I am glad the Sabbath guys decided, after three decades, to crank it up one more time, but I won't go see them perform. Call me "paranoid," but I fear there will be one too many Spinal Tap moments in their shows, and I already have enough of those in my day-to-day life.
I am not sure metal lends itself to senior citizen reunions. Will anyone want to see 70-year-old Metallica members in leather screaming about things that, well, really aren't relevant anymore or are just pathetically redundant? I am still cool with ZZ Top rolling out in white beards (now age appropriate) and playing some great blues=based rock, but I am not as comfortable with the idea of Judas Priest telling me that I "have another thing coming." Heck, at this stage of life, those lyrics are just a form of kicking baby boomers when they're down.
I won't deny any band's right to wheel out the Marshall amplifiers and have some fun in their senior years. There is nothing like playing in front of a live audience at any age, and Sabbath still has a pretty loyal following and, I presume, the chops to pull it off. But please, Ozzy, no biting off the heads of birds or any other critter. Don't even pretend to do it. This isn't 1970. PETA will be all over your case, and I'll just cringe from embarrassment and have to explain myself (and my generation) to people half my age. Just play your music, enjoy the energy from the crowds and don't trash any hotel rooms.
Ozzy was staying at the same upscale hotel I was when he was touring a few years back. It was the Four Seasons in Palm Beach and he was there for a few days in advance of an Oz-Fest gig while I was at a sales conference.
ReplyDeleteIt was weird seeing him wander around the hotel like any of the other older, upscale clientele staying there. He fit right in. It's a fairly small hotel, so there were plenty of Ozzy sightings that week. It was difficult matching the guy I saw with his stage persona.