His TV show may have made him even richer, but the mainstream view of Ozzy Osbourne as a bumbling TV clown has damaged his rightful legacy as a rock pioneer. To the frenzied fans who packed Wembley in June, Ozzy was no joke, but a hero. And they had a point.
Osbourne's time with Black Sabbath saw him establish heavy metal as we know it, selling 70 million records into the bargain. And after nearly 40 years in the business, the Birmingham-born hellraiser is still attracting new fans, a feat acknowledged by the Icon award he won at this week's Mojo Awards.
Clips of his TV tomfoolery flashed up on screens before his arrival, but the crowd - predominantly male and ranging from grizzled old rockers and tattooed Hell's Angel types to skinny young teenagers in even skinnier jeans - didn't want Ozzy the comedian. They wanted Ozzy the rock God.
Sporting a majestic mane of hair, his trademark eyeliner, and a bit of a paunch, he shrieked: "Are you ready to go f***in' crazy?" The answer was a resounding yes, and the crowd's reward was a wild rendition of his 1983 hit, Bark At The Moon.
Widespread air-guitar-playing broke out as his unmistakably eerie voice cut through the roar of the guitars. As the crowd screamed out the chorus, it was clear that for them, Ozzy could do no wrong.
Technically, Osbourne certainly did do a few things wrong. But with the exception of the slightly ropey power ballad, Road To Nowhere, none of his songs were spoiled by his inability to hit all the notes correctly.
He was backed up by the brilliant guitar skills and stage presence of long-time collaborator, Zakk Wylde, whose group, Black Label Society, provided support and whose huge hair, studded guitar strap and theatrical movements brought to mind a Dungeons & Dragons character.
Indeed, there was a gloriously cartoon-like quality to the whole show whose highlight for me was the gritty abandon of War Pigs and which ended, unsurprisingly, with the Black Sabbath classic – his trademark as he said on the speak of the Devil Album -, Paranoid.
01 - Intro
02 - Bark at the Moon
03 - Mr. Crowley
04 - Not Going Away
05 - War Pigs
06 - Believer
07 - Road to Nowhere
08 - Suicide Solution
09 - Zakk Solo
10 - I Don't Know
11 - Here for You
12 - I Don't Want to Change the World
13 - Mama, I'm Coming Home
14 - Crazy Train
15 - Paranoid
| SOURCE | AUD | SOUND QUALITY | A | FORMAT | Mp3 | BITRATE | 320 | TRACKS # | 15 |
| LOCATION / VENUE | London | Wembley Arena | DATE | 19–06–07 |
| NOTES: |
I know some of you been dying to hear this show for the last 6 months…. Thank you for your patience. This was my first Ozzy concert whom I had been dying to see for over 15 years!! It was recorded with a TCD-D6 and transfered with my usual arsenal of studio tools!!! I thought that Zack Solo was rather uninspired.. He copies Randy Solo from the Tribute Album… Prefer the solo he does at Tower theater 1989… that is a killa!! Email me pictures you took from the show or any ozzy concerts… That would be much apreciated!!!! |
Labels: Adam Wakeman, Blasco, METAL, Mike Bordin, Ozzy Osbourne, Zakk Wylde
![0088[1]](http://img.villagephotos.com/p/2006-11/1227628/0088[1]_small.jpg)
