Ozzy Osbourne/WI,USA 2017

Ozzy Osbourne in 2017, who ended BLACK SABBATH and appointed his ally Zakk Wylde as his partner for the farewell tour. A new live album that allows you to experience the first day of the reunion in the best way is being excavated. This work is recorded at the Oshkosh performance on July 14, 2017. It is a superb audience recording from the performance at the “Rock U.S.A. Festival”. In recent years, Ozzy has released “ORDINARY MAN” and is also working on a new work (with Eric Clapton, Jeff Beck, and Tony Iommi). From the news that comes in, it seems like everything is going smoothly, but in fact the live situation is quite cold. The farewell tour “NO MORE TOURS II” has been suspended and has been postponed again and again. In order to understand the situation, let’s look back on the steps since Zak’s return. 2017 Sabbath: January 17th – February 4th: THE END (9 shows) {May 1st: Zakk Wylde returns} July 14th – November 4th: North America #1 (8 shows) ←★Here★ 2018 “NO MORE TOURS II” April 27th – July 8th: North America #2/South America/Europe #1 (26 shows) August 30th – October 4th: North America #3 (17 shows) {October 6th: Hospitalized for hand surgery} December 31st: Ozzfest (1 show) 2019 2020 {February 21st: “ORDINARY MAN” released} 2021 2022 January 26th – March 14th: Europe #2 (19 shows) This is the schedule that has been announced to date. With the end of “THE END Tour” in 2017, Sabbath was sealed away and he resumed his solo activities. The following year, in 2018, he started “NO MORE TOURS II”, but in the fall, the tour was suspended due to an infection from a small wound on his hand. After that, he was forced to cancel his US tour many times due to complications from influenza, a fall at home (which worsened an old wound), and the COVID-19 pandemic. At present, his latest planned comeback is a coupling tour with JUDAS PRIEST, “Europe #2”. If this happens, it will be his first return to the stage in three years. In the midst of all this ups and downs, this work’s “Rock U.S.A. Festival” is the first day of “North America #1”. It is the first stage since Zack’s return. This work, recorded at such a show, is a new sound source that was released very recently, but it is simply powerful and full of directness. Even when listening with headphones, there is no sound that clouds the details, and even the fine details are super vivid without any sense of distance. That’s because the “Rock U.S.A. Festival” is a festival held on a special stage set up in a vast square. It feels like Wacken or Donington, and there are no walls or ceilings from the beginning, so it’s no surprise that there is no echo. Of course, if you are far from the PA, the sound will be blurred, but there is no need to worry about that with this work. It is probably recorded straight towards the PA tower set up at the venue. The enthusiasm is far away, and the extremely thick performance sound dominates everything. However, it is not perfect. When the first song “Bark at the Moon” starts, the sound is distorted at the beginning because it is too powerful, and the bass drum’s hitting peak is also scary. While I thought that it was a taper failure, it seems that this is due to the on-site PA. It doesn’t seem to be readjusted on the taper side, but it turns into a refreshing sound in about a minute. In fact, something is wrong even before the show starts. It is not stable from the opening “Carmina Burana”, and when Ozzy shouts, he quickly turns it off and back on. Since it was the first day in a long time, it was clear that the rehearsal was not going well. Of course, that was only the first minute of “Bark at the Moon”. After that, the full show that summarized their career with a thick sound exploded. However, it was also a little different from “NO MORE TOURS II”. Here, let’s organize the set while comparing it with the main tour. Paranoid (4 songs) Fairies Wear Boots / War Pigs / Iron Man / Paranoid Blizzard of Oz (4 songs) Mr. Crowley / I Don’t Know / Suicide Solution / Crazy Train No More Tears (4 songs) Desire (★) / No More Tears / I Don’t Want To Change The World / Mama, I’m Coming Home Others (3 songs) Believer (★) / Bark At The Moon / Shot In The Dark *Note: “★” marks are songs that were not played in the main part of “NO MORE TOURS II”. …And so it is. The sense of balance that symbolizes his career in the three great masterpieces “PARANOID”, “BLIZZARD OF OZZ” and “NO MORE TEARS” is also present in “NO MORE TOURS II”, but this is a prototype without Zack’s solo time, which became a hot topic with the masterpiece “Road To Nowhere” and the masterpiece compressed medley. Instead, “Believer” and “Desire”, which were not performed in the main tour, were selected, but both are one-time revivals. In particular, “Desire” is a rare number that has not been performed in 19 years. “NO MORE TOURS II” will be resumed in January next year. Zack, who did not participate in “ORDINARY MAN”, is said to be playing guitar in the upcoming new work, and I’m sure he will play wildly by his uncle’s side. It’s just a little while until 73-year-old Ozzy returns after an unprecedented break. This is a perfect work for the present, where we wait anxiously in the midst of endless worries. The best audience recording of the first day of Zakk Wylde’s official return, “ROCK USA Festival, July 14, 2017”. It’s a new sound source that was released very recently, but it’s powerful and full of directness. There are no walls or ceilings on the outdoor special stage, and the sound emitted from the PA is picked up directly with zero echo. The sound output from the site is disturbed for the first minute of the opening “Bark at the Moon”, but after that it’s just the best. You can also fully experience the delicious first day with the rare “Believer” and “Desire” that you couldn’t hear in the main part of NO MORE TOURS II. Ford Festival Park, Main Stage, Oshkosh, WI, USA 14th July 2017 TRULY PERFECT SOUND Disc 1(50:03) 1. Carl Orff: Carmina Burana 2. Bark at the Moon 3. Mr. Crowley 4. Desire (first time live since 2003 5. I Don’t Know 6. Fairies Wear Boots 7. Suicide Solution 8. No More Tears 9. Believer Disc 2(54:00) 1. Band Introductions 2. War Pigs 3. Drum Solo 4. Iron Man 5. Shot in the Dark 6. I Don’t Want to Change the World 7. Crazy Train 8. Mama, I’m Coming Home 9. Paranoid Ozzy Osbourne – Vocals Zakk Wylde – Guitar Rob “Blasko” Nicholson – Bass Tommy Clufetos – Drums Adam Wakeman – Keyboards