London’s O2 Arena was the location for the first UK leg of the world famous Ozzfest in five long years. At each previous visit to this venue, I have been extremely impressed with the organisation of the crowd control and the efficiency with which punters are moved through the gates. Sadly, this occasion was an entirely different ‘kettle ‘o’ fish’. Despite a sell out crowd of over 23,000, the powers that be deemed it sensible to open only two of the venues numerous gates. However, not happy with the one ridiculous oversight, they then proceeded to not tell anybody that there was a second entrance open, seemingly content to watch the queue stretch all the way from Gate B to North Greenwich Tube Station. Luckily we arrived an hour and a quarter before the days first act so made it into the arena with minutes to spare, thousands of others were not so lucky.
The opening act of this London leg of Ozzy’s latest tour was the ever impressive Skindred, who performed admirably considering that most of their potential fans were still filtering through the turnstiles. Dressed in immaculately shiny, silver suits, the Welsh quartet set the tone for the entire day with their very first track; a ferocious rendition of “Stand for Something”. The audience gradually grew in number due to the decision of the organisers to actually tell people about the second entrance (makes sense, wait until the opening band has started before attempting to sort out the mess....) and by the time the band perform fan favourite “Pressure” there is a healthy number in attendance. Skindred are one of those bands who never fail to disappoint live, their unique mix of metal with reggae is refreshingly original and as ever, the boys look like they are enjoying themselves. A great festival band, Skindred were truly an inspired booking, a pity they did not get a chance to play to the audience that they deserve. Rating: 7/10
Setlist:
1. Stand For Something
2. Rat Race
3. You Can’t Stop It
4. Pressure
5. Bassline Sample
6. Bruises
7. Destroy The Dancefloor
8. Trouble
9. Cause Ah Riot
10. Nobody
With the arena now filling up nicely it is the turn of the day’s first American act to entertain the masses. Steel Panther are on deck now and there is a great sense of anticipation by those in attendance as their live act is certainly a sight to behold. Strolling on stage in order to do their own sound checks, the band joke with those in the front row and drummer Stix Zadinia even leads the crowd in a chorus of “Community Property”. Looking relaxed and ready to rock, the band assume their starting positions. The voice over starts, queue the sounds of a panther roaring, and the band launch into “Eyes Of A Panther”, a cracking opening song. Many critics have claimed that the Steel Panther ‘joke’ is getting old and is seriously not funny anymore. All I can say is that these critics cannot have seen the band live. This was my third time witnessing the Key Club’s finest and yet again they blew me away. The on stage banter is still hilarious, however possibly in need of updating for their next tour, and has the crowd in stitches. Michael Starr, a self titled skinny version of Vince Neil (not a fat Dave Lee-Roth), is again on top form, hitting high note after high note and has a stage presence the like of which I have only seen from Metallica’s James Hetfield. New song critter is met with great enthusiasm and is proof that this band are here to stay. The classic “Death To All But Metal” brings an end to a great set that does the Prince of Darkness proud, another genius addition to this bill. Rating: 8.5/10
Setlist:
1. Eyes Of a Panther
2. Asian Hooker
3. Party All Day
4. Critter (New Song)
5. Community Property
6. Satchel Guitar Solo
7. Turn Out The Lights
8. The Shocker
9. Death To All But Metal
Next up to entertain thousands of Ozzy fans were the band who I had witnessed play the gig of their lives the night before. They were of course the ever dramatic and impressive Murderdolls. Fans of the horror punk group flocked to the front of the stage as for many this will have been their first experience to witness this elusive band. As the night before, the haunting tones of “The World According To Revenge” signal the start of this latest outing from one of Hollywood’s finest super groups. Massive cheers welcome Wednesday 13’s arrival to the stage, closely followed by an explosion from the crowd as Joey Jordison makes his appearance. The band launch into “Chapel Of Blood” which illicits an extremely enthusiastic response from the Murderdolls faithful. Even though the group are once again perfect, full of enthusiasm and deliver a set full of crowd favourites and new songs, this set cannot compare to the show that I witnessed by the very same band the night before. Whether it was the larger venue, or the lack of hardcore fans in attendance, the group did not illicit as much enthusiasm as that cold Friday night in North London (see my review below for this amazing gig). At times Wednesday 13 looked uneasy attempting to control the bloated crowd but this was the only downside of yet another rocking Murderdolls performance as they managed to rock through 13 songs in 45 minutes while still maintaining a good level of crowd interaction. Due to their fast paced music, endless enthusiasm and good natured banter, they really are a good festival band and we can only hope to be seeing them at one of the big ‘uns in 2011. Rating: 8/10
Setlist:
1. The World According To Revenge
2. Chapel Of Blood
3. Slit My Wrist
4. Twist My Sister
5. My Dark Place Alone
6. Drug Me To Hell
7. Summertime Suicide
8. Die My Bride
9. Nowhere
10. Rock ‘n’ Roll Is All I Got
11. Motherf**ker, I Don’t Care
12. Dead In Hollywood
13. I Love To Say F**K
The next band on the Ozzfest line-up for today were Korn. Now, due to our ridiculously late night the night before, and having just been in the midst of it all for the previous three bands, we decided to miss the Californian heavyweights in the pursuit of more relaxing activities in order to fully enjoy the evening’s headliner. By all accounts however, Korn were extremely impressive and played out of their skins.
