Ozzy's show was much as I expected it would be, a fact which could be viewed as both a good & bad thing. In the 11 years since his last visit he's become a TV star, survived an accident that nearly killed him, dealt with an intruder to his Buckinghamshire residence in the middle of the night & dealt with his wife's cancer scare & his kids' rehab visits; all the while continuing to perform on his annual Ozzfest jaunt in the US (in a reduced capacity on occasion it must be said). All of this led one to wonder how he'd carry himself through a 1.5 hour set after flying all the way Down Under for this tour.
Well I must say that - lengthy guitar solo during which he took a break aside - he did admirably for a man pushing 60. His voice (always unique but never technically brilliant) faltered on a few occasions with some missed notes during "Bark At The Moon" being the most glaring. Also, his vocals were quite heavily reverbed & there was a fair amount of holding the mic to the crowd for their participation; although, to be fair, he was prompting that participation in other ways all night too.
His "I can't hear you!" and "Go fucking crazy!" encouragements to the crowd were plentiful as was his traditional schtick of dousing himself and the crowd with numerous buckets of water. The setlist featured a few new tunes, with the bulk made up of tracks from the 'Blizzard Of Ozz' and 'No More Tears' albums along with the obligatory brace of Sabbath tracks, in this case "War Pigs" and show closer "Paranoid". Throughout it all the Prince of Darkness bounced around and clapped his hands with the glee of a young lad.
There's a lot that can (and has) been said about Ozzy and his career but he does come across as having a genuine feeling of delight at being on stage in front of a packed arena after all these years. The band too were solid, especially Mike Bordin on the kit and Zakk Wylde's unique shredding (who made a subtle but reverential motion skyward before launching into the "Crazy Train" solo, in respect of its author, Randy Rhoads).
I'm not sure I believe Ozzy when he says we won't have to wait another 11 years to see him again, but stranger things have happened... the way he's going he might just outlive us all.
Set list:
1. I Don't Wanna Stop
2. Bark At The Moon
3. Suicide Solution
4. Mr Crowley
5. Not Going Away
6. War Pigs
7. Road To Nowhere
8. Crazy Train
-- Guitar Solo
9. I Don't Know
10. Here For You
11. I Don't Wanna Change The World
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12. Mama, I'm Coming Home
13. Paranoid
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