Tagged: ozzy osbourne

GRASPOP METAL MEETING 2012 – memories and reviews (Part 1)

Finally Saturday and the first day in weeks, it seems, that I’ve had a fair chance to actually get enough SLEEP. That little detail, sleep, is luxury most of the time around here…

Graspop 2012 is now over. Once again it has been a kick-ass festival, I love it! I went there as a friend of Jon Oliva’s Pain band/crew three years ago and I’ve been coming back ever since.

I love the CROWD– it’s an amazing crowd that really LIVES, eats and breathes rock’n’roll and they are giving the artists all the love and energy that is the substantial fuel needed to create a FANTASTIC show. Without that crazy, dedicated crowd, there would be no magic.

Also, I rarely have good things to say about SECURITY, but I think that Graspop’s security crew deserve two big thumbs up for their hard work and their amazing great attitude. Usually you see the gorilla-like shaved-head, gym-sort of guys with their arms crossed looking like they totally loathe heavy metal audiences.

At Graspop they are professional and efficient. They gently escort crowd-surfers and others out with a pat on their back – “take it easy, man“…. No judgement, no power-abuse. Judging from the looks of some of the security guys and girls, they seem to be metalheads themselves. :-) I wish all festival/concert security crews were like that.

CRAZY GRASPOP CROWD:

There’s just a very relaxed atmosphere in general at Graspop, you can feel the love for metal in the air everywhere you go.

I like the set-up with ONE main stage and three tents. That way you know where to go for the major acts. No digging after MAPS or need for impeccable planning to get from point A to point B. It’s all made simple.

AND – I like their pioneer spirit. Instead of the usual “cameras are not allowed“-bullshit, they have solved it the most logical way: They offer the BEST videos either through live-broadcast and/or out on YouTube. So there’s no need for bootleg-videos when the best quality footage is already out there on the official site. Regularly – not once a week or once a month. Sweden Rock festival have something similar but still not quite as extended as Graspop.

The backstage area is nice, clean, quiet and everything works. At many other festivals you are running around looking for stuff, there’s nobody to ask, no signs no nothing… At Graspop everything is clearly displayed and the backstage crew is nice and helpful.

Basically – I LOVE Graspop Metal Meeting!

Three days and lots to tell – I don’t even know where to begin. But I guess reviews are the most logical place to start. :-)

I came pretty late to the area, because I had been out for dinner with Vera and Ronald, a photographer friend of hers. So when I passed the entrance gates I saw that Swedish band SABATON were on stage. They were just wrapping up their set so I wouldn’t be able to review it properly, they sounded great from afar. :-)

Then came the part where I had to get in the front row – suffer through a band that I wouldn’t normally choose to see – in order to get a good spot for the evening’s headliner OZZY & FRIENDS.

I had to survive SLAYER first.

It’s no secret that Slayer is not my cup of tea at all. I’ve seen them a million times it seems, since the 80’s, yet their stuff never appealed to me. The coolest thing about their gig was that it was so clear that Tom Araya enjoyed every minute of his time on stage. As “dangerous” as he was trying to look, you could still see little twinkly stars in his eyes when he was looking out at the worshipping crowd. 

And there was an incredible comeradery in the audience, crowd-surfing, hi-fiving, big smiles, just a great feeling. However, it was tough down there in the crowd (my muscles were aching really bad the next day). I was saved by a guy in the front who moved to offer me room at the barricades and then kept asking me if I was okay. Things like that made all the difference when you’re trying to survive a wild crowd.

Regardless my personal taste, I’ve got to hand it to them – they know what their fans want and they are still around because they genuinely love playing. 

Managed to get ONE fairly OK video clip from Slayer’s show – with crowdsurfing fans included… When the camera dives down, it’s because I’m about to get somebody’s shoe in my head…! Enjoy:

There is also a SLAYER-photo album on my FB-page: www.facebook.com/intherearviewmirror 

I was lucky I got there during the Slayer gig, because nobody moved after that. The front row was packed and it remained that way.

When Ozzy finally hit the stage I was all smiles. I can’t help it, but that man just makes me SMILE. Every time. I don’t even care if he sounds good or bad, he always knows how to entertain people. 

