2-12-11 - The Palace of Auburn Hills - Auburn Hills, MI - Ozzy Osbourne
There are fewer metal/hard rock artists more recognizable than Ozzy Osbourne. From his days with Black Sabbath to his successful solo career and other various public exposure such as a reality TV show, the Prince of Darkness has become the mainstream icon and flagbearer for hard rock and metal fans worldwide. For this reason, I've wanted to see this man perform ever since I became a fan of that kind of music. Unfortunately, the wait was long. Ozzy had not done a full tour since Black Rain in 2007, with a one-date Ozzfest with Metallica in Texas in 2008, no touring at all in 2009, and a six-date Ozzfest tour in the summer of 2010. However, this time, with a new album, Scream, to support, he decided to embark on his first world tour in years, starting with a two-leg North American run in late 2010 and early 2011, with Detroit picking up a date on the second leg. At last, I would get to see the legend perform live.
Compared to Avenged Sevenfold last week, the process in getting to the concert was far less hectic. This was mainly because I not only left earlier, but there was no blizzard to drive through on the way to the arena. So traffic was very light and I made my way into the arena before they even started letting people through the gates at 6 pm. After passing through security, I stopped by the merch booth and picked up the quintessential Ozzy tour shirt. All of them were expensive at a minimum of $40, but most of the designs were awesome. I picked up the standard one that is Ozzy as shown on the cover of his new album on the front with the cities listed on the back. Next, we made our way down to our seats on the floor. Yes, that's right, seats on the floor. Just about the only thing I did not like about this concert was the fact that a hard rock show like this had assigned seating on the floor. Had the floor been general admission, I would have gotten rail easily. Instead, I was relegated to the 16th row, which is not a terrible deal by any means, but I still wished I could have gotten closer. I spent the next 80 minutes chatting with my friend who I brought to the show with me, as well as listening to a group of much older people in the row behind me. I could have sworn they said, "Do these kids even know who Ozzy is?" and I believe I heard one of them call Machine Head a shitty thrash band. At about 7:20, the stage lights dimmed, and the opening band took the stage, and not just any opening band....
Slash - One icon opening for another, as far as I'm concerned. Slash is another guy who played a huge part in getting me into hard rock and metal. The first hard rock CD I ever bought was a used copy of Guns N'Roses's Appetite For Destruction, and I never really looked back after that. So, needless to say, when Slash took the stage, guitar and top hat and sunglasses and all, and started the opening riff of Ghost, the first song off of his solo album, I was pretty starstruck. The song itself, which starts off strong on its nice, clean opening riff, got an even bigger kick from the second star of Slash's solo band, Alter Bridge vocalist Myles Kennedy. Even though the vocals for the song were originally recorded by Ian Astbury, Kennedy fit the style of the song very well, especially in the chorus, where he could use his impressive range to his advantage in shrieking, "Kill the ghost--that hides--in your soul." It was a nice, catchy opener to the set. After following with a Slash's Snakepit cover of Mean Bone with an intro riff that reminded me a lot of Stone Temple Pilots's Sex Type Thing, they jumped right into what I'm sure many people hoped to hear: a Guns N' Roses song, this particular one the driving anthem Nightrain. Here, Kennedy provided one of many great examples of why he was the ideal choice to be Slash's touring vocalist. He handled Axl's vocal parts with ease, having absolutely no trouble climbing to the high notes when he needed to. While it's not exactly the same as having the real Axl sing it, Kennedy did a damn good job of making the song his own. Slash was on his game as well, always at the front of the stage, and in this case, belting out the Nightrain solo with ease. After another Slash's Snakepit cover, they went into one of my favorite songs off of Appetite: Mr. Brownstone. Again, Kennedy was masterful in the lower range and the higher range in this song, and Slash performing easily one of the best solos off that album was a treat. This song also seemed to wake up the crowd a bit more, which was still slowly filing in at this point. Another Guns cover, Rocket Queen, kept us on our feet singing, and