Friday, 02 July 2010
It Might Get Loud. Because its Ozzy time!
Theres a few things you can predict happening at an Ozzy gig. Even if it is the first official gig of the tour, you can predict that
at one point he will say 1)"I Wanna see you go f**king crazy tonight!". Or say "I wanna see you go f**king wild tonight!".Or "I love you all!". Or a combination of all three. And possibly at once.
So when the DJ throws his devil horns up in the air to loud cheers, you can tell its going to be a friendly but rowdy bunch down the front. Its Ozzy time. When Carmina Burana starts, Ozzy strides on Stage to huge cheers and then he tells the audience "I
Wanna see you go fucking crazy tonight!". Even louder cheers. Even louder than the "Ozzy! Ozzy!" chant reverberating
around the building.And what a building - a victorian seaside hall, tiny compared to the usual stadiums he plays.
Ah, Ozzy osborne. Its fuckin' Ozzy time, and the mans a fuckin' legend, Sorry about the swearing there, I've been hanging around Zakk Wylde too much.
Ozzy deserves to be a legend. At 61, he rocks harder than most men half his age. Surrounded by a band of people who obviously propel him forward by rocking hard, heavy and often, its heavy metal heaven.
Ozzy, is just Ozzy. An Invincible, indestructible metal god. He is Iron Man. With the lungs of legend. He is just in auto Ozzy mode. You'd be disappointed if he didn't anything else. Run around the stage, clap awkwardly out of time, heckle the crowd to go "fucking wild tonight", throw water at the end and jump up and down. A lot. The man is a legend. His backcatalogue is a history of heavy metal in a nutshell. Without Ozzy and Sabbath,they'd be no Metallica. No Maiden. Good lord no. This man, along with Tony, Bill And Geezer, invented the metal.
Gus G, of Firewind, on guitar. He knocks Jake E Lee into history. Almost a par with Zakk Wylde, Gus G is a brilliant fit for
the band. Every note is either note perfect to the record,or perfect when he changes it. And you'd be thinking this is a guy who grew up listening to Ozzy and Sabbath records,playing air guitar in his bedroom wishing he'd be on stage one day playing them. Well, I don't know if thats true, but he obviously loves doing this with a passion that can't be faked. He looks like someone living their ultimate dream job. And he is an excellent guitar player.Hes in esteemed company, and he's fitting in perfectly.Its as if he's always been in the band, he feels that natural here.
Rob Blasko on Bass, Looks like a scuzzy metaller.No bass solo. No surprise.
Adam Wakeman on keyboards and occasional second guitar.
On drums is ... Animal from the muppets. Sure looks like Animal, anyway. Everytime he hits the snare, the other hand goes vertical in
showman ship. Not a beat missed. He hits drums like a demon. Fury, Power, and precise timing. Like Mike Bordin meets John Bonham, he's a drummer I've never heard of. But damn him, If I could steal him for my own band, I would.
If you ever had any doubts, the opening "Bark At the Moon" blows them away. This quaint and picture-esque victorian seaside
theater, 1200 in capacity, on a cliff face, overlooking the sea, suddenly becomes the very altar of rock itself. You see, Folkestone isn't a very rock n roll town. There's nothing to do here, except leave. But first, there will be rock n' roll, and Folkestone probably hasn't seen anything like it in a while.
Some gigs, you can tell in the vibe there's going to be trouble. Not tonight. Tonight its the brotherhood of metal, and we're all in the room for one purpose. To rock. There's people who've travelled hundreds or thousands of miles to be here. Next to me is some guy
from Derby. Later on, I meet a guy from Sao Paulo in Brazil. Thats not the sort of crowd just going along to it becuase its the only thing thats happening here in the next six months and its an excuse for a fight. God, no. thats not the sort of people who turn up get ridiculously drunk and fight in the car park.
To see Ozzy is such confined settings is almost unheard of. These are the sort of places he played thirty years ago on his very first solo tour. The sort of places he last played back in 1988, when the Redcar Bowl was on the agenda. No, this is an unprecedented chance to see him somewhere other than a massive bloody arena. And God, is it good. Really good. So bloody good I can't describe.I only wish everyone had the chance to see him somewhere so small.
With only one song off the new album, its a set of a multitude of kranium krunching klassiks. Only one song here is less than 19 years
old, which means the last four albums are represented with one song. So, whilst that means we miss "Perry Mason" (Even if it
was rehearsed) it does mean we get back to back masterpieces. The songs that invented metal. No "War Pigs" or "Sweet
Leaf", no "Miracle Man", but thats about the only songs missing i could have hoped to hear.
We get "Shot In the Dark", which he hasn't played live in... god, is it since the "No More Tears" tour in 92? And the setlist says we are going to
get "Killer Of Giants"... but that we don't get.
I do however, get to wave at Sharon and Kelly Osbourne. Sharon waves back. I throw the devil horns, completely not thinking that
that's a Ronnie James Dio thing. me bad.
Yes, there will be air guitar. And mosh pits. Bloody big mosh pits. And crowd surfing. Lots of it.
Its over too soon. One hour and forty five minutes later, and its all over. No one goes home humming the light show, so its a good job
there's wall to wall a back catalogue where the songs left out are so strong other bands would sell their souls (to rock n' roll) for. All he needs is a lightshow, and some of the best metal songs ever written. Its all out, full on, rock n roll.
Thats why the front row did a"we are not worthy" bow at the end. He doesn't need a 20ft high robot walking on stage at the end, he doesn't need masses of pyro, he doesn't need to come down from the ceiling on a throne, or a styrofoam graveyard of crosses behind him. Or lasers. He just needs a stage, and to be let loose on the audience.
Ozzy rocks harder than a quarry, with a tight and precise band, and he delivers. God, does he deliver, Hell yes. He's a legend and he deserves it. If you are going to see Ozzy, I envy you. Because I know how good he is.
Ozzy - see him before you die.Or he dies,Whichever is sooner. You may not get many more chances, because no one lives forever. But grab that chance with both hands and don't let go.
Awesome. Brilliant. Ludicrous. And incredible entertainment. Let there be Ozzy!
setlist:
01.Bark At The Moon
02.You Can Hear Me Scream
03.Mr. Crowley
04.I Dont Know
05.Fairies Wear Boots
06.Suicide Solution
07.Road To Nowhere
08.Shot In The Dark
09.Guitar Solo /
10.Drum Solo /
11.Rat Salad (Instrumental)
12.Iron Man
13.No More Tears
14.I Dont Want To Change The World
15.Into The Void
16.Crazy Train
encore:
17.Mama Im Coming Home
18.Paranoid
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