I’ve read some pretty nasty comments from people about his Graspop peformance. “He sounded like shit“-kind of comments. It seems like the whiners aren’t reading the news, or else they should have been happy and grateful that Oz showed up at ALL this year.

Only two days prior to the Graspop-show, he had to cancel a show in Germany due to vocal issues. LAST year he cancelled Graspop due to laryingitis and Judas Priest had to step in as headliners and extend their show to cover up for Ozzy. He couldn’t cancel Graspop again.
So he got up on stage and gave his crowd all he had, good and bad. :)

The man is 64 years old! How great will most people sound in general at that age?! Fuck the whiners, Ozzy ROCKS. Yeah, at times he couldn’t command his voice – but the man is a trooper! He showed up and he KICKED ASS! I was there to see a good show, and I got what I came for – a great show!

There’s an amazing love and warmth in Ozzy that he projects to the crowd, he sincerely seems to enjoy what he’s doing and the smile on his face is contageous. If you could sell that smile and its effects in a bottle, I would buy it! :-)))

Personally, I prefer Ozzy with his own band. All the bling-bling with Zakk and Slash may work as a PR-sort of thing but basically I’d rather see Ozzy do his thing with his own guys – and Slash and Zakk do their own thing with their own bands. I did, however really enjoy seeing Geezer Butler on stage with Ozzy, would have wanted to see more of that. At least it made more sense than Slash.

It was fun to see the bunch on stage together as an All-Star event but if I had to choose, I would want to see Tommy, Adam, Blasko and Gus with Ozzy on stage any day. There’s a chemistry between those guys that works really well and as much as I understand why people want to see Zakk with Ozzy again, it’s a thing of the past now.

Regardless, Ozzy put up a fantastic show – even with his sore throat. I didn’t upload the whole thing on YouTube because I know how cruel people can be. Others probably did, but this time I chose not to. I made ONE video public – you can watch it below (also adding a bonus unlisted video for the readers of this blog):

WAR PIGS (unlisted video – with Geezer Butler & Slash):

 

GRASPOP DAY 2 – coming up. [Adrenaline Mob, Primal Fear, Thin Lizzy, Megadeth, Twisted Sister]

Ozzy & Friends ticket hell

Yesterday really put my patience to the test (not that I have a lot of that to begin with…). 
 

Ozzy & Friends in Dortmund, Germany. Steel Panther opening. Perfect gig. 
Except for having to stay awake through an entire Black Label Society dead boring gig, but that’s the deal, what can you do……

I hadn’t decided whether or not I was gonna go, until an online friend asked me about my plans. She wanted to go and figured we could share room and go to the gig if I decided on Dortmund. Sounded cool to have company for a change and meet a new fellow music fan, so it didn’t take a lot of persuading to get me to decide. I was going!

So, after working out our plans on the phone, I went straight to Westfalenhallen’s own website, as they were the only ones selling tickets at face value.

I spent TWO (yes 2, two, zwei, två, deux, dos, due) freaking hours, trying to buy an Ozzy ticket!

The Van Halen ticket-hell that I went through a few months ago was a walk in the park compared to this. 

So, this is what you’ll have to deal with, if you ever feel like ordering tickets from Westfalenhallen’s website:

The website is not available in any other language than German. Great.

There is a link that says Tickets. When you click on that, you get three other links that sound similar, and if you don’t speak German very well, it’s pretty hard to understand the difference between the link “Tickets“, “Ticket-Store” and “Ticketing Westfalenhallen“…….. So, I clicked on the first one. Took me to some sort of search-page. Typed “Ozzy“. Got one result – just some sort of info-page about the artist in German.

The page didn’t include a link to any tickets. It just said that you could purchase tickets by clicking the link/button “Ticketinfos“. Just my luck that neither the link or the button was on the page yesterday. :-( (they had fixed that the next day, no wonder I was going nuts for not finding it!

I was searching everywhere on the page and it took me an HOUR only to find some kind of ticket-store on that page!

