Ozzy Osbourne Live At Rod Laver Arena
Ozzy Osbourne has done more than most in life. He was the iconic frontman of Black Sabbath, a reality TV star and is a constant advertisement of why you shouldn't take drugs. What seems to get lost is his solo career. With flawless albums like Blizzard of Ozz and No More Tears to his name I'm not quite sure how this happens.
So when I found out Ozzy was coming down under I didn't need much encouragement to go - even if he is past his prime. I'd never seen the Ozzman and I loved his recent album Black Rain - it showed he could go on for some time yet.
On the way in despite my best plans I was held up. I managed to get there in time to see the end of Sevendust. I remember describing them as the most boring band in the world - so was surprised that they were not as bad as I thought. However when you see that Rob Zombie and Black Label Society have supported Ozzy in other parts of the world it's easy to feel that Australians lucked out.
Waiting, I heard the equivalent of an ACDC greatest hits album. Listening to these songs was the ideal way to prepare for what was to come.
Soon enough Ozzy appeared on screen in a variety of parodies from TV and film, which included Entourage and The Sopranos. For this alone I hope a filming from this tour makes it way onto DVD. It may not have been tasteful - it was certainly very funny.
After the classical piece Carmina Burana, Ozzy came on stage with I Don't Wanna Stop. Immediately the crowd was right into it. This only intensified through Bark At The Moon and Suicide Solution. Ozzy was as enthusiastic as ever urging the audience on with his familiar cry of "I wanna see everyone going crazy". He even had the energy to pour buckets of water over people in the front rows - something I'm sure they appreciated given the hot weather
While the first half of the show was predominantly heavier songs the second half was mostly ballads. For a change this didn't bother me because Ozzy does slower stuff as well as anybody. The ballads he played were Here For You, the brilliant Road To Nowhere and Mama, I'm Coming Home, which was probably my favourite song of the night. Ozzy seemed more comfortable with the slower material to the point that I wouldn't have minded hearing a couple of others.
When I attended this gig I did wonder how many people went to see guitarist Zakk Wylde. I would imagine he is almost as popular as Ozzy these days. Unfortunately this was not Zakk's finest hour. His solo went on too long and was basically noise. Then at the end of the show he had a brain fade when he threw his guitar into the crowd. There was a mad scramble to get it that could have easily led to injuries.
To appease many fans Ozzy played a couple of Black Sabbath songs. There was a spirited rendition of War Pigs and as I expected the set closed with Paranoid. I thought maybe Iron Man or Children of the Grave would get a go and then I reminded myself I was seeing Ozzy not Sabbath.
The concert went for about an hour and a half, which did seem short. The songs Ozzy played all deserved their spot - it was just disappointing not to hear Shot In The Dark and No More Tears.
Ozzy is not a young man and yet he showed he can still perform. It's doubtful he will come to Australia again so I'm thankful I had the opportunity to see him. After all he is a legend of the heavy metal world.
Iphone Downloads
Rocket Spanish
So when I found out Ozzy was coming down under I didn't need much encouragement to go - even if he is past his prime. I'd never seen the Ozzman and I loved his recent album Black Rain - it showed he could go on for some time yet.
On the way in despite my best plans I was held up. I managed to get there in time to see the end of Sevendust. I remember describing them as the most boring band in the world - so was surprised that they were not as bad as I thought. However when you see that Rob Zombie and Black Label Society have supported Ozzy in other parts of the world it's easy to feel that Australians lucked out.
Waiting, I heard the equivalent of an ACDC greatest hits album. Listening to these songs was the ideal way to prepare for what was to come.
Soon enough Ozzy appeared on screen in a variety of parodies from TV and film, which included Entourage and The Sopranos. For this alone I hope a filming from this tour makes it way onto DVD. It may not have been tasteful - it was certainly very funny.
After the classical piece Carmina Burana, Ozzy came on stage with I Don't Wanna Stop. Immediately the crowd was right into it. This only intensified through Bark At The Moon and Suicide Solution. Ozzy was as enthusiastic as ever urging the audience on with his familiar cry of "I wanna see everyone going crazy". He even had the energy to pour buckets of water over people in the front rows - something I'm sure they appreciated given the hot weather
While the first half of the show was predominantly heavier songs the second half was mostly ballads. For a change this didn't bother me because Ozzy does slower stuff as well as anybody. The ballads he played were Here For You, the brilliant Road To Nowhere and Mama, I'm Coming Home, which was probably my favourite song of the night. Ozzy seemed more comfortable with the slower material to the point that I wouldn't have minded hearing a couple of others.
When I attended this gig I did wonder how many people went to see guitarist Zakk Wylde. I would imagine he is almost as popular as Ozzy these days. Unfortunately this was not Zakk's finest hour. His solo went on too long and was basically noise. Then at the end of the show he had a brain fade when he threw his guitar into the crowd. There was a mad scramble to get it that could have easily led to injuries.
To appease many fans Ozzy played a couple of Black Sabbath songs. There was a spirited rendition of War Pigs and as I expected the set closed with Paranoid. I thought maybe Iron Man or Children of the Grave would get a go and then I reminded myself I was seeing Ozzy not Sabbath.
The concert went for about an hour and a half, which did seem short. The songs Ozzy played all deserved their spot - it was just disappointing not to hear Shot In The Dark and No More Tears.
Ozzy is not a young man and yet he showed he can still perform. It's doubtful he will come to Australia again so I'm thankful I had the opportunity to see him. After all he is a legend of the heavy metal world.
Iphone Downloads
Rocket Spanish
