Live music review: Black Sabbath

3Arena, Dublin *****

As the giant balloons fell from the ceiling, giving way to explosions of black and purple confetti, you had to ask yourself: is the administering of the last rites normally this much fun?

It’s ‘The End’ for Black Sabbath, finally turning in after almost half a century of riffs and drama. A packed 3Arena heaved and swayed as the band played Dublin for the first time in many years, and from the ailing first note of ‘Black Sabbath’, the crowd was hooked.

Guitarist Tony Iommi, regal in flowing coat and signature crucifix, initiated the song’s widescreen drone, bassist Geezer Butler and youthful drummer Tommy Clufetos added crushing power and Ozzy Osbourne, the man they — and he — couldn’t kill, rolled back the years.

‘NIB’, ‘Fairies Wear Boots’, ‘Into The Void’ — all present and correct, none of them dulled by familiarity. A thrilling ‘Snow Blind’ pushed things into a higher gear, while wailing red sirens marked the detuned majesty of ‘War Pigs’.

Throughout, Ozzy’s vocals were the perfect mix of the declamatory and the desolate.

Here is a band with an incredible back catalogue and a sense of fun. Tap before Spinal Tap, but only in the best possible way — having a drummer explode on stage is pretty much the only thing that hasn’t happened to them.

The sound distills much that came before it and presaged plenty of what came after: every available strand of heavy metal, punk, post-punk and, given the times we live in, possibly the end of the world.

A five-minute drum solo allowed the original members a quick break and they returned for an epic ‘Iron Man’. Shortly afterwards they swung into ‘Children of the Grave’ and the balloons appeared, flames sparked from oversized Bunsen burners and then the purple and black confetti, each piece bearing the band’s name. It’s a fire hazard; it’s ridiculous; it’s brilliant.

They finished with an encore of ‘Paranoid’. Could this gig have been any better? Maybe, but they’d have needed to fire Ozzy out of a cannon.

So, the end, then. No one can tell us we weren’t warned, but what a way to go.