they extended it a little bit with some instrumental jamming. Once they finished, Slash finally addressed the crowd himself, introduced his band, and went right into the two songs on his solo album that were recorded with Myles Kennedy on vocals: Back From Cali and Starlight. Back From Cali starts slowly with some light guitar and an opening verse from Miles, then stays quiet and melodic in the verses before building into an awesome chorus that I couldn't get enough of. Throw in a simple solo from Slash, and it's probably my favorite song on the solo album, so hearing it live at this point was a thrill. Starlight is more of a ballad but with a similar type of structure as Back From Cali. The main difference is Kennedy has more of a chance to shine on vocals, and did he ever. He nailed notes that I've only heard legendary singers like Bruce Dickinson and Rob Halford hit better. While it was one of the less exciting points of the set, Myles's performance on the song impressed me and showed that he deserved to be in the company of a musician such as Slash. The best song of the set, in my opinion, was the next one, and that was the Guns N' Roses classic Sweet Child O' Mine. From the unforgettable riff to the catchy chorus to the unbelievable solo, it was pretty much perfectly executed and a performance I won't soon forget. Their next song was Slither, the only Velvet Revolver cover of the night, and probably the only song where I felt Kennedy's vocals didn't fit the song as well as the original. Originally sung by Scott Weiland, the song is sung mostly in the lower range, so Myles was somewhat restricted. Still, he made do with what he was given and it sounded solid. One final Guns N' Roses song was in order before the trip down memory lane was complete, and this was Paradise City. Just like Sweet Child O' Mine, it was nothing short of fantastic. Kennedy was able to let it rip on vocals again, and Slash led the way with his great leads and solos. It was the perfect cap on a great set and left all the old-timers filled with nostalgia and all the younger fans like me in awe of seeing them performed for the first time. I really couldn't have imagined a better opener for the legend that is Ozzy Osbourne than the guitar icon that is Slash. Like him or not, his music has influenced many, and it was amazing to finally see him play some of the songs that put me on the path to hard rock and metal. As for Myles Kennedy, his performance was also excellent and made me eager to see Alter Bridge the next time they come around the Detroit area. It was hard to believe at this point, but the best was yet to come. 9/10
Setlist:
Ghost Mean Bone (Slash's Snakepit cover) Nightrain (Guns N' Roses cover) Been There Lately (Slash's Snakepit cover) Mr. Brownstone (Guns N' Roses cover) Rocket Queen (Guns N' Roses cover) Back From Cali Starlight Sweet Child O' Mine (Guns N' Roses cover) Slither (Velvet Revolver cover) Paradise City (Guns N' Roses cover)
Ozzy Osbourne - The Prince of Darkness didn't leave his audience much time to catch their breath. About 20 minutes after Slash left the stage, the Palace went dark once again, and it hit me that I was finally going to see Ozzy live. First, however, we were greeted by perhaps one of the best intros to a set I have ever seen. On the huge video screen behind the stage played spoofs of various popular shows and movies. I won't go into detail with what happened in each spoof, but each of them were hilarious and showed the kind of sense of humor Ozzy has. Spoofs were made of Avatar, Jersey Shore, and Twilight, with the biggest cheer coming when Ozzy, playing the role of Edward, told Bella, "Vampire are pussies. I'm the fucking Prince of Darkness!" Once the video finished, the stage lit up, and out ran the man himself, eager to start the show. "Are you ready to go fucking crazy?!?!" he yelled to us, and when we responded with a roar, his band went into their opener, Bark At The Moon. The opening guitar riff sent the crowd into a frenzy, and even though I saw Shadows Fall cover this song last August, this performance reminded me why there is nothing like the original in most cases. Ozzy's voice, though aged through decades of wear and tear, still boomed through the Palace loud and clear as the song to the inevitable "BARK AT THE MOON!" line, which Ozzy let us scream. When he wasn't singing, Ozzy was headbanging away or walking across the stage from side to side. The famous solo, now performed by Firewind guitarist Gus G, was as awesome as it sounds on record and very true to the original. During the solo, Ozzy made his first of many attempts to get the crowd clapping