The Never Say Die! Tour was a concert tour by the English heavy metal band Black Sabbath. The tour began on 16 May 1978 in Sheffield and ended on 11 December 1978 in Albuquerque, New Mexico. It was the last full tour with Ozzy Osbourne until the band reunited for Ozzfest 1997.

Background Europe (1st leg) Van Halen opened. "We did 23 shows in 25 days," recalled Eddie Van Halen. "I didn't know they had that many places! But to meet Tony Iommi when I was so into him was really incredible." David Lee Roth summed up the experience as "a real shot in the ass". The Liverpool Empire Theatre date was attended by future members of Apollo 440 – who, in 1997, issued an adaptation of Van Halen's 'Ain't Talkin' 'bout Love' as 'Ain't Talkin' 'bout Dub'.

"We had a great time with the Sabbath guys…" recalled Alex Van Halen. "It was really special because Ed and I were big fans of the band. Every time they came to LA, I was out there in the audience, fighting tooth and nail to get to the front so I could get my eardrums destroyed. But I learnt a lot from them about audience participation… One time, we were up near Leicester, about half an hour before showtime, and Ozzy and Bill Ward were out there on the front lawn with the punters, having a beer. I thought, 'Fuck me, none of this star-type shit.' I was really impressed."unsourced clipping, reproduced in Sabbath fanzine Southern Cross #12, January 1994, p6

"Ozzy used to tell a funny story…" recalled onetime Osbourne sidekick Don Airey. "Sabbath had done a tour for a year [sic] with Kiss… and it nearly killed him because Kiss had been so good. And he said, 'We're never doing that again. Next tour, we just want a bar band from LA. That's all we want.' And then he got to the first gig. Ozzy said they walked in as 'Eruption' was going on. Ozzy said, 'We just went into the dressing room. We sat there going, That was incredible… and then it finished, and we were just too stunned to speak. Then there was a knock on the door and the best-looking man in the world walked in and said, Hello' – you know, David Lee Roth. I think they only lasted about two months on that tour. Then the record broke… I went to see them at the Rainbow when they supported Sabbath. By the time they played the Rainbow again a month later, they were headlining. Incredible!"

Support for the end of the UK leg of the tour was from psychedelic punk group Tanz Der Youth who received a hostile response from the audience.

North America (1st leg) "At all our shows on this tour," Ozzy told Circus, "there's one guy that gives me the evil eye. It's not the same guy at each show – at least I don't think it's the same guy. But it's kind of frightening to feel those vibes." Of the tour, he said: "The crowds are going fucking wild. In Cape Cod the other night [4 September], they were going fucking insane. Man, it was scary up there. We didn't expect this response." Van Halen, he said, "are so good they ought to be headlining the tour."