I FINALLY tried clicking on any other artist on the page and it opened some outdated, old Java-applet that looked like it was left from 1987 or something…. After clicking my way through THAT I finally got to the last stage where I could buy the tickets (HALLELUJAH!!). Right.

First I had to REGISTER as a new customer. Fair enough. Then it wouldn’t accept the password – so I kept requesting new ones. I ended up with a mailbox that had no less than SEVEN new passwords! 

NONE of them worked! (black smoke coming out of my ears at this point…)

I started over, registered again, used another mail address, realized that you couldn’t print the ticket and it cost 15 euros to get them to send the tix outside of Germany, so… *sigh*  I had to go back and change my customer info and use Nadine’s address instead.

And after TWOOOOOOOOOOOO HOURS I had the effing ticket!! I was ready to throw the PC out the window, one of the most frustrating online ticket-purchaces I’ve ever experienced!

But now it’s finally done. Trip booked, hotel booked, concert ticket taken care of, so the show better not suck. :-) Not after the ordeal I had to go through to GET the ticket!

Somebody asked me why I didn’t just request a press ticket. Because – as good as it is with freebies, they never send you those tix in advance. And the list gets there in the last minute, usually. So, you are always risking ending up way in the back because you have to WAIT for it.
I don’t have the patience for that. I want my ticket at hand when I get in line.

I’m still into the music and the gigs – I’m not and I never will be, the bored journalist who’s standing way in the back with a glass of wine talking to colleagues or just checking out the show from the soundboard looking slightly blasé.

I want the experience, the sweat and being part of a jumping, wild crowd – the actualADRENALINE. That’s what I live for. So, no freebies for me if it’s a band I really like (unless of course, it’s a laminate that will grant me access to anything or I’ve seen the band lots of times already and need to just write a review). :-)

A month from now. June will be a kickass-month! So looking forward to it.

[From one of last year’s OZZY-shows. This one is from Ergo Arena in Poland. I was sick as a dog, 39 degrees C fever, had spent all day in bed at the hotel trying to recover. Yet I forgot all about it at the show – it kicked ass!]

 

My Year In Rock – retrospect 2011 (part 2)

CONTINUED from http://lita77777.posterous.com/my-year-in-rock-retrospect-2011

Alright, so the madness really began in June. It kicked off with Sweden Rock Festival, which is my second home. I’ve been to every single festival since 1994, with the exception of 1996 when I lived in the States. Working for the magazine (Sweden Rock Magazine) has made it a natural place to be every summer, doing reviews and interviews.
This year there was ONE main assignment, and it was altogether in my own name, for this blog and for YouTube.

After a few months of contact, I asked Gus G for an interview. I didn’t think he would be able to do it when he was out with Ozzy. I know that time is rarely the musician’s own when he’s a part of a huge machinery like Ozzy’s. However, he assured me that he’d be happy to do the interview and after a few messages back and forth with his manager, it was settled.

THE GUS G EXCLUSIVE SWEDEN ROCK INTERVIEW

That day was crazy. Cellphones never work on the Sweden Rock premises, so when the manager texted me to ask where the cameraman and I were, I couldn’t get my message through to him.

He wanted us to get to the backstage area – and I know what that means. That means breaking into FORT-fuckin’-KNOX…! Are you kidding me?!? All the way back to Ozzy’s own backstage area, without the very exclusive pass that allows you through all the guarded gates to “the holy grail”? Yeah, that would be interesting.

But I was not about to let that stop me. After a few stressful minutes, I finally got hold of someone who had the right credentials to escort us all the way back there, so even with the extremely tight time-schedule it could be done.

We set up the cameras and lights while they went to get Gus. The timing was perfect. JUST as I had said the last finishing phrases to wrap up the interview – Thin Lizzy hit the Rock Stage. Some things are just meant to happen. I was very pleased with the interview (eventhough some internet trolls who don’t like Gus (Zakk-fans?), have done their best to “dislike” the video – f**k them, lol!)

WHITESNAKE WITH SPECIAL GUESTS BERNIE MARSDEN & ADRIAN VANDENBERG

The festival was definitely memorable for many reasons. The exclusive Gus G-interview was one of the highlights. Another one was the historic, fantastic performance by Whitesnake (that for some reason did not impress the colleague who reviewed their show, as much as it impressed me).