along, but all eyes were on Gus for this one. Once the song was done, they launched into the only song from Ozzy's most recent album in the set, Let Me Hear You Scream. It's a very by-the-book hard rock song, with not much in the way of guitar with the exception of a Zakk Wylde-esque solo and some little licks in the verses. Therefore, it was pretty much all Ozzy in this one, who continued to keep the crowd in it while singing through the verses and barking the catchy chorus. Considering the quality of Scream, it was for the best that this was the only song performed from the album, but it was a very good choice nonetheless and the transition from Bark At The Moon was very effective. Ozzy then followed with two cuts from Blizzard of Ozz, Mr. Crowley and I Don't Know. Both were expertly handled on guitar by Gus, from the memorable solos in Crowley to the unforgettable riff in I Don't Know. Ozzy continued to be on point with his lyrics and pitch, not missing a beat. Everyone in the first 10 rows got a bit of a surprise during the latter part of Crowley, in which Ozzy brought out a huge foam gun and sprayed it all over them and himself. Once those songs were through, he screamed, "Who wants to hear me play a Black Sabbath song?" which brought a huge response from the partially foam-covered crowd. With that, the band went into one of the highlights of the night for me, Fairies Wear Boots from Sabbath's Paranoid album. There was a clear style change from the previous songs as the tempo slowed to a lumber and the music darkened. The guitar parts in this song are among my favorites in Sabbath's catalog, so it was a treat to hear Gus play them, and very well at that. Ozzy took over when the music sped back up a little, his voice still fitting the mood of the music masterfully after all these years. Overall, it was an excellent "cover" that would have been better only if it were the other three members of Sabbath on stage with Ozzy. Once that was through, the Prince of Darkness went back to his solo material, first Suicide Solution, a lesser-known song from Blizzard of Ozz. While not one of his better songs in the set, as it doesn't really have much going on in it, any song off the first couple albums is welcome. Road To Nowhere from the album No More Tears followed, which is basically a ballad not very far from the title track of the album it came from. For this reason, I felt it would have been better served if he had just played No More Tears instead, which is both a better song and a crowd pleaser. Still, Ozzy never stopped moving and did his best to keep the crowd involved, waving his arms back and forth and trying to get everyone clapping. Even though this was probably the low point of the set, Ozzy's energy and the music was good enough to keep the crowd in it. Not only that, he more than made up for it with his next song, another Black Sabbath cover, this one of the classic War Pigs. The crowd was back in full force for this one, as we belted out every word along with Ozzy as old World War II footage played on the video screen in the background. Like Bark At The Moon and Fairies Wear Boots, hearing this classic live was incredible. Gus G once again played his role as Tony Iommi very nicely with the guitar parts and the solo. The highlight undoubtedly came at the end of the song, with us singing along to one of the most memorable riffs in metal. After this, Ozzy introduced his band, including his drummer, Tommy Clufetos, who graduated from a high school in my area. They then went into another cut one hadn't seen live very often from Ozzy before this tour, and that was Shot In The Dark. As one of my favorite Ozzy songs, this was another high point of the set for me, with Ozzy's voice again leading the way, accompanied by a helping of guitar and keyboards. At its conclusion, Ozzy left the stage for the only time during the set, giving Gus G his moment to solo for a few minutes, which was pretty impressive in its own right. After playing the Black Sabbath instrumental Rat Salad for a bit with the rest of the band, Clufetos got the chance to show his stuff on the drums with a nice solo, complete with a raising platform, which seems to be more of the rule than the exception nowadays. The band then completed Rat Salad and Ozzy returned to the legendary riff of Iron Man, yet again another classic song with a legendary riff that everyone has heard. Ozzy continued to impress with his vocals and energy, the crowd had a blast singing the riff with him, and Gus G handled the fast section at the end very easily. Promising one more song if we "went fucking crazy," Ozzy then screamed "ALL