MUSIC

Ozzy Osbourne: review, setlist from No More Tours 2 farewell in New Jersey

Alex Biese
Asbury Park Press

It couldn't have happened any other way.

Two days of ominous skies and near-constant rain in our area heralded what's believed to be the final local bow of the one and only Prince of Darkness.

Ozzy Osbourne is on the road for his No More Tours 2 series of farewell concerts.

Iconic heavy metal frontman Ozzy Osbourne and his band — including Jackson native Zakk Wylde on guitar, Blasko on bass, Tommy Clufetos on drums and Adam Wakeman on keyboards and guitars — played Holmdel's PNC Bank Arts Center on Monday, Sept. 10. They visit the BB&T Pavilion in Camden on Wednesday, Sept. 12.

Coming 50 years after the debut of his groundbreaking heavy metal quartet Black Sabbath (and coinciding with the 50th anniversary season of frequent Osbourne venue the PNC Bank Arts Center), the No More Tours 2 run of dates is billed as Osbourne's final global trek.

"Though my life is rock ’n’ roll, I have family that I don’t get to see and spend time with," Osbourne, 69, told the Asbury Park Press and the USA Today Network. "It’s not that I’m quitting, (I’m) just slowing down as I start the next decade of my life.”

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If Monday ends up being the last time Monmouth County sees Osbourne, then he certainly went out in classic fashion. The setlist spanned much of his half-century career, and the cumulative effect was something between a black mass and a victory lap.

Ozzy Osbourne, center, and his band played the PNC Bank Arts Center in Holmdel on Monday, Sept. 10.

After settling in with a trio of Osbourne's early solo era gems — 1983's "Bark at the Moon," followed by 1980's "Mr. Crowley" and "I Don't Know" — the show hit a remarkably strong spot by throwing back to the 1970 Black Sabbath cut "Fairies Wear Boots."

Wylde and Clufetos took the reigns here, aggressively pushing the song into crunchy, incredibly modern territory and away from the strutting, distorted blues groove of the original.

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A subsequent take on "Suicide Solution," 1980's once-controversial account of Osbourne's former hard drinking lifestyle, turned the straightforward rocker into a sludgy blues-rock stomp.

Ozzy Osbourne and guitarist Zakk Wylde are back on the road together.

While Osbourne was the man of the hour, it was his frequent sideman and hometown hero Wylde who was in the spotlight for much of the night.

Since his tenure alongside Osbourne began more than 30 years ago, Wylde has revealed himself to be one of the guitar heroes of his generation, a player who combines ruthless aggression, stylistic dexterity and an acute awareness of that which came before him.

Osbourne has played alongside some of rock's greatest guitarists, and whether it's the thunderous boogie Tony Iommi conceived for Sabbath's "War Pigs" or the classically-informed shredding that Randy Rhoads showcased on the likes of "Mr. Crowley," Wylde does justice to his predecessors while making these timeless hard rock anthems his own.

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Wylde's guitar work shined brightest, however, in the numbers that he and Osbourne conceived together for 1991's "No More Tears" LP, four of which were played on Monday night.

The guitarist's signature axes alternately churned and soared though "Road to Nowhere," "I Don't Want to Change the World" and the "No More Tears" title track. The power ballad "Mama, I'm Coming Home" was such a powerful choice that it was played twice.

Will Monday night in Holmdel and Wednesday night in Camden be the last New Jersey sees of Ozzy Osbourne? There are no other dates booked for our area at this time, but between "I Don't Want to Change the World" and "Shot in the Dark," Osbourne asked the crowd an intriguing question: "Have you had fun tonight? Shall we come back and do it again?"

Ozzy Osbourne, Monday, Sept. 10, 2018, PNC Bank Arts Center, Holmdel

  1. "Bark at the Moon"
  2. "Mr. Crowley"
  3. "I Don't Know"
  4. "Fairies Wear Boots"
  5. "Suicide Solution"
  6. "No More Tears"
  7. "Road to Nowhere"
  8. "War Pigs"
  9. Zakk Wylde guitar solo medley: "Miracle Man," "Crazy Babies," "Desire," "Perry Mason"
  10. Tommy Clufetos drum solo
  11. "I Don't Want to Change the World"
  12. "Shot in the Dark"
  13. "Crazy Train"

Encore

  1. "Mama, I'm Coming Home" (played twice)
  2. "Paranoid"