It was an extremely emotional experience for me. When Bernie Marsden walked up on stage joining David, I couldn’t believe it. It was amazing, could barely believe it was happening. And as if that wasn’t enough – there comes Adrian Vandenberg as well! FOUR Whitesnake-guitarists on stage together at the same time…! How many times will I ever get to see THAT again?!

I uploaded a shaky video of it on YouTube that night before I passed out on the couch, and it’s one of the most viewed videos on my channel with its almost 18.000 views. Here’s another, shorter clip of are guys taking a bow:

JUDAS PRIEST – THE PRESS CONFERENCE

My main purpose with attending the Judas Priest press conference this time, was to get a feel of the chemistry between the “older priests” and the “new kid on the block” – Richie Faulkner. I was in the press-tent long before anyone else got there, securing my front row chair. That’s where the Russian girl from Classic Rock Magazine, Vera, found me. She remembered me from a few years before when she had seen me in the exact same place – also waiting for Priest. :-) This year we became friends and she visited me in Malmö a few months later.

As for the press conference, I got a very positive impression of Richie and it helped me to shake that frustration of K.K being out of the band. And although I, quite honestly, wasn’t that impressed by Judas Priest’s show at Sweden Rock, Richie did a great job. I hadn’t expected that – but he turned out to be a valuable addition to Priest with his youthful energy.

http://lita77777.posterous.com/judas-priest-press-conference-sweden-rock-day
 

SWEDEN ROCK FESTIVAL 2011

There is a whole blog about that (to be found HERE and HERE) so there’s no point repeating it all, I’ll just mention some of the highlights in addition to the ones mentioned above:

ROB ZOMBIE: The most pleasant surprise. I’ve never been a big fan of his “industrial metal”-style before, but he blew me away! I loved it! I hope he comes back, that kicked major butt!

JOAN JETT: The press conference was one of the best not only this year, but the past few years. I always imagined Joan being this moody badass “whattafuck”-kind of chick. But she was very warm and intelligent, and most of all the had a refreshing self-distance and sense of humor.
Once she got onstage, she showed why she has been on the top since the 70’s. She’s genuine and 100% rock’n’roll, there’s no question about it. The lady is impressive in every single way, all I can say is…RESPECT!

LEE AARON: Couldn’t believe how great she looked and the energy she had after all these years. Maybe I didn’t expect the “poppy” outfit, but she still had her powerhouse-voice and she definitely worked the stage when she entered it around noon, the last day of the festival. The biggest disappointment was that I LOST the video of her press conference!! I asked her a few questions that she really took time to answer, and then something went wrong during the transfer from the SD-card to the computer and it just disappeared. :-(( Gah! 

MR BIG: I’ve always loved Mr Big. Call them whimpy or whatever, I don’t care. Paul Gilbert is a genious, Eric Martin is one of the most gifted singers in the business, Pat Torpey is a great but very underestimated drummer and Billy Sheehan – hey… There’s only one Bassplayer DeLuxe, and that’s Billy. Everybody knew their songs, they played like gods, and basically – my face ached afterwards cause I had been smiling way too much and too long!

Queensrÿche sounded terrible. I’ve never in my life heard them sounding so bad. Or maybe I should just say that Geoff Tate didn’t have a good day… Zakk Wylde left a very good impression at his press conference. He was cool, yet respectful and I think he handled the press very well. :-)

ROADTRIP  TO OZZY – Germany & Luxembourg

After Sweden Rock Festival, I had a few days to prepare for my next trip – down to Munich in Germany to see Ozzy. It was a beautiful, sunny day in Munich, that I had a chance to drive around in, as I rented a car at the airport because I was going to continue down to Luxembourg as well two days later.

