It has been 37 years since I last set foot on Dun Laoghaire soil for a gig. That was for Ozzy Osbourne at the Top Hat Ballroom as part of his No Rest For The Wicked World Tour. And my return for Jazz Sabbath has prominent links to that mullet-shaking night.
Jazz Sabbath
Pavilion Theatre, Dun Laoghaire, Dublin – 20 February 2025
Words: Brian Boyle
Tonight’s rail excursion out to this picturesque coastal suburb is to see Ozzy’s longtime keyboardist/rhythm guitarist Adam Wakeman’s Jazz Sabbath and the effervescent trio who take the biggest Black Sabbath tunes from their dominant years and give them a classy Jazz makeover.
And although Wakeman is no stranger to the work of the Birmingham giants, having also toured with Iommi and Co as an offstage keyboardist, this is light years away from that. This is a musical undertaking that comes with a clever twist.
Jazz Sabbath trade with the backstory that they were formed in 1968, and while band leader Milton Keanes (Wakeman) had a lengthy spell in hospital due to a heart attack, a Heavy Metal band from Birmingham plagiarised all their music, named themselves after one of their songs, and released two groundbreaking albums.
All this forced Jazz Sabbath to disband. But after discovering the master tapes of their debut album in 2019, having previously thought they were destroyed in a fire, the charlatans who stole their identity and music were now exposed to the world, and the trio made an unexpected comeback.
Now, I’m no jazz aficionado, far from it. My only contact with the genre up until tonight has been Queen’s 1978 album of the same name and that Yves Saint Laurent fragrance I used to drown myself in on a Friday night in the vain hope of a raunchy encounter.
But I do love my Metal, and the opportunity to hear these religiously worshipped songs given the polar opposite treatment was too good to pass up.
Footage of their hilarious 2020 mockumentary heralded their arrival, and the cackles of laughter around the room suggested this was no place for a jazz purist. Yeah, Spinal Tap comes to mind straight away, but nobody on the stage had a foil-wrapped cucumber concealed down their trousers.
Instead, a mocked-up 85-year-old Keanes hobbles out with a skull-topped walking stick and a dapper sparkly two-piece suit and takes his seat for a song that was basically the architect of the band’s downfall, Black Sabbath.
As soon as Keanes’ fingertips touch the keys, things get a little bit more serious, and you are immediately and willingly sucked into the world of Jazz Sabbath. The version might have been unrecognisable to some, but those dark, occult vibes were still there, sending chills up your spine.
By the time The Wizard spent its magic, the air guitar was a distant memory that was now replaced by vigorously tapping an imaginary Steinway on your ageing patellas.
As engaging as the music was, Keanes’ dry storytelling and sharp wit genuinely enhanced the evening. His comical tale about a bout of diarrhoea due to an undercooked sausage and bacon sandwich being the inspiration for a piece of music called Raw Pigs was toilet humour at its very best.
As was the story about Derek, the odd-job man who had a penchant for ironing.
But back in the real world, taking hallowed songs like War Pigs and Iron Man and stripping them of their leathers and inverted cross might be perceived as bordering on insanity. But tonight, we were in Milton Keanes’ world.
These are his compositions and his children. He has them back, and the love he has for them was gushing out of every note he played.
By now it was fair to say any sceptics in the room were now real believers. The story of Paranoid being written after a drug-fueled conversation with a woodpecker in the woods sounded perfectly believable. At times, you forgot the game-changing fraudulent version when Keanes tickled out his prized possession.
It was this tune that was my biggest worry before arriving tonight. I have a half-decent imagination, but this seemed beyond the beyond. Well, I do not know what you jazz types called them, but we Metalheads would refer to something like this as an absolute fuckin banger.
Into The Void, Fairies Wear Boots and Rat Salad were equally as transcending, and the applause that followed went up to eleven each time.
One thing is certain. I will never forget the first time I heard a jazz piece called Children Of The Grave, and I wanted more. Solitude or a bit of Embryo would have been interesting. But that was it and my jazz cherry was popped in spectacular fashion.
On the outside, Jazz Sabbath might sound like an acquired taste, but in reality, they are for everyone. In the bar before the show, there were well-travelled bearded men in Heavy Metal battle jackets who were probably seeing an upright bass for the first time in real life. Then, on the other end of the spectrum, there were some who might have thought Sweet Leaf was something Monty Don planted on Gardeners World.
Aside from the comedic element, the respect Adam Wakeman has for this band and their music was hugely palpable, and that applies to his ridiculously talented comrades Jerry Meehan(bass) and Ash Soan(drums).
As I headed towards the train station after, there was a part of me thinking that those making the pilgrimage to Villa Park in July are being monumentally conned.
Milton Keanes, what the hell have you done to me?
Jazz Sabbath – The 1968 Tapes – was released November 29th via Blacklake Records on Vinyl, CD, Cassette and all streaming/download platforms.
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Black Who? Jazz Sabbath Take Dublin Souls With A Masterful Performance first appeared on
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