I guess the best place to end this review is with the man everybody has been waiting for all day, the self titled Prince of Darkness, Ozzy Osbourne. While the sound checks are finishing, the great man’s voice echoes around the arena, geeing up the crowd and starting loud football crowdesque chants. “Are we ready to get crazy?” he asks, the response from the crowd is a resounding yes as they erupt with cheers and screams. All eyes are turned towards the video screens as Ozzy’s intro begins, full of spoofs of films like Avatar and Twighlight that are hilarious. The screens then fade to a shot of a ghostly white orb, the moon, and everyone here is left without a doubt about the song that Ozzy will choose to kick off tonight’s set. Eyes back to the stage, where the band has taken up their positions, Ozzy enters amid outrageous screams and the opening riff of “Bark At The Moon” blasts out of the speakers, definitely cranked up to eleven tonight as confirmed by the ringing in my ears. I have to admit, I was surprised at how good Ozzy’s voice was live, having heard horror stories about his live vocals recently. To be fair, during the chorus of each song it was hard to hear Ozzy over the deafening roar of the crowd but this is not due to any loss in vocal prowess by the great man, just a testament to how good his songs are.
As with any performance by the Prince of Darkness, the crowd are treated to a selection of songs written when he was with his previous band. Now, I am not normally a fan of solo artists filling their sets with covers of their old band, like Kele at Reading festival who played a Bloc Party covers set, but I am happy to let it slide in this instance as Ozzy’s old band are the ridiculously good Black Sabbath, plus Ozzy has established himself as one of the greatest solo artists of all time so I think we can allow a few Sabbath hits! The crowd are expecting a return to this era of course, and the only question is what Sabbath songs we will be treated to. The first of the night does not disappoint, a tremendous rendition of “Fairies Wear Boots” that send the crowd into a frenzy.
Ozzy was on top form in this latest leg of his Ozzfest tour. He was clearly enjoying every moment of the set, and can you blame him? 23,000 people screaming the lyrics to every song, while he sprayed those lucky enough to be in the front row, and security who ran for cover at every opportunity, with a large foam cannon. Not only is the man himself on top of his game, Ozzy’s new band are also an extremely talented bunch and show as much during an instrumental cover of Sabbath’s “Rat Salad” including very impressive solos on both the guitar and drums.
By the end of the fantastic set closer, “Paranoid”, nobody in the building; security, crowd, band and even Ozzy himself, has any energy left, everyone has given it there all tonight. This was an unbelievable performance that showed to everyone presence that not only has Ozzy still got it, but his live performances are just getting better and better. Rating: 10/10
Setlist:
1. Bark At The Moon
2. Let Me Hear You Scream
3. Mr. Crowley
4. I Don’t Know
5. Fairies Wear Boots (Black Sabbath Cover)
6. Suicide Solution
7. War Pigs (Black Sabbath Cover)
8. Road To Nowhere
9. Shot In The Dark
10. Rat Salad (Instrumental) (Black Sabbath Cover)
11. Iron Man (Black Sabbath Cover)
12. Killer of Giants
13. Into the Void (Black Sabbath Cover)
14. I Don’t Want To Change The World
15. Crazy Train
Encore
16. Mama, I’m Coming Home
17. Paranoid (Black Sabbath Cover)
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