Anett (Jon Oliva’s European tour manager) and her husband Marcus, had invited me to come and stay with them on my way to Luxembourg, so after the Munich-gig I drove down there. It has its advantages to get a rental car, you get to see beautiful sceneries, so the drive to the little village was definitely worth the trip. :-)

After a really nice stay, catching up with Anett and Marcus (and meeting their rock’n’roll Dobermann-dog Slash! :-)) I continued on my way and drove down to Luxembourg. I stood in line outside Rockhal for several hours, cause I had nothing better to do, and when you travel like that to see a show, you don’t want to risk not seeing anything, so…

I stood there pretty much all day – then when the doors opened somebody told me that my “kind” of ticket had to be picked up somewhere else (WTF!!!) so I lost my place in line and was so pissed off, that people just moved out of my way when I walked back into the arena with black smoke coming out of my ears.

I made it all the way to the front row, much with the help of a really nice girl who let me have her spot, because she thought I “should” have it as I had travelled that far. That’s the kind of people you remember with thankfulness when you go on these road trips. :-)

Blogs from the Germany/Luxemburg roadtrips: 
http://lita77777.posterous.com/?sort=&search=luxemburg


GRASPOP METAL MEETING in Belgium

The week after Munich and Luxembourg, I took off to Belgium with my friend Bianca, to my other favorite festival: GRASPOP Metal Meeting.

Bianca wanted to see Ozzy, because she’s never seen him before, and for me it would also mean a double-dose of Gus G because Firewind were also playing. Well… Ozzy got sick and the show was cancelled. As if that wasn’t enough, the rain was pissing down.

But… I got to see Firewind at least, and also discovered a freaking great band from Belgium, Channel Zero, that normally wouldn’t be the kind of band I’d listen to, but their energy was hard to miss…! Especially their front man Franky was impressive, his aggressive confidence fit the music perfectly and the crowd went wild!

THE CHANNEL ZERO BLOG HERE.

[This is what I tried to film during their set – as you can see, it was pretty wild, lol…!]

Dispite the mud and the very drunk rockers that we had to zig-zag to avoid stepping on, it was a great festival.

http://lita77777.posterous.com/graspop-2011-reviews-part-1

http://lita77777.posterous.com/graspop-2011-reviews-part-2

http://lita77777.posterous.com/ozzy-cancelled-and-its-pissing-down

 

[Bianca and me being super-sexy in our blue rain ponchos, lol! ;P]

THESSALONIKI (GREECE) – Stop That Sound-festival

 I went back to Sweden for a short break, before heading out on my next trip – all the way down to sunny Greece. Stop That Sound-festival in Thessaloniki, with headliners Judas Priest and Whitesnake, and of course home-boys Firewind. THAT story is way too long to even attempt summarizing, so I’ll just direct you straight to the blogs from that visit:

http://lita77777.posterous.com/rockin-thessaloniki-day-1

http://lita77777.posterous.com/magic-and-nightmare-in-greece 

http://lita77777.posterous.com/current-destination-london-sonisphere

 

SONISPHERE FESTIVAL – England

Straight after that, I headed from Thessaloniki airport, to London – for the SONISPHERE festival.
Metallica headlined it, and I bet I must have been the only one who didn’t give a shit about Metallica. I never have, I never will. Never understood their greatness. However, I wanted to see Firewind and MEGADETH, most of all. I wasn’t disappointed by any of those bands. Megadeth always delivers. So did Anthrax by the way. :-)

JUDAS PRIEST in Manchester, UK and OZZY in Gdansk, Poland & Smukfest, Denmark

 The weekend after Sonisphere, I took off back to England again. This time to Manchester to see Judas Priest. I loved the city, so much that I decided to choose Manchester in favor of London for concerts in the future. The show at Manchester Apollo was the best I’ve seen Priest do in a long time. Also met up with Ronnie, an internet friend that has been reading my diaries and blogs online since the very early days of Internet. Always nice to meet people in person too.

P1050100.jpg

Next stop was Ozzy in Gdansk, Poland. I was really sick and should have been in bed, but there was no way I was going to cancel the trip. I slept everywhere I could. Spent the first day in bed at the super-cool designer hotel La-La-La, and most of the day of the show. It was raining anyway and of course I had forgotten to bring a rain-poncho, which I normally ALWAYS bring with me.

