So last night I was sitting second row at the Zombie/Ozzy show (let’s see how many times I can rub that in). I caught the tail end of In This Moment. Fronted by a ‘hard rock chick’ wearing an alice in wonderland dress, I had fun watching them but not listening to them. She’s Courtney Love inspired in a way, but was trying to headbang with a ponytail and had to hold her boobs in her dress to keep them from falling out (this would become a theme of the evening) as she skipped around stage. How un-Courtney is that? While I appreciate girl fronted rock bands, the screaming kinds bother me (Lacuna Coil, Kittie).
When I saw White Zombie open for Pantera back in 1996 (!), I had my first rock ‘n’ roll moment- I got the guitarist’s pick. My infatuation with catching guitar picks started there.
I’ve been a bit infatuated with Rob Zombie for a long time. There’s just something about the dirty-rocker-cowboy-b-horror-film thing that does it for me. Fun fact: he got his start as a technician on Peewee’s Playhouse. After White Zombie, he embarked on an equally successful solo career, and started directing films staring his wife, Sheri Moon Zombie. Great films, if you dig the combo of sex, blood, and rock ‘n’ roll- especially The Devil’s Rejects.
When they hit the stage my heart was racing- when I’m at a really good show, I am swept with the sensation that I’m at the right place at the right time, having this unique experience that makes the rest of life tolerable. And I was really close at a seated show where I wouldn’t have to worry about some guy accidentally mauling me.
Luckily, I was constantly visually stimulated, because I couldn’t hear shit. My seats were directly in front of a speaker, and it made me feel through the entire show that didn’t know the songs because everything was distorted with heavy bass drums.
Setlist:
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
They all looked really wicked- Zombie was sporting the same skull gloves that I usually do. John 5 looked particularly crazy, with his constant ear to ear grin and bleached blonde asylum hairdo. It was great to finally see him live after all of these years having followed him and Manson. Zombie did a lot of walking around the audience. To my surprise, he is a couple of inches shorter than me!
The go go dancers, multiple screens of film clips, the giant iron maiden eddie-style robot, and the pyro made it easy to forget that he was an opening act. The set seemed much too short- 12 well-selected songs mixed with a drum solo, and guitar solo (complete with all of the tricks- behind the head, with teeth, etc.), and Zombie’s crowd involvement efforts made the hour-15 go by too quickly. I need more…
Ozzy’s set opened with a video montage of him strategically placed in several famous TV shows and films: Entourage, The Sopranos, Borat, The Queen, and more. The curtain dropped to reveal Ozzy and band in the dramatic fashion that is rarely implemented anymore. Having seen Ozzy twice in my teens, even though I had seen The Osbournes and such, I was still shocked by how old he looked. That must mean that I’m getting old, too- boohoo. Ozzy was dressed in black with his classic spectacles, but the black robe was now a sweatpants and shirt ensemble complete with a headband and a little potbelly.
The display of amazing musicianship continued with ZakK Wylde’s incredible guitar playing, Blasko’s bass moves, and Mike Bordin of Faith No More’s drumming. While it was still difficult for me to hear over the bass heavy speaker’s in front of me, I could still hear the faltering’s in Ozzy’s voice on some of the songs. For instance- the aiy-aiy-aiy of Crazy Train is now the more tame oi-clap-oi-clap-oi-clap-oi. May not mean much to some of you, but for me, it was a disappointment. Mama I’m Coming Home sounded really good, though.
Approximate setlist:
I Don’t Wanna Stop
Crazy Train
Suicide Solution
Mr. Crowley
Not Going Away
Bark at the Moon
Zakk Wylde Guitar Solo
I Don’t Know
Here For You
I Don’t Want to Change the World
Mama I’m Coming Home
Paranoid
Early on, Ozzy took a bucket of water and nailed the middle of the first few rows with it. Then, he picked up a hose and nailed the entire front section with foam. Some people were actually leaving because they were so covered in it. Everyone was soaked.It was at or around this point that the boobs started to make their appearance. The majority revealed themselves during Wylde’s guitar solo- and the cameramen were egging the girls on to continue. It was particular prevalent during the Hendrix inspired Star Spangled Banner portion of the solo- sort of like a metal chick version of the salute.
At the end of the set, I was able to obtain my guitar pick (though I wanted a Zombie one, too….whaaa). Some fireworks scared the audience and the band ‘fell down’ on stage, adding an interesting exit to the performance.
Is it possible to leave a show both saddened and satisfied? Absolutely. I hope that Ozzy plans to retire soon and spend the rest of his life relaxing and not continue to burn the pavement like Dylan, producing poorer and poorer performances for more and more money. And Zombie- come back to SF and play The Warfield. Pretty please.
Upcoming tour dates (stars mean recently added):
November 24th Las Vegas, NV- The Joint
November 26th Bakersfield, CA – Rabobank Arena
November 28th Glendale, AZ -Jobing.com Arena
November 29th Flagstaff, AZ -Orpheum Theatre (AZ)
November 30th Los Angeles, CA -Staples Center
December 3rd Albuquerque, NM -Sunshine Theater
December 4th Denver, CO -Pepsi Center
December 6th Oklahoma City, -OK Ford Center
December 7th Springfield, MO -Shrine Mosque
December 8th Valley Center, KS -Kansas Coliseum
December 9th Dallas, TX Palladium Ballroom
December 11th Kansas City, MO -Sprint Center
December 12th Waterloo, IA -McElroy Auditorium *
December 13th Milwaukee, WI -Bradley Center
December 14th St. Louis, MO -The Pageant *
December 15th Cincinnati, OH -Bogart’s (OH)
December 16th Rosemont, IL -Allstate Arena
December 18th Detroit, MI -Joe Louis Arena
December 19th Indianapolis, IN -Egyptian Room
December 20th Cleveland, OH -Wolstein Center *
December 21st Rochester, NY -Water Street Music Hall
December 22nd New York,NY -Madison Square Garden
January 3rd Portland, ME -Cumberland County Civic Center *
January 5th Washington, DC -Verizon Center (DC) *
January 8th Worcester, MA -DCU Center *
January 10th Philadelphia, PA -Wachovia Spectrum *
January 12th Uncasville, CT -Mohegan Sun Arena *
January 14th Quebec City, QC- Colisee Pepsi Arena *
January 16th Montreal, QU- Bell Centre *
January 19th London, ON -John LaBatt Centre *
January 21st Toronto, ON -Air Canada Centre *
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