Ozzy in River City

My hearing has finally returned to normal. The 'Prince of Darkness' Ozzy Osbourne and crew ripped it up in the River City 11/20/2010.

The stage featured a simple setup with a huge Ozzy sign in front of a video screen. We had incredible seats and the speakers were just above our heads. Needless to say, I forgot my earplugs. Ya, I'm gettin' old, f#ck off!

Ozzy and his four-piece band covered 40 years of metal with Black Sabbath favourites 'Fairies Wear Boots', 'War Pigs', 'N.I.B.' and 'Iron Man'.

He also played some new material and all time faves as well like: 'I Don't Know', 'Crazy Train' and 'Flying High Again'.

Photo courtesy: Dogbite

There of course were various concussion bombs and pyrotechnic explosions, but it was the music fans were there for and they weren't disappointed.

New guitarist Gus G. doesn't command the stage like his predecessor Zakk Wylde did,



but he proved himself worthy enough to fill the shoes of the formidable guitarists whose riffs he cranked out all night.

From those killer power chords of Tony Iommi...

to Randy Rhoads' lightning fingered solos.

Gus told the Greek edition of Metal Hammer how he got the gig with Ozzy, "I got a message on my MySpace page from Rob 'Blasko' (Nicholson), Ozzy's bass player, asking me what was doing, if I was living in America or not and saying that he wanted to talk to me.

I never thought he'd want me for something like that (playing with Ozzy). I initially thought that maybe he wanted to talk to me about doing a project or something and then he told me that one of Ozzfest's managers was looking for me".

The manager said that they wanted me to fly out to Los Angeles immediately for a show that Ozzy was about to do in Anaheim, California."

Prior to the show, this is froman interview Ozzy gave to a local rag. "I mean, rock 'n' roll is getting stoned and getting f#cking drunk". "It's part of the job, you know. I suppose for an alcoholic or drug addict, it's the perfect job, you know. I don't think you can ever think of another job where you would turn up stoned," he said. "People would go, f#cking hell, you've got to do surgery today."

Ace ♠