No matter how sick I was, it was worth it. Ozzy rules. And the Polish fans were definitely hardcore. I’m glad I went, eventhougI got lost and all that, but it goes with the territory. :-)

[OZZY played Ergo Arena in Sopot/Gdansk, Poland]

IMAG1505.jpg

I only had one day to recover before I drove to Smukfest in Denmark to see the last Ozzy-show of the European tour. It was PISSING down all day, I had mud up to my knees! Crazy! The stage and the festival itself was kind of…different, and I suppose I expected something extraordinary because it was the last gig of the tour. But when Ozzy walks offstage – he’s done. So, no encores, no fireworks, no nothing. Yet, that was worth it too, I had fun!

[Ozzy finished his European tour on the left stage at Smukfest, Skanderborg, Denmark]

IMAG1528.jpg

 

FIREWIND, FIREWIND AND MORE FIREWIND

Most of September was commited for Firewind. I spent most of that month on trains, buses, in taxis and on planes. Three gigs in England (and Scotland) – Manchester, Glasgow, Reading. Reading was Gus G’s birthday and he was celebrated with a cake onstage. Video was, of course, posted. This was also the tour where they had a “stand in”-singer, Mats Levén (who’s also fronted Yngwie’s band, almong others)

Then I took a break for a short while, before continuing down to the Netherlands, Belgium and Germany with yet another rental car (that I got at the airport – that roadtrip was described in the Firewind-blog, too much to tell for a short summary – check it out HERE).

You would have thought I would get sick of seeing the same band, travelling to some godforsaken places and sleeping in a car to save money, but no – I loved it! They are brilliant, I would do it all over again!

IMAG1828.jpg

 

MEETING UP WITH CROATIAN TALENT – Vili Kovac in Split

The day after I came home from the Benelux/Germany-Firewind-tour, I only had time to re-pack my suitcase and head down to see my dad in Croatia for a REAL vacation. It was a vacation so much that I got restless, I’m not used to doing nothing.

But the vacation was saved by a meeting with a great, talented young Croatian singer, who I had first discovered the year before when I was on vacation, as he was competing in the Croatian version of American Idol. I thought he was great, one of those that stands out – not only with his voice but also with his personality.

He came to Split just for one day, so I got to meet the guy. Really nice dude, he played some of his own unreleased stuff for me and also some Croatian and Bosnian bands that I hadn’t heard before that were actually worth checking out.

Most of all I was a bit frustrated to learn that he might not be able to record something in English and reach a wider audience outside of Croatia – which I think he should. But – the modern world is shrinking so you never know. Maybe one day. Even on vacation I managed to squeeze in something music-related, thank god! :-)

BLOGS: http://lita77777.posterous.com/?sort=&search=vilibald&x=7&y=8

[Ripper Owens and Vili Kovac]

And then when I came back to Sweden – there was reuniting with old friend SEBASTIAN BACH (video) and some other stuff… In part three which is coming up!

PART 3: http://lita77777.posterous.com/my-year-in-rock-retrospect-2011-part-3

http://www.facebook.com/InTheRearviewMirror

Last Ozzy-trips of 2011 – I’m gonna miss it…!

It’s been another busy week. Two more countries visited and the last Ozzy show of 2011 is now done… But let’s go back to last Friday, to somehow recapture the past week that I never quite had time to write about until now.

I had a visitor here, Vera who I met at Sweden Rock Festival, that she was covering for the Russian edition of Classic Rock Magazine. A really cool girl, so it was fun having her here, eventhough it was very improvised.
I got sick,  was almost broke, then it was raining most of the day on Sunday so maybe some of the circumstances could have been better but all in all, it was great.

It’s just rare with other girls that are just as passionate for rock’n’roll as myself, who are in the biz and can relate to the same things. It’s also interesting to learn a little about how things are in another country.

Went to the Modern Museum, a small private museum in town, because she wanted to see the Picasso-exhibition. I found a painting by Matisse that I stopped at because I know that it’s David Coverdale’s favorite artist. Or one of them, maybe I should say. :)

Then I thought I’d show her Turning Torso, but instead we ended up in the middle of a dog-exhibition of some sort out there on the beach! I didn’t even know there was an event there, but it couldn’t have been more perfect, we both LOVE dogs!!