Tour dates + List of 1978 concerts Date City Country Venue16 May 1978SheffieldEnglandSheffield City Hall17 May 1978SouthportSouthport Theatre18 May 1978GlasgowScotlandThe Apollo19 May 1978AberdeenCapitol Theatre21 May 1978NewcastleEnglandNewcastle City Hall22 May 1978ManchesterManchester Apollo23 May 1978StokeVictoria Hall25 May 1978PortsmouthPortsmouth Guildhall26 May 1978BristolColston Hall27 May 1978LewishamLewisham Odeon28 May 1978IpswichIpswich Gaumont Theatre30 May 1978CoventryCoventry Theatre31 May 1978LeicesterDe Montfort Hall1 June 1978HammersmithHammersmith Odeon2 June 1978OxfordApollo Theatre Oxford3 June 1978SouthamptonSouthampton Gaumont Theatre5 June 1978BirminghamBirmingham Odeon7 June 1978BradfordSt George's Hall8 June 1978PrestonPreston Guild Hall10 June 1978HammersmithHammersmith Odeon12 June 1978BirminghamBirmingham Odeon13 June 197814 June 1978ManchesterManchester Apollo15 June 197816 June 1978BridlingtonRoyal Hall17 June 1978LiverpoolLiverpool Empire Theatre19 June 1978HammersmithHammersmith Odeon Theatre22 August 1978MilwaukeeUnited StatesMECCA Arena23 August 1978ChicagoInternational Amphitheatre24 August 197825 August 1978Terre HauteHulman Arena27 August 1978New York CityMadison Square Garden28 August 1978HempsteadNassau Coliseum29 August 1978PhiladelphiaSpectrum31 August 1978ErieErie County Field House1 September 1978HamptonHampton Coliseum2 September 1978PittsburghCivic Arena4 September 1978South YarmouthCape Cod Coliseum5 September 1978PortlandCumberland County Civic Arena7 September 1978UticaUtica Memorial Auditorium8 September 1978Niagara FallsNiagara Falls Civic Center9 September 1978BaltimoreBaltimore Civic Center10 September 1978New HavenNew Haven Coliseum12 September 1978IndianapolisIndiana Convention Center14 September 1978DetroitCobo Center15 September 1978RichfieldRichfield Coliseum16 September 1978St. LouisCheckerdome17 September 1978Kansas CityKansas City Municipal Arena18 September 1978TulsaTulsa Assembly Center21 September 1978 Bakersfield Bakersfield Convention Center 22 September 1978FresnoSelland Arena23 September 1978AnaheimAnaheim Stadium(Summerfest)24 September 197826 September 1978VancouverCanadaPacific Coliseum27 September 1978PortlandUnited StatesVeterans Memorial Coliseum28 September 1978SpokaneSpokane Coliseum29 September 1978SeattleSeattle Center Arena30 September 19789 October 1978HamburgWest GermanyAudimax Theatre10 October 1978EssenGrugahalle11 October 1978OffenbachStadthalle Offenbach13 October 1978UhingenHaldenberg Hall14 October 1978LudwigshafenFriedrich-Ebert-Halle15 October 1978KuernachKuernach Hall17 October 1978Neunkirchen Hemmerleinhalle 18 October 1978Bad RappenauBad Rappenau Sports Hall20 October 1978CambraiFranceGrottos Palace3 November 1978St. PetersburgUnited StatesBayfront Center4 November 1978JacksonvilleJacksonville Coliseum5 November 1978Pembroke PinesHollywood Sportatorium8 November 1978BirminghamBoutwell Memorial Auditorium10 November 1978MemphisMid-South Coliseum11 November 1978CincinnatiRiverfront Coliseum12 November 1978NashvilleNashville Municipal Auditorium13 November 1978 AtlantaOmni Coliseum14 November 1978MobileMobile Municipal Arena15 November 1978 Huntsville Von Braun Center 17 November 1978AustinAustin Municipal Auditorium18 November 1978MidlandChaparral Center19 November 1978 HoustonSam Houston Coliseum20 November 1978Oklahoma CityMyriad Convention Center22 November 1978Corpus ChristiMemorial Coliseum23 November 1978HoustonSam Houston Coliseum24 November 1978San AntonioSan Antonio Convention Center Arena25 November 1978DallasDallas Convention Center Arena26 November 197828 November 1978DenverMcNichols Sports Arena29 November 1978OgdenDee Events Center 1 December 1978San BernardinoSwing Auditorium2 December 1978OaklandOakland Arena3 December 1978San DiegoSan Diego Sports Arena4 December 1978Long BeachLong Beach Arena5 December 1978PhoenixArizona Veterans Memorial Coliseum7 December 1978AbileneTaylor County Expo Center8 December 1978El PasoEl Paso County Coliseum10 December 1978AlbuquerqueJohnson Gymnasium11 December 1978

Box office score data +List of box office score data with date, city, venue, attendance, gross, referencesDate(1978)CityVenueAttendanceGrossSeptember 4South YarmouthCape Cod Coliseum7,100$53,888September 5PortlandCumberland County Civic Center7,744$57,606September 8Niagara FallsConvention Center8,186$62,267September 9BaltimoreCivic Center9,253$65,887September 10New HavenColiseum7,438$52,289

Personnel Tony Iommi – guitar Geezer Butler – bass Bill Ward – drums Ozzy Osbourne – lead vocals

References