ABOARD!", beginning Crazy Train, whose reputation precedes itself at this point. During the song, Ozzy brought out the foam gun once again, then followed by throwing buckets of water on the foam-soaked crowd to wash it off. It was a very entertaining end to the main part of the set, and when Ozzy wasn't shooting the foam gun or throwing water, he was at the mic, clapping his hands and jumping like he had been all set, infecting the crowd with his seemingly endless energy. Oh, and the song was fantastic, as one would expect. At this point, Gus had more than proven himself as Zakk Wylde's replacement. There was a brief break following the song, but nobody left the stage, and soon Ozzy was back to start Mama, I'm Coming Home, one of Ozzy's better ballads in his solo career that's very easy to sing along to, and the Palace crowd ate it up, as they had all night. One more Black Sabbath cover was in order before the show was over, and it was the anthem Paranoid. Though considered filler by many, I enjoy the hell out of the riff and solo like every other song on that album, and it was just as great live, capping an epic night of Ozzy. While I could be unhappy with the fact that our setlist was a bit shorter than those he played on the first leg of the tour and on Ozzfest last summer, it still consisted of all the essentials, and for someone who had never seen Ozzy before, that was more than enough for me. Fairies and Shot In The Dark were nice surprises as well. Hopefully some other day I'll get to hear Fire In The Sky, Into The Void, and No More Tears. But for now, Ozzy and his endless amount of energy and entertainment made it well worth shelling out my money for floor. I pray that it doesn't take four years for him to play here again. Long Live Ozzy! 10/10
Setlist:
Bark at the Moon Let Me Hear You Scream Mr. Crowley I Don't Know Fairies Wear Boots (Black Sabbath cover) Suicide Solution Road to Nowhere War Pigs (Black Sabbath cover) Shot in the Dark Rat Salad (Black Sabbath cover)(w/ guitar and drum solos) Iron Man (Black Sabbath cover) Crazy Train ------------------------------------------------------------ Mama, I'm Coming Home Paranoid (Black Sabbath cover)
Comments
i have found over the years
There are fewer metal/hard rock artists more recognizable than Ozzy Osbourne. From his days with Black Sabbath to his successful solo career and other various public exposure such as a reality TV show, the Prince of Darkness has become the mainstream icon and flagbearer for hard rock and metal fans worldwide. For this reason, I've wanted to see this man perform ever since I became a fan of that kind of music. Unfortunately, the wait was long. Ozzy had not done a full tour since Black Rain in 2007, with a one-date Ozzfest with Metallica in Texas in 2008, no touring at all in 2009, and a six-date Ozzfest tour in the summer of 2010. However, this time, with a new album, Scream, to support, he decided to embark on his first world tour in years, starting with a two-leg North American run in late 2010 and early 2011, with Detroit picking up a date on the second leg. At last, I would get to see the legend perform live.
Compared to Avenged Sevenfold last week, the process in getting to the concert was far less hectic. This was mainly because I not only left earlier, but there was no blizzard to drive through on the way to the arena. So traffic was very light and I made my way into the arena before they even started letting people through the gates at 6 pm. After passing through security, I stopped by the merch booth and picked up the quintessential Ozzy tour shirt. All of them were expensive at a minimum of $40, but most of the designs were awesome. I picked up the standard one that is Ozzy as shown on the cover of his new album on the front with the cities listed on the back. Next, we made our way down to our seats on the floor. Yes, that's right, seats on the floor. Just about the only thing I did not like about this concert was the fact that a hard rock show like this had assigned seating on the floor. Had the floor been general admission, I would have gotten rail easily. Instead, I was relegated to the 16th row, which is not a terrible deal by any means, but I still wished I could have gotten closer. I spent the next 80 minutes chatting with my friend who I brought to the show with me, as well as listening to a group of much older people in the row behind me. I could have sworn they said, "Do these kids even know who Ozzy is?" and I believe I heard one of them call Machine Head a shitty thrash band. At about 7:20, the stage lights dimmed, and the opening band took the stage, and not just any opening band....
