Black Sabbath/Heaven & Hell Reunion

I totally overlooked another reunion and a recent show on VH1 Classic reminded me of such.
Ronnie James Dio has gotten back together with Black Sabbath to revisit that era's material. The rub: they're not calling themselves "Black Sabbath," instead choosing to avoid a confrontation with the succubus known as Sharon Osbourne by naming the band after the line up's best album, Heaven & Hell.
I've got an appreciation for that record, as it surpasses many of the late-day Sabbath releases when Ozzy was still with the group. Hell, I'll even admit to enjoying some of the Dio-era Rainbow material and the occasional Dio album, particularly if I've had a few beers and feel like going "off to the witch."
Heaven & Hell are embarking on a too brief tour that takes them to the end of May and one that barely scrapes the Midwest. From what I understand, Megadeath is opening for them which would have been cool if it weren't for Dave Mustaine's continual reminders that he's a born again Christian.
Anyway, Heaven & Hell...fuck this shit...the Dio-era Black Sabbath spoke with Eddie Trunk on their special about the event. Apparently taped during the fall of '06, all three members seemed fairly cordial with each other and it was clear that their words (particularly Ronnie's) were carefully considered to the point where they sounded scripted.
Bill Ward is not in the reunion; It was my understanding that he was part of the initial rehearsals but then bowed out to let Vinny Appice take over the drum chair. It's been reported that Ward will be present for the original Black Sabbath reunion scheduled for sometime later.
Throughout the show, Trunk did a good job at trying to get the three parties to speak about their past differences. Specifically, the band was asked about the Live Evil release, and the tensions that arose from it. The story goes: the band got into a fight with Dio about some after hours mixing he was doing without the knowledge of Geezer, Tony, or Bill. When these three listened to the mix, they noticed that Dio's vocals had been mixed higher than what they were before, causing them to believe that he had redone several of the "live" vocals tracks in the studio.
Geezer gets the vote for funniest quote on the VH1 Classic special when he called the album "Live In The Studio Evil."
Ronnie immediately attempted to sway the conversation away from the bad memories by suggesting that all of those days were in the past. Geezer seemed to be bored during the entire interview and the member most likely to tell the truth on what really went down during Dio's sudden departure back in '82 after the Mob Rules tour.
Perhaps because of Dio's reluctance to spill the beans on Live Evil, Trunk never got around to asking about the events during the Dehumanizer tour from '92. Ozzy asked Black Sabbath to open for him during his final two shows of the No More Tears tour (incorrectly dubbed the "No More Tours" tour). Ronnie threw a fit, claiming that Black Sabbath wasn't an opening act for anyone and abruptly left the group.
The silver lining? They got Rob Halford to sing lead for them on those two shows and if anyone has a copy, you'll be my best friend if you send me one.
The VH1 Classic special showed some rehearsal footage of the band who seemed to be in fairly good form, despite Dio's frightening age. Seriously: the dude is like 65 years old and I don't care how many times he disputes the year of his birth, he looks over 60 regardless of how much make up you throw on him.
So yeah, I would totally be up for seeing Black Sabbath with Dio, regardless of how old Ronnie is, who's drumming, and what Sharon Osbourne is making us call them. You wouldn't get me to come early to see Mustaine's Bible Show or get me to buy the recent Black Sabbath compilation The Dio Years (which doesn't even have "Sign Of The Southern Cross" on it...Fuckers).
And for anyone that wants to dispute how good Sabbath was when R.J.D.'s little shrimp ass was singing for 'em, just pick up a copy of Heaven & Hell (the album, not the band, Jesus Christ I'm confused) and get back to me.