Heaven and Hell tour taps Coheed and Cambria for summer support

Heaven and Hell, a collaboration of current and former Black Sabbath members, has announced plans for a one-month tour this summer with progressive rock quartet Coheed and Cambria. The two groups will team for more than 10 concerts, beginning August 7 at Thunderbird Arena in Vancouver, BC.

The North American venture spans the entire month of August, closing out with an August 28 event at the Bank of America Pavilion in Boston, MA. Along the way, H&H and C&C will stop for gigs on August 11 at Greek Theater in Los Angeles, CA; August 15 at Red Rocks Amphitheatre in Morrison, CO; and August 25 at WaMu Theater in New York, NY, among other dates.

Coheed will open all dates of the tour except the August 8 show in Seattle, WA, which features Neurosis as the supporting act instead. The first ticket sales for the entire summer tour begin today, May 8.

Heaven and Hell officially formed in 2006, reuniting current Black Sabbath rockers Tony Iommi and Geezer Butler with former members Ronnie James Dio and Vinny Appice. The four comprised Black Sabbath’s lineup after Ozzy Osbourne was fired from the band in 1979, with Dio taking over as frontman.

The first of four Dio-fronted Black Sabbath albums was “Heaven and Hell,” which the current band took as its moniker. Though Iommi owns and maintains trademarks on the Black Sabbath name, the H&H lineup decided to distance itself from material created with Osbourne at the helm.

“It really is Black Sabbath, whatever we do. We just choose to go out as Heaven and Hell so everyone knows what they’re getting,” Iommi told Billboard in an interview, “and so people won’t expect to hear ‘Iron Man’ and all those songs. We’ve done them for so many years, it’s nice to do just all the stuff we did with Ronnie again.”

The quartet first toured as H&H in 2007, completing spring and fall tour legs in North America, which included Alice Cooper and Queensryche as supporting acts. The quartet hit the road again in summer 2008 as part of the Metal Masters Tour with Judas Priest and Motorhead.

Coheed recently completed a series of Neverender concert events, during which the band performed its four concept albums in their entirety over the course of four-night residencies in New York City, Chicago and Los Angeles.

Heaven and Hell / Coheed and Cambria itinerary:
(Dates are subject to change.)

* without Coheed and Cambria