Ozzy Osbourne and Slash at the Pepsi Center

Let the Soakage Begin

Just before the Eels concert a few months ago, I was talking with my best buddy about big metal acts we haven't seen. The conversation led to Ozzy and/or Black Sabbath, but we dreaded having to ever sit through 9 hours of shitty bands at "OzzFest" or seeing the modern Black Sabbath without guys named Ozzy or Dio. Sure, we would've preferred to have seen Ozzy in 1982 or even 1986, but we figured we'd take what we could get.

Jump forward to last night, when we landed free suite tickets to see Ozzy at the Pepsi Center. That's what we got and we couldn't not take it. The billing was a bit confusing, as tickets and promotional materials mentioned "Ozzy with Slash". Not knowing who the hell is in Ozzy's band, we thought there might actually be a chance it was Slash playing with Ozzy. But that wasn't the case, as it was simply Slash and his band opening for Ozzy.

We weren't disappointed, though. Straight from a Super Bowl XLV halftime appearance two days earlier, Slash was better than we expected. His five piece band was basically a Guns n' Roses cover band. They may have even had their own funny names. You could even argue that seeing Slash and his band is better than seeing a modern Guns n' Roses reunion. Primarily because Slash played an entire set, without pissing on the audience or walking out, a la Axl Rose. He played just about every GnR song you remember from "Appetite for Destruction", such as "Nighttrain", "Rocket Queen" and "My Michelle". He opened his set with a song that sounded somewhat familiar to me-- "Ghost". About three songs into the set, I realized WHERE I had heard "Ghost": it's featured in the new "Guitar Hero: Warriors of Rock". That was a strange experience-- hearing a song that I first "played" in a video game.

Slash's set built to "Sweet Child O' Mine", with its signature opening riff to send the crowd into a tizzy. The singer didn't try to sound too much like Axl, but his version was definitely better than having Fergie of the Black-Eyed Peas do it. It seemed like the set would end there, but Slash continued on with... umm, that "Here comes the water" song (offically: "Slither") from his Velvet Revolver days. A big of a letdown, but I'm guessing Slash simply lkes playing that tune. He left everybody satisifed with his final tune, "Paradise City", which he dedicated to Denver. Uh huh..I'm sure he says to all the cities he plays in. Slut. Yet with his jumping around the stage, chain wallet, signature black top hat and live guitar energy, Slash is pretty much the best part of the Guns n' Rose whole.

During the intermission (not too long, maybe 20 minutes), we checked out some of the crowd. Most, if not all, were mid-30's or older. The bald spot or receeding hairline has replaced the mullet as the de facto hairstyle of metal fans. The crowd included some women in their early 50's who lost their "metal slut" figures about 30 years ago....yet not their metal slut wardrobe and hairspray. Mix in a visit to TJ Maxx; it'll only cost you about 20 bucks and you'll be able to appear in public like an adult. Just sayin'.

Set List (I think) Bark at the Moon Let Me Hear You Scream Mr. Crowley I Don't Know Fairies Wear Boots Suicide Solution Road to Nowhere War Pigs Shot in the Dark Rat Salad (solos) Iron Man I Don't Want to Change the World Crazy Train ENCORE: Mama, I'm Coming Home Paranoid

When the lights went down for Ozzy, we expected explosions and an opening number. Instead, we got a giant backdrop video screen with scenes from popular movies. Through computer video production, we were "treated" to Ozzy inserted into scenes from "Avatar", "Jersey Shore", "The Hangover" and "Twilight". Sure he's about a year behind on those fads, but I cracked up that the crowd immediately recognized "Twilight" (it took me a little bit to figure out what it was). These spoofs got old, really quick. But they did show how the marketing direction of Ozzy has changed in the past decade. Instead of a "scary" metal icon who eats bats, he's portrayed as a humorous cartoon character who mumbles and say "fuck" a lot. The final spoof was a quickie, and was actually somewhat funny: Ozzy was inserted into a scene from "Iron Man 2" and unmasked to say "I am Iron Man". Then, Ozzy trotted out on stage in his familiar old man shuffle to announce: "Let the Madness Begin". "Bark at the Moon" was the first number and while it was definitely a solid opener with its high tempo, I could've done without the movie clips-- save those for the middle of the show.

The next tune was the obligatory: "something from the new album". This time it was "Let me Hear you Scream", which is basically a Rob Zombie track with Ozzy's vocals. "Mr. Crowley" and "I Don't Know" brought back the focus on Ozzy's core catalog. During these songs, he performed one of his trademark stage antics: he picked up a firehose and doused the first few rows. Great... Ozzy doing Gallagher. He would occassionally follow-up with additional buckets of hydro. Sure, fans expected that, but it was None Degreees outside (high in Denver was about 9) and when he turned on the hose during the final number: well, I could imagine some poor bastard in a soaking wet t-shirt exiting the building to subzero temps, with only his trusty leather jacket to save him.

Check out the setlist and you'll see that the emphasis was mostly on old Ozzy/Sabbath tunes. "Fairies Wear Boots" seemed an unusual choice, but with its quirky, lunging, rhythym it sounded good. At one pint in between songs, it sounded to me like Ozzy blew a harmonica into the mic. I got a little bit excited that "The Wizard" might be on the way. Instead, they played "Suicide Solution" and I was satisfied to a different degree.

Ozzy took the time to introduce his band. Not fluent in Ozzy-speak, I couldn't make out their names. It sounded like he said "Happy Easter and brush your teeth". Ozzy gave credit to his past guitar greats, such as Tony Iommi, Randy Rhoads and Zakk Wylde (even pausing a bit longer for Rhoads). It's nice that Ozzy still misses and pays tribute to Rhoads, almost 30 years after his death. Ozzy then introduced his current guitarist-- "Gus G."

Ozzy departed the stage and let his band members do their thing for about 10 minutes. Gus did a guitar solo, then drummer Tommy Clufetos did a solo that was visually reminiscent of Peter Criss with its ascending drum platform. At this point I noticed that Clufetos likes to consistently raise his left arm into the arm. I imagine it's a timing thing and not necessarily for theatrics. Both solos were mixed into an extended instrumental number of Black Sabbath's "Rat Salad". That's another nice thing about Ozzy; throughout his solo career he's always been a huge icon and star attraction, yet he's perfectly fine with stepping back and letting his band members take the spotlight.

Bassist Rob Nicholson (who gets the award for "guy who most looks like Faith No More's Jim Martin") and keyboardist/guitarist Adam Wakeman rounded out the band. Wakeman would play keyboards for the Ozzy songs, then provide second guitar for the Sabbath tunes. I'm not familiar with any of these current musicians, but their collective sound product was fine. A highlight was their rendition of "Shot in the Dark". One downer was "Iron Man", simply becasue Ozzy kept insisting the crowd chant along to the song's guitar riff. A few other times, Ozzy would simply hold out the mic to the crowd for the chorus of certain songs, even "Crazy Train".I've talked about this before, but I was somewhat disappointed that Ozzy; while still sounding as shrieky as ever; skipped singing that chorus I've waited 30+ years to hear HIM sing.

Throughout the night Ozzy would shuffle back and forth on the stage, dousing himself with water then telling the crowd how much he loves them. It's funny how he seemed so EVIL back in the day (even in "Bloom County"), but what's evil about walking around and saying: "I love you all! God Bless you"!? Like I said, he's a living cartoon character. Since there's no WAYBAC machine, if you like any of Ozzy's songs, it's probably a good idea to see him while you can (and without OzzFest). Just don't sit in the first 15 rows, unless you want to get soaked.

Finally, check out some photos of the event (better than any crap I would've taken); HERE.

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