In the evening we met up with my friend Henny, went to L’Angelo to “have a beer”, but as we were all either sick or driving, we ended up ordering TEA and JUICE! How very….rock’n’roll ;)
Went to the rock-pub Dead End for a short while but there were only annoying people there so we just decided to leave.

The next day was spent indoors watching videos on Youtube, music-DVD.s or flipping through music magazines. Pretty much like the classic “nerd evenings” here. :) She left in the evening for Gothenburg and her friend there.

I went home to try to get better, because I was coming down with the worst cold ever. But Monday was POLAND-time. One of the last OZZY-shows this year. The flight was an hour delayed due to technical problems, which was ok by me – I was so sick that I just sat there sleeping at the airport. Slept all the way to Gdansk, and then headed straight to the first taxi I saw.

The people in Poland weren’t better at English than the Greeks, so when I asked the cab-driver how much it would cost to the hotel, he drew “80” with his finger on the cab window.
80 zloty. Ah.

I got the absolutely coolest hotel-room ever. I checked into this art hotel called Lalala, every room is different, and mine was designed for a rocker. :) You’ll see pics of it in my previous blog.

I just went to bed early that day. The next day – the day of the show – it was pissing down. The sky was BLACK and I had a fever, could barely breathe, felt like shit.
I stayed in bed all day, until it was time to get going, cause I wasn’t going to miss the concert.
I’ve been sick at shows before, so I was determined to go.

Asked the guy at the reception (which was actually also the hotel BAR…) how to find Ergo Arena, and he immediately said with a big smile: “Ah! OZZY!” He knew what was happening there that day apparently. :)

It wasn’t close, it was a good 30-40 minute walk, but it was easy to find. Just straight, across the railway station, two more right turns then I could see the arena from afar and people with Ozzy t-shirts in a caravan walking across this huge field. I guessed that they knew a shortcut, so I just sort of blended in and followed those people…

Called my friend Mari who was my personal GPS when I got lost in Greece as well and she looked up Google maps once again. I found the way to the arena, but then finding the way to the entrance was a different story. The security guy answered in Polish and that didn’t help me much. I eventually found that too.

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Security people in Poland were kind of intimidating, and they were shouting out instructions to people that I didn’t understand, so I didn’t dare filming in there at first cause there was a shitload of security guys looking like a freaking army, but then I laughed to myself when I realized that these guys had NO idea what was about to happen to them in a few minutes! :))))

They would all get hosed down with FOAM from head to toe, and lose their faces and image completely, so suddenly they didn’t seem as intimidating anymore. :) My videos could make anyone seasick but I was trying to make it look like I was taking pics, not filming so…. ah well, what can you do. :)

The Polish crowd was WILD! Absolutely crazy! I mean – the NOISE that they made when Ozzy and his guys walked up on stage…!! The energy that they kept throughout the whole show, it was amazing! I was too sick to do anything but just HANG there on the barrier. I felt like a zombie, but at least I was there. It just puts a smile on my face seeing Ozzy and his boys – there is so much LOVE on Ozzy’s stage.

[Video: SOMEONE THREW A PURPLE BRA AT OZZY :-)))]

That whole Prince of Darkness-bullshit is just ridiculous. There is no danger-factor to Ozzy, he is more like Barney than Lucifer. All I see is a man who has come to a point in his career where he doesn’t need to pretend to be someone he’s not. He is OZZY. People love him no matter who or what that is. He has earned the right to just do his thing and be happy! I love the sincerety, the true enthusiasm that he projects, it’s very contageous.

And the guys in the band are like brothers, it’s very obvious that they really enjoy playing together and that there is a wonderful chemistry between them as people, not only as musicians – and all of that is what makes a great concert experience.

You go to a show because you want to feel something. You want that adrenaline-kick or you want aggression, euphoria, sadness, happiness, anger – whatever, it’s just a question of emotions. Ozzy treats “his” guys like they are his beloved sons, and they love the man – we all do.

