04.08.2011 Ozzy Osbourne

Wacken Open Air XXII

Wacken (Germany)

(Pentax k-x with Tamron SP AF 17-50mm 2.8 XR Di II LD Asp IF and Sigma AF 50-150mm 2.8 EX DC APO HSM II)

In front of the stage it was jam-packed and at 22:30 everything finally was ready. A voice, slight whiningly rose: "I can’t hear you!". That was the starting shot for a fulminant final of the "Night to Remember". Ozzy paddled with his small steps onto the stage and enthused the crowd for roughly 90 minutes with the classics of his solo career as well as with songs of his former band Black Sabbath.
With 62 years he is getting a bit long in the tooth and the not very ideal lifestyle of heavy metal has clearly left its marks. Nevertheless there was a little character traipsing and jumping across the stage obviously really enjoying what he was doing and transferring this enthusiasm also onto the audience. For supporting him he had none other than guitarist Gus G with him as well as Tommy Clufetos at the drums, Rob Nicholson at the bass and Adam Wakeman at the rhythm-guitar. On and on Ozzy was encouraging the pack in front of him to clap with him or to get louder and they were following willingly. With smashers like "Mr. Crowly" or "Road To Nowhere" that was not very difficult either.
In between the foam gun was put into operation by Ozzy so that he was not the only one looking like a drowned rat (later on additionally several buckets of water were thrown into the crowd). As already written, Ozzy is already getting a bit long in the tooth and so he took during the Black Sabbath song "War Pigs" a longer time-out and disappeared of the stage. This was then easily bridged by drummer Tommy Clufetos with a fulminant solo followed by Gus G showing his skills on the guitar. Finally Ozzy came back heating up the already great atmosphere even more until he left finally the stage after "Crazy Train".
This should not be the end because the doyen had two encores with him and it was not until the great "Paranoid" had finished that it was time to say goodbye. It was really fun watching the physically and vocally not 100% perfect Ozzy and his comrade in arms supported this impression. All in all not as outstanding as the previous show of Blind Guardian but nevertheless I did not regret a single minute.