Ozzy Osbourne Live in Vancouver
By
Tokemaster General,
Contributor
Wednesday, June 11, 2003 @ 12:26 AM
| Ozzy, Voivod and Finger 11 Liv
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REVIEW BY: Chris Curtis, aka kidnothing
Sure, I could go on an on about how Ozzy played mostly his older material, how the crowd, though loud, was fairly small or that Zakk’s solo was simply amazing. But that’s not why this show was special.
Jason Newsted made his debut on bass for the Prince of fuckin’ Darkness.
I made the two and a half hour drive north from Seattle just because this was his first show with Ozzy. I figured there would be a huge crowd, plenty of friends and family in attendance, and loads of media. A scant few, if there, could be seen.
After Newsted’s Voivod provided a quick 30-minute set (which garnered mostly disparaging remarks from people I talked to), Finger 11 took to the stage for there own short set. I had never heard of them, but they provided a super-high energy set (both guitarist never stood still) and the songs were infectious. And even when the crowd started chanting “Ozzy, Ozzy” during their set, that didn’t deter them from moving forward. They are a band worth checking out.
Ozzy and mates took the stage at 9:00pm with the classic “Symptoms of the Universe.” I hadn’t seen the Madman in about 10 years, but his stage set-up was very close to back then. If you’ve seen his latest DVD, Live at Budakon, then you know how it looked.
Jason took up Ozzy’s right side of the stage, and jammed out each tune crystal clear. After the opener, “Mr. Crowley,” “I Don’t Know,” “Believer,” and “Goodbye to Romance” were all pumped out by the band. Ozzy then played “The Wizard,” which was preempted by Zakk telling the audience how he had to threaten the Madman to play the song.
Throughout the show, Jason stayed pretty much to his side, headbanging like his days back with Metallica. A couple of times he would meet center stage with Zakk and jam out. It was way cool to see those two on the same stage together.
Other songs in the set included “NIB,” “Fire in the sky,” “Suicide Solution,” “Mama, I’m coming home,” and the regulars like “Crazy Train” and “Paranoid.”
Ozzy was his normal self. Mooning the crowd several times and throwing buckets of water, he did add one funny comment; “My wife beat cancer, my kids in rehab, but other than that, I’m doing fucking good.” He then went into “Road to Nowhere.”
The set was almost two hours long and received one loud cheer after another. The crowd, though pretty small (around 8-9000), was very cool. From the two 12-year old boys next to me who knew every song and headbanged all night, to the family of four with mom and grey-haired dad following Ozzy’s crowd participation, it was a very diverse crowd who were also very loyal.
By the show’s end, Jason was greeted by Ozzy with a hug and embrace. If you could see jitters, Newsted had them on this night. I’m sure once he feels more comfortable and part of the band, this will be an awesome unit together. However, on this night he seemed to just want to get through the ordeal without any incident.
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