On September 17, Black Sabbath will touch down in Las Vegas for a huge show at MGM's Garden Arena. The 16,000 capacity indoor arena has long been the biggest live music venue in Sin City until recently, when the casino operators decided to build the uber impressive T-Mobile Arena close by to the MGM site.
'Black Sabbath: The End' will be the band's final ever tour. The extensive tour will see them visit Australia, New Zealand, Germany, England, United States, Brazil, Chile and Poland among other countries. In total, the band will play 51 dates including a headline slot at Download Festival this year. Tickets purchasable here. The tour will end on December 4 in Sao Paulo, Brazil.
There will be some huge shows along the way, and no doubt a whole lot of tears ' Ozzy Osbourne first began touring with the band in 1968 with guitarist Tommy Iommi, drummer Bill Ward and bassist Geezer Butler. However, there was recent controversy when Ward told the media he hadn't received an invite to play with the band on their final ever tour. Regardless of the actual line-up that performs on the farewell tour, it'll be a huge achievement to have been a constant for almost 50-years in an ever-evolving industry. Details can be found here.
The band's date in Las Vegas will be somewhat of a homecoming show for Osbourne, although he no longer lives in Las Vegas. The arena expects to sell out the 16,000 capacity indoor arena, as it has done previously when Black Sabbath has visited. As the MGM has solidified itself as the one of the biggest operators on the Strip that offers the best live entertainment in Nevada, it recently expanded its operations with the aforementioned, T-Mobile Arena. The new indoor arena welcomed the return of Guns N' Roses this month, and will continue to help bring the best in live bands to Sin City in the near future.
Unfortunately, for other casino resorts in the area, they haven't been quite as prepared as MGM. Due to their fierce rivalry with their digital counterparts, many casinos have closed in Nevada and succumbed to the increased market share of online portals and mobile gaming revenues, as published in Fortune. Digital platforms such as Galacasino have now started to offer mobile gaming solutions and popular titles to encourage gamers to stay at home and not visit land-based casinos. However, luckily for MGM they have stayed ahead of the curve and continued to prosper because of their successful live venues such as the Garden Arena, which will showcase Black Sabbath in September, and the new T-Mobile Arena.
It's a testament to the band's staying power that they've been a constant in the music industry for almost 50 years. Additionally, bowing out playing 51 dates is remarkable for musicians that are above 60-years-of-age.
It'll be a sad day when Sabbath close the curtains on what has been nothing short of an unbelievable career.