Slash - One icon opening for another, as far as I'm concerned. Slash is another guy who played a huge part in getting me into hard rock and metal. The first hard rock CD I ever bought was a used copy of Guns N'Roses's Appetite For Destruction, and I never really looked back after that. So, needless to say, when Slash took the stage, guitar and top hat and sunglasses and all, and started the opening riff of Ghost, the first song off of his solo album, I was pretty starstruck. The song itself, which starts off strong on its nice, clean opening riff, got an even bigger kick from the second star of Slash's solo band, Alter Bridge vocalist Myles Kennedy. Even though the vocals for the song were originally recorded by Ian Astbury, Kennedy fit the style of the song very well, especially in the chorus, where he could use his impressive range to his advantage in shrieking, "Kill the ghost--that hides--in your soul." It was a nice, catchy opener to the set. After following with a Slash's Snakepit cover of Mean Bone with an intro riff that reminded me a lot of Stone Temple Pilots's Sex Type Thing, they jumped right into what I'm sure many people hoped to hear: a Guns N' Roses song, this particular one the driving anthem Nightrain. Here, Kennedy provided one of many great examples of why he was the ideal choice to be Slash's touring vocalist. He handled Axl's vocal parts with ease, having absolutely no trouble climbing to the high notes when he needed to. While it's not exactly the same as having the real Axl sing it, Kennedy did a damn good job of making the song his own. Slash was on his game as well, always at the front of the stage, and in this case, belting out the Nightrain solo with ease. After another Slash's Snakepit cover, they went into one of my favorite songs off of Appetite: Mr. Brownstone. Again, Kennedy was masterful in the lower range and the higher range in this song, and Slash performing easily one of the best solos off that album was a treat. This song also seemed to wake up the crowd a bit more, which was still slowly filing in at this point. Another Guns cover, Rocket Queen, kept us on our feet singing, and they extended it a little bit with some instrumental jamming. Once they finished, Slash finally addressed the crowd himself, introduced his band, and went right into the two songs on his solo album that were recorded with Myles Kennedy on vocals: Back From Cali and Starlight. Back From Cali starts slowly with some light guitar and an opening verse from Miles, then stays quiet and melodic in the verses before building into an awesome chorus that I couldn't get enough of. Throw in a simple solo from Slash, and it's probably my favorite song on the solo album, so hearing it live at this point was a thrill. Starlight is more of a ballad but with a similar type of structure as Back From Cali. The main difference is Kennedy has more of a chance to shine on vocals, and did he ever. He nailed notes that I've only heard legendary singers like Bruce Dickinson and Rob Halford hit better. While it was one of the less exciting points of the set, Myles's performance on the song impressed me and showed that he deserved to be in the company of a musician such as Slash. The best song of the set, in my opinion, was the next one, and that was the Guns N' Roses classic Sweet Child O' Mine. From the unforgettable riff to the catchy chorus to the unbelievable solo, it was pretty much perfectly executed and a performance I won't soon forget. Their next song was Slither, the only Velvet Revolver cover of the night, and probably the only song where I felt Kennedy's vocals didn't fit the song as well as the original. Originally sung by Scott Weiland, the song is sung mostly in the lower range, so Myles was somewhat restricted. Still, he made do with what he was given and it sounded solid. One final Guns N' Roses song was in order before the trip down memory lane was complete, and this was Paradise City. Just like Sweet Child O' Mine, it was nothing short of fantastic. Kennedy was able to let it rip on vocals again, and Slash led the way with his great leads and solos. It was the perfect cap on a great set and left all the old-timers filled with nostalgia and all the younger fans like me in awe of seeing them performed for the first time. I really couldn't have imagined a better opener for the legend that is Ozzy Osbourne than the guitar icon that is Slash. Like him or not, his music has influenced many, and it was amazing to finally see him play some of the songs that put me on the path to hard rock and metal. As for Myles Kennedy, his performance was also excellent and made me eager to see Alter Bridge the next time they come around the Detroit area. It was hard to believe at this point, but the best was yet to come. 9/10
Setlist:
Ghost
Mean Bone (Slash's Snakepit cover)
Nightrain (Guns N' Roses cover)
Been There Lately (Slash's Snakepit cover)
Mr. Brownstone (Guns N' Roses cover)
Rocket Queen (Guns N' Roses cover)
Back From Cali
Starlight
Sweet Child O' Mine (Guns N' Roses cover)
Slither (Velvet Revolver cover)
Paradise City (Guns N' Roses cover)
Setlist:
Bark at the Moon
Let Me Hear You Scream
Mr. Crowley
I Don't Know
Fairies Wear Boots (Black Sabbath cover)
Suicide Solution
Road to Nowhere
War Pigs (Black Sabbath cover)
Shot in the Dark
Rat Salad (Black Sabbath cover)(w/ guitar and drum solos)
Iron Man (Black Sabbath cover)
Crazy Train
------------------------------------------------------------
Mama, I'm Coming Home
Paranoid (Black Sabbath cover)
"Suicide Solution, a lesser-known song from Blizzard of Ozz."
That's why he plays it most of the time.....lol.