Critic's evaluation
Various promotions. Low ticketing speculations and the possibility of a change of location. In fact what surrounded Ozzy Osbourne's show was not favorable. The high value of the tickets was the counterflow of the economic situation of the country, the protagonist of the occasion himself denied being the end of the career and the date chosen was Mother's Day Sunday. The low box office was something irreversible until the date of the event. At 4pm the Allianz Parque stadium was empty. Vip and common crowds with a derisory volume. Only the seats could be seen in the bleachers. The capacity established by the organizer was 47,146 people. But everything was reversed. Without an opening show, the general public began to arrive at the end of the day. At 7p.m. the audience's space was getting other tones that were filling the white carpet that protected the lawn. At 8:30 pm, 1h before the beginning of the show, the Allianz Parque was taken, just waiting for the arrival of the Prince of Darkness and company.
Punctually, the presentation began at 9:30 p.m. with the screening of a video, a collection of excerpts from shows and clips of the baptized John Michael Osbourne. 9:33 p.m. everyone enters the stage, together, starting the national leg of No More Tours 2. Without previous presentation, the musicians took their respective positions, starting Bark at the Moon, title track of Ozzy Osbourne's third solo album, from 1983. With a glittered purple overcoat, Osbourne took the audience to himself with his treble and breath still in shape.
Mr. Crowley came next with a dramatic pause in the vocal input. The frontman held the microphone and faced the audience to later enter in union with the rest of the instruments. Although the song belonged to Blizzard Of Ozz, the British's debut album, it stimulated the audience to sing the chorus of criticism to the English occultist Aleister Crowley.
The second highlight of the presentation came a few minutes later, when guitarist Zakk Wylde and drummer Tommy Clufetos pulled Fairies Wear Boots, a cover of his mother band, the heavy metal Black Sabbath, which also included São Paulo in their farewell tour in 2016, with a concert at Morumbi Stadium.
"I need to run out of alcohol, so...", said Ozzy Osbourne to the microphone bringing Suicide Solution. From then on, it was a trilogy that made the public vibrate and join the group that was performing. Bob Daisley, bassist, brought No More Tears, with Osbourne getting excited and overcoming himself, again pulling the chorus between the extreme corners of the stage and swinging. On the treble, however, he didn't hit the right notes, but the energy he felt didn't leave the fact clear. Mixing well in the repertoire, after a sequence of metallic songs, the setlist brought the melodic Road to Nowhere. The chemistry between Osbourne and Wylde, both already colleagues in the field, having worked together on No More Tears, the singer's sixth album and the owner of the track, was very well re-established in this new union.
More active and clearly more energetic, Ozzy Osbourne did not even remember the Black Sabbath frontman during the Farewell Wolrd Tour presentation in São Paulo. With a smile on his face, as if he were grateful for the excitement of the audience, Ozzy faces the audience again. "You're really crazy" he said, bringing another Black Sabbath cover, War Pigs. Fourth highlight of the show, the performance presented Osbourne's typical stimulus clapping his hands above his body, as if he were making polichinel.
During the solos, Zakk Wylde, shaking his head, went down twice in the audience of the premium track, where he stayed for long seconds during the performances. Screams, clapping and whistling were heard from the four corners of the stadium. Then came the medley of parts of the songs Miracle Man, Crazy Babies, Desire and Perry Mason, accompanied by another solo by the guitarist and one by the drummer.
Taking advantage of the cue, the owner of the presentation took the microphone and introduced his companions of No More Tours 2. Zakk Wylde on guitar, Blasko on bass, Adam Wakeman on keyboard and Tommy Clufetos on drums.
Crazy Train, the first song most awaited, would come four songs later, before the encore. The audience's vibe was so great when they heard the scream "all aboard" in the introduction of the track. At the end, Ozzy Osbourne turned to the audience and sang clapping and "oleolese" for the next few moments. Without leaving the stage, as is customary in concert encores, Osbourne simply stayed. "This is the part that you shout: One more song" and that's how he delivered the performance of Mama's ballad, Mama I'm Coming Home. Lighters and flashlights on cell phones were seen throughout Allianz Parque, with lights off for the performance of the track.
Finally, the farewell music was coming. With the "golden key" cliché, the third and last cover of Black Sabbath began. Zakk Wylde's irreverence became clear in Paranoid's introductory chords. Shouts and jumps were seen in the audience, and in this respect, Ozzy Osbourne was not left out either. His animation took its peak, picking up the microphone and walking around the stage raising his arms asking the audience to shout "Hey". And without feeling time go by, the music and the presentation come to an end. With an emblematic farewell, everyone greeted the audience, but Osbourne was a moment that was almost imperceptible. But the man who gagged a bat made good use of the time limit.
Alone, the singer knelt down on stage as a sign of reverence to the public of São Paulo. "Tonight will never leave my memory!" exclaimed the British frontman.
May 13, 2018, the date of the last presentation in São Paulo (SP), which proved and demystified many things, of the well-known Prince of Darkness. Ozzy Osbourne, even with his 69 years, still has breath, disposition and capacity to command an audience that, with the naked eye, filled the maximum capacity stipulated by the organizers.
This was the presentation of a legend, the show of a man who shaped the subgenre of heavy metal and knew, in a well consolidated solo career, to mix hard rock, heavy metal and melodic metal in a discography that has been formed for 30 years.
Thanks Ozzy Osbourne for remembering São Paulo on his national farewell tour.
