When news reached me that Ozzy had cancelled a German gig because of voice problems a couple of days prior to this appearance at Graspop Metal Meeting, I feared for a second that he would pull the same stunt also on Friday the 22 of June (just like he did the year before). But my assumption fortunately turned out to be wrong and around 23.00 PM the madness began...

Before any of the band members appeared on stage we were treated to a short film that highlighted some moments in time of the lenghty career of mister Osbourne both as a member of Black Sabbath and as a solo artist. As the sound track of this film served snippets of wellknown tunes from Ozzy's extensive back catalogue.

One by one the musicians that back up the Prince Of Darkness took their place and when the first bars of the classic “Bark At The Moon” came rolling out of the speakers, Ozzy himself made his entrance dressed in all black and wearing a big smile on his face. Those of you who have already been to or seen a performance by this legendary rock 'n roller, know what to expect when you attend an Ozzy gig: Ozzy walking from the left to the right of the stage, putting his microphone on the stand only to take it out of the stand a couple of moments later, Ozzy asking the crowd to join in on some fist pumping or arm waving, Ozzy throwing buckets of water into the audience or spraying water/foam on the punters by use of a hose and all this with the kind of enthusiasm and energy that can rival some of the younger acts in today's hard rock and metal scene.

As we've all come acustomed to mister Osbourne is backed up by a bunch of first class musicians . I especially enjoyed the sight and sound of guitarist Gus G who handled both the Randy Rhoads, Jake E. Lee, Tonny Iommi and Zakk Wylde stuff with ease.

And then, my friends, there was the set list which consisted entirely of stuff culled from Ozzy's studio albums from '81 to '91 along with the obligatory Sabbath classics. Among the tunes aired were “Shot In The Dark” (one of my all time favorites), “Crazy Train”, “I Don't Know”, “War Pigs”, “N.I.B.”, “Paranoid” and “Suicide Solution”.

Since this gig was billed as “Ozzy & Friends” a couple of wellknown faces joined the party, namely Slash, Zakk Wylde and Geezer Buttler.

Some sources say that Ozzy should call it a day since his vocal performance was far from brilliant and while I have to admit that he misfired on more than one occasion, let's not forget that Ozzy has never been among the most talented voices in metal to begin with. He has a unique voice and an undeniable charisma and this sets him apart from colleagues in the field. Personally I enjoyed every minute that Ozzy and C° were on stage and judging from the reaction from the crowd so did a lot of people in attendance.

So all in all I can say is that he made up far last year's cancellation and if this should turn out to have been his last Belgian concert it will stand out in my memory as a memorable one (something that can't be said from the show I witnessed in Antwerp a few years ago). (PS)