ozzy_2012_05

» Ozzy & Friends 2012 05 25

Reviewed by Tobbe
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Special guest: Black Label Society
City: Stockholm, Sweden
Venue: Stadion
Date: 25 May 2012
Black Label Society set length: 45 minutes
Ozzy Osbourne & Friends set length: 107 minutes

Black Label Society

Former Ozzy Osbourne guitarist Zakk Wylde's Black Label Society was tonight's special guest. I'm not impressed at all by the performance. 45 minutes of songs that almost sound the same and the frontman also played a guitar solo in the middle of the set. For what reason one can ask. It's obvious that he is the bandleader and there is no need for him to show off.

Funeral Bell and Stillborn were at least a pair of, if I dare to call them, highlights. The actual musical performance was decent, but most of the time the show was just a long wait for tonight's headliner.

Performance: 3 chalices of 10
Stage sound: 7 chalices of 10
Best: Funeral Bell
Worst: The Guitar Solo, what else?

Setlist:

Crazy Horse
Funeral Bell
Overlord
Parade Of The Dead
Fire It Up
Guitar Solo
Godspeed Hell Bound
Concrete Jungle
Stillborn

Ozzy Osbourne & Friends

Even if this gig initially was announced as a Black Sabbath reunion gig with all four original members, we eventually got Ozzy Osbourne's band with Geezer Butler and Zakk Wylde as guests. I can't say that it would have been any visual differences if the band behind the frontman was his own band or Black Sabbath. It still would be Ozzy and the others visual wise.

After a five minute intro, Bark At The Moon opens the set and continues with five songs in total from Blizzard Of Ozz and The Ultimate Sin. This was the best part of the show in my opinion. With auto-tune or not, parts pre recorded and strange echoes, the lead singer's voice is doing okay, or at least as good as one could expect. On a couple of occasions, he reads the lyrics on his teleprompter and like in for example Killer Of Giants, he starts to sing too soon, making lead guitarist Gus G twist his fingers to catch up. With an age of 63; he jumps, throws buckets of water and sprays the security guards and the people up front with foam. I can't even imagine how it would be to see my own old man act with such energy. Kudos.

The frontman needs some rest for his broken body, so this magnificent part of the show is followed by a guitar solo, a jam, snippets of Rat Salad here and there and also a Tommy Clufetos drum solo. Most of it sucked ass of course, as I'm an objector to any kind of one man solos. Fortunately we at least weren't given a bass solo.

Geezer Butler enters the stage and a couple of Black Sabbath songs are played. The bassist never was a charismatic character, but it's cool to see Geezer perform these old fantastic tunes. Gus G is later on replaced by Zakk Wylde and the former guitarist of Ozzy's band sets his mark on the songs with his screeching and screaming guitar play. One thing is for sure, his play fits better with songs like I Don't Want To Change The World and Crazy Train. Even if I love the Sabbath songs and they are state of the art, the gig loses its pace and I feel that maybe it would have been better to leave some of them out.

They close the set with Crazy Train, Mama I'm Coming Home and Paranoid and the entire stadium fills with joy, as these songs are often aired on radio stations and everybody inside the venue are familiar with them. On Paranoid, all seven performers tonight are present on stage. With three guitarists including keyboardist Adam Wakeman and two bassists as Blasko reenters, the song reaches a new level. No songs from later than 1991 were played and as many other artists, they rely on the good times and nostalgia. All in all a good show and a clean start for the outdoor season of summer 2012.

Performance: 7 chalices of 10
Stage sound: 8 chalices of 10
Best: Bark At The Moon, Killer Of Giants
Worst: The solos

Setlist:

Intro
Bark At The Moon
Mr. Crowley
Suicide Solution
I Don't Know
Killer Of Giants
Shot In The Dark
Guitar Solo / Rat Salad / Jam / Drum Solo
Iron Man
War Pigs
N.I.B.
Fairies Wear Boots
Into The Void (incl snippet of Electric Funeral)
I Don't Want To Change The World
Crazy Train
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Mama, I'm Coming Home
Paranoid
Outro: Here For You