Ozzy Osbourne with Rob Zombie
December 8, 2007
Kansas Coliseum
Valley Center, Kansas
by Jeb Wright
Ozzy Set List:
I Don't Wanna Stop | Crazy Train | Suicide Solution | Mr.
Crowley | Not Going Away | Road to Nowhere | Bark at the Moon |
Guitar Solo | I Don't Know | Here for You | I Don't want to
Change the World
Encore:
Mama I'm Coming Home | Paranoid
Rob Zombie Set List:
Sawdust in the Blood | American Witch | Demon Speeding | Living
Dead Girl | More Human Than Human | Superbeast | House of 1,000
Corpses | Let It All Bleed Out | Never Gonna Stop | Thunder Kiss
'65 | The Devil's Rejects | Dragula
The Prince of Darkness rolled into an icy
Kansas winter storm on Saturday night, December 8th. Ozzy's fans
in Wichita are like mailmen as neither rain, sleet nor snow kept
them from making the fifteen mile trek in deteriorating weather
conditions to the venue. As fans shuffled and slid into the
arena we worked our way to the ticket booth to pick up our
tickets and passes. Once inside the door we made our way around
the arena until we found the VIP area where fans pay $1000 to
hang, drink beer, get a cool gift bag with Ozzy merchandise in
it, meet the band and, of course, meet Ozzy. While a grand may
seem a high price to pay, the couple of dozen fans in the party
room had smiles on their faces and were having a great time. The
money goes to the Sharon Osbourne Colon Cancer Fund so it makes
the event a win/win for all those involved.
After hanging and jamming out to Ozzy tunes, the host of the
event, a friendly and loud New Yorker, let everyone know the
band was coming in and that we could all say hello, get
autographs and take pictures. Ozzy's band for the tour consists
of Blasco on bass, Mike Bordin on drums, Adam Wakeman, son of
Yes' Rick Wakeman on keyboards and guitar giant Zakk Wylde. All
but Wylde strolled into the room and stood behind a table
signing anything that was thrust in front of them. About a half
an hour later, the host, who we can't say enough about how
friendly and cool he was, told everyone to line up. We were led
into another room about five or six at a time and were able to
meet, converse and get pictures with and autographs from Ozzy.
While known for being a wild man on stage, we were able to get a
glimpse into another side of Osbourne's personality. Once the
cameras are off, Ozzy is a very different man, almost shy and
boy-like in stature. His shyness makes meet and greets somewhat
awkward for him but he truly loves his fans and he is doing a
good thing for those with cancer so he grins and smiles through
the entire event. After watching the happy fans meet their hero
we stood around for a bit taking in the atmosphere. As it got
closer to show time, we decided not to wait around to see if
Zakk would show, instead we went to the arena to check out Rob
Zombie.
As we took our seats it was apparent that Zombie was going to
put on one hell of a show. There were platforms suspended on
each side of the stage that were the home for two scantily clad
dancing girls and there was a huge twenty foot monster head in
the middle of the stage with drummer Tommy Clufetos perched
atop. The show opened with a movie montage for the Rob Zombie
directed Werewolf Woman of the SS. Once the intro was
over and the stage lights came on, the band took the stage and
went into "Sawdust in the Blood."
The stage show was very entertaining. The big screens on each
side of the stage flashed B horror movie clips or Zombie videos
the entire show. The dancing girls moved around on stage
grabbing every males attention in the arena. Zombie galloped
across the entire stage while guitarist John 5 blasted every
trick he had in his six-string arsenal. Drummer Tommy Cluefetos,
formerly with Ted Nugent and Alice Cooper, put on a drum clinic
that dropped jaws. His drum solo was one of the highlights of an
already energetic and entertaining set. Watch out for this kid
as he has the talent, tenacity and balls out attitude to take
his career to the very top.
At one point, Zombie was complaining that the audience was not
loud enough. The showgirls were sporting spotlights and Zombie
would yell at Section 105 and ask them why they were not making
noise just as the girls shined the lights on them. This went on
for several sections around the arena before Zombie took one of
the spotlights and made his way around the entire floor shining
the lights on all the fans.
The band also brought out "Thunder Kiss 65" and "More Than
Human" from his former band White Zombie. While the crowd loved
hearing the older material, they cheered the loudest for "Dragula,"
"The Devil's Rejects" and "Living Dead Girl." John 5 played a
guitar solo that kicked off with the intro to "Sweet Home
Alabama" before going super fuzzy and blasting out a portion of
the Van Halen classic "Eruption." The rest of the solo saw the
enigmatic guitarist's instrument make buzzing noises and squalls
as he flew across the fret boards. In the end, Rob Zombie got a
standing ovation and the crowd was taken with his energy.
In-between acts, a large white curtain blocked the audience from
seeing the changeover while AC/DC music played through the PA.
