end of Sabbath's 2nd American tour for PARANOID. They opened for Mountain and Humble Pie at The Spectrum in Philadelphia on April 2nd, 1971 at a show billed as the "Mountain Dance Concert". This explains the shortened set list as well.

Mike Lindenauer pointed out that one of the sources was recorded by a male & female taper team. This couple also recorded Mountain and Humble Pie that night. Upon examination of those tapes, Mike & his sources were able to pin this one down to the 4/2/71 date once and for all! They do indeed appear to have been recording by the same tapers on the same evening.

Both sources are very good audience recordings. There are a few minor cuts, but I think it unlikely that any complete songs are missing. On one source, the taper does a fairly good job, but we can hear them slapping the microphone around in a few sections. The sound is slightly distant, but clear. As is the case on many Sabbath boots, the vocals and guitars are most prominent in the mix. Running time is just under 50 minutes. Source 2 has a good deal more talking near the microphones.

Tony begins the show with his trademark blitzkrieg guitar solo, before slamming into a much heavier than usual rendition of "N.I.B.". This is due to the fact that he and Geezer are tuned down to D, which is something new for the band. During the 1970 shows, they seem to hover between standard tuning and E flat. There were several reasons for the "down tuning". One was that lower pitch suited Ozzy's range a bit better. Secondly, Iommi mentioned that the reduced tension in his guitar strings from the down tuning didn't tear up his fingers as badly. And undoubtedly, it just sounded HEAVIER! Sabbath continued to tune down to D (and even Csharp) for their next few albums, but began raising the pitch again on TECHNICAL ECSTASY and NEVER SAY DIE.

The crowd seems to like what they are hearing, but they aren't quite as warm and gregarious as some of the European audiences that the band was accustomed to. There are many very quiet pauses between the songs and the audience seems to be scrutinizing the band a bit more. They do clap along during "War Pigs" and even reward Iommi with a nice applause after his overlong solo (which gets a bit repetitive in places with the finger picked bits), but they are oddly quiet at other times.

While the first numbers show the band off to a strong start, they lose momentum at the beginning of the 3rd song, "Black Sabbath". As Tony begins his mellow finger picked intro for the song, he almost immediately breaks a string! It takes quite a while for him to replace the string and Ozzy apologizes a few times for the delay. At this point, the taper cuts off the recorder so we don't know exactly how long they waited.