So, it doesn’t matter if Ozzy loses his voice or fucks up every now and then, he is the REAL DEAL, one of the few in the music business nowadays. And it’s been worth every hard earned buck that I’ve spent on my trips across Europe this summer to see the Ozzy-shows.

Anyhoo…. walked back to the hotel – across that dark field, through the dark streets of Sopot/Gdansk, and slept for 2 hours. Then a cab picked me up at 3.45 in the morning to drive me to the airport. I was totally gone, my head felt like a bowl of Jello.

Changed flights in Warsaw, then back to Copenhagen – straight on the next train to work…. and I had the late “shift” of course. I don’t know how I managed, but I felt like I was going to throw up all day…

Pretty much passed out when I got home that day. I had the next day off, because I was going to the LAST Ozzy show of the season. Smukfest in Skanderborg, Denmark. I had a long drive ahead of me and of course – it was going to be rain. LOTSSSS of rain. It took almost 5 hours instead of 3, because the rain was so bad at times that you had to drive really slow on the motorway.

When I finally got to the festival-parking lot, there was so much mud – I was afraid my car would get stuck in all that goo. The actual festival was far from the parking so I got on one of the shuttle buses and picked up my pass. The festival was actually nicely arranged, right in the middle of the woods, very cool.

When I got there I saw that there were two stages next to eachother, at the foot of a hill, so for once it seemed like a better idea NOT to stand in the front row, but to stand a bit further up the hill as it would be like standing right in front of the band on the same hight. Well… BAD idea.

It seemed like a brilliant idea when some Danish band played earlier in the afternoon that didn’t have that many crazy fans in front of the stage…. BUT – as it was getting time for Ozzy to hit the stage, the situation was TOTALLY different… I had all kinds of annoying, tall assholes in front of me, couldn’t see shit.

I actually asked one of them to pleeease not move another inch, otherwise I wouldn’t see anything. He heard I was Swedish and asked if I was there just for Ozzy. I said yeah – and much to my surprise, he was struggling all evening -with people pushing HIM, not to end up in front of me. That was super cool – so there are nice people everywhere. :-)

It was a great atmosphere at that last gig. The band played so well – it was as if they brought it up a notch because it was the last show, it was just so effing GOOD!!

[Video: GUS & ADAM enjoying the last evening on stage in PARANOID, hugs Ozzy/band]

I left with mixed emotions. On one hand I was buzzing because it had been an excellent gig, and once again, Ozzy’s smiling face is so contageous – same with the big smiles on the guys’ faces – cause Gus, Adam, Tommy and Blasko all seemed to be having a blast that evening.

On the other hand, it felt crappy because it was the last show. It’s easy to get used to this. I’ve had shows to look forward to since June, and now it’s all over.
Well… I’ve got the Firewind-shows to look forward to at last – all 9 of them. And at least 1/5 of Ozzy’s band will be there, so…that’s good enough for me. ;)

 

Ozzy cancelled, and it’s pissing down

In Belgium, reliving last year’s Sonisphere-nightmare. What was supposed to be a sunny, fantastic day, has turned into one of those “it’s pissing down and it won’t stop anytime soon” days where you KNOW you’re gonna be walking in mud up to your knees. It was only raining a little bit yesterday and that was enough to make it muddish… Today is going to be “walk around in gruel”-day. Perfect. :-/

Not only that. Ozzy has cancelled. He is sick. I feel so bad for Ozzy, cause after having seen him a few times on this tour, I know that the man LOVES to be on stage, and I also know that he has defied doctors before and performed against their recommendations. So, if Ozzy cancels, it MUST be VERY bad. :-(

It’s no catastrophy for me, cause I’ve seen him and I will see him a few more times on this tour (hopefully) and I will get to see Gus who’s playing with Firewind early in the afternoon today.
Trying to remember what Lips (Anvil) said in their documentary: “Everything went wrong, but at least there was a tour for things to go wrong on”. Same here. Everything has gone wrong so far, but at least I’m in Belgium and there is a festival for things to go wrong on. :)

Yesterday was an ordeal that I will write about when I get home. Right now I’m hungry, tired, thirsty and in desperate need to get some breakfast. So – more from what’s happening here tomorrow…