After fifteen minutes, the lights went out and the white curtain
became a giant movie screen featuring Ozzy in different
television shows including Lost, The Soprano's and The Office,
which drew the loudest laugh when Ozzy took a crap on the floor.
Ozzy also poured milk over a pair of huge breasts and stuck his
head inside of and blew hard while moving his head from
side-to-side.
When the curtain was pulled down Ozzy and band went right into
"I Don't Wanna Stop" from his latest album Black Rain,
which has been certified Gold for over half a million sales in
the United States. The show kicked into gear after the opening
with back-to-back-to-back classics from Ozzy's debut album
Blizzard of Ozz. During "Crazy Train," Osbourne's voice
cracked a bit during the chorus, the cold weather wrecking havoc
on the singer's vocal chords. It took a while for him to warm up
but he sounded just like the ol' Ozzy during "Mr. Crowley" and
"Suicide Solution." Another new tune, "Not Going Away" went over
well as the song is cut from the same cloth as "I Don't Wanna
Stop." The band ripped through "Road to Nowhere" and "Bark at
the Moon" as Ozzy had the crowd lighting their lighters and
swaying to the former and banging their heads to the latter.
It was surprising to see Osbourne dowsing the crowd with buckets
of water during "Crazy Train" but when he pulled out a fire hose
and let 'er rip across the crowd everyone was shocked. Ozzy
didn't just spray them down; he soaked the first several rows
from tip to toe. Considering there was an ice storm going on
outside I thought the people might react with anger but instead
they howled for more. Ozzy yelled at the crowd to 'go crazy' and
ordered them to scream louder by saying, "I can't fucking hear
you!" While he may have struggled vocally at times and been
tired from an eight-month tour, once he hit the stage he had the
energy of a teenager, leaping about, clapping his hands and
jumping about the stage.
Zakk Wylde found himself alone after "Bark at the Moon" and took
advantage of the situation and launched into a guitar solo of
massive proportions. Zakk has two of the fastest hands in the
West and his finger's fly up and down the fret board, hammering,
pulling and plucking every inch of the strings. The camera men
passed the time by displaying any female fan on the big screen
who wanted to show off what God gave her. Wylde was oblivious to
the boob shots as he was too busy playing guitar behind his head
to notice. He eventually made his way over to stage right and
climbed onto an amp and sat down, his guitar buzzing while in
limbo. From there he blitzed through scales like a knife through
hot butter wowing everyone in attendance with his dexterity.
Eventually, he got up, walked back over to his spot on stage and
played a version of "The Star Spangled Banner" that would have
made Hendrix proud.
At the conclusion, Osbourne came back onstage chanting "ZAKK
WYLDE, ZAKK WYLDE, ZAKK WYLDE" and eventually the entire crowd
joined in. Wylde shook his long mane of hair and smiled. Once
done with the tribute, Ozzy and the band performed a killer
version of the opening track from Blizzard of Ozz, "I
Don't Know." After the song was over, Ozzy took center stage and
said, "I usually don't go for this dedication of songs shit but
tonight I met someone back stage who told me his wife was
battling cancer. I know what that's like, man. I am going to
dedicate this next song to her. It is called 'Here for You.'"
The band played the ballad from Black Rain and everyone
got into the spirit by swaying to the music. Ozzy introduced the
last song of the set by saying, "We are going to play one more
and the crazier you go, the longer we will play it." The band
launched into the Grammy award winning "I Don't Want to Change
the World" from No More Tears right on cue. After the
song ended the band exited and the stage turned black. The crowd
knew this was not the end of the show and kept cheering until
Ozzy came back to give them more. "Mama, I'm Coming Home" saw
the entire crowd lighting lighters and singing. The evening
ended with the Black Sabbath classic "Paranoid." Once the final
notes resonated, the near capacity crowd wandered back out to
the parking lot to begin slipping and sliding their way back
home.
It was surprising that no songs were performed from the
multi-platinum Diary of a Madman, after all the set list
was short. This writer would have also have loved to seen a few
more Sabbath classics and maybe a few cuts no one would have
expected from Ozzmosis or Down to Earth. At the
end of the day, however, it was still Ozzy as only Ozzy can be.
The man loves being on stage and he loves his fans. You can
literally watch him come alive as the crowd cheers for more. He
is sincere in what he does and can't help but throw his all into
his performance. You can't fake a performance and still leave
the stage to a standing ovation. There is no doubt that the
Prince of Darkness still holds his reign over his faithful
subjects in Wichita, Kansas. They waited for over twenty years
for his return as the last time Ozzy played in Wichita was
during the Ultimate Sin tour.
While the Black Rain tour comes to an end later this
month one can only wonder what Ozzy has in store for for us
next. If history proves anything then it will be loud and rock
hard. We can't wait!
www.ozzy.com
www.robzombie.com |
