Ozzy Osbourne is currently on tour in support of his 10th studio album called ‘Scream.’ He finished up his run of Canadian dates by doing a show at the Air Canada Centre last Saturday night in front of a near capacity crowd.
The night started with a montage of short video clips portraying Ozzy as different characters. Some of the characters were intended spoofs based on the movies The Hangover and Iron Man. Some other sketches included mockery of the show The Jersey Shore and a video of Lady Gaga. Ozzy revved up the crowd during the showing of these montages by saying heyyy oooo a few times.
When the movie shorts were done and Ozzy appeared on stage by himself, he said to the crowd, The louder you get, the longer I play. This created an uproar in which Ozzy himself got more animated and kicked into Bark at the Moon. Ozzys voice did crack at times throughout the show but his abundance of energy and stamina amazed me. The band, with new guitarist Gus G (Firewind) and drummer Tommy Clufetos (Rob Zombie) in tow, cranked right into the first single off of ‘Scream,’ Let me hear you Scream.
Rounding out Ozzys band for the evening were keyboardist Adam Wakeman and bassist Blasko. There were a lot of eyes on new guitarist Gus G. who replaced longtime Ozzy guitarist and sidekick Zakk Wylde. However, the 30- year-old dazzled and was a site to see for all the ladies in the audience as he held his own and is starting to carve his own niche in Ozzy guitarist folklore
Meanwhile, the self-proclaimed Prince of Darkness pulled out a foam filled gun during the third song Mr. Crowley and doused the crowd and security in front. This went on periodically throughout the show in addition to a tradition that Ozzy has been doing for quite some time, the water bucket routine. This is when he dips his head in a water bucket and occasionally tosses the water from the bucket onto the audience.
Ozzy never left the stage to do a traditional encore even though the rest of his band did.
Besides his voice not holding up at times, Ozzy never looked better and was more energetic than I have seen in years. 22 songs were performed and Osbourne reminded the crowd that he isnt retiring or going fu*kin anywhere, which was met by a round of thunderous applause. This show is a definite must catch for sure. Just beware of the foam gun and water if you plan on sitting close to the stage.
Editors Note: Rob Halfordss band Halford opened up for Ozzy in Toronto but that show will be later reviewed as its own feature.
Set List:
Bark at the Moon
Let Me Hear You Scream
Mr. Crowley
I Dont Know
Fairies Wear Boots (Black Sabbath cover)
Suicide Solution
Road to Nowhere
War Pigs (Black Sabbath cover)
Fire in the Sky
Shot in the Dark
Guitar solo
Rat Salad Part 1 (Black Sabbath cover)
Drum solo
Rat Salad Part 2 (Black Sabbath cover)
Iron Man (Black Sabbath cover)
Killer of Giants
N.I.B. (Black Sabbath cover)
Flying High Again
Into the Void
I Dont Want to Change the World
Crazy Train
Mama, Im Coming Home
Paranoid (Black Sabbath cover)
I Just Want You
We would like to thank Kathy ODonnell from Livenation for helping out backstageaxxess.com to review the show.
