Nostalgia thread for Ozzy fans and shows you saw

I figure this to be an appropriate bump considering the sad news of today. First posted after the news of his retirement a couple of years ago.

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In honor of his likely retirement (hopefully he can find a way to still play some shows) I figured this thread to be warranted. Not just shows but any experiences that came along with the shows. Admittedly that aspect might make this OP a good bit longer than some would like to read but here goes.

The first time I almost got to see Ozzy would have been in March 1982 at the Centroplex with Randy Rhoads on guitar and UFO opening. As all the old school Baton Rouge metalheads on here are fully aware though, a-hole DA Ossie Brown put the kibosh on that show. I remember one of the headlines from The Morning Advocate as clear as day. It read “Ossie vows Ozzy will not appear” and he did get his way in the end. I’ll never forgive him either because Rhoads died just three weeks later.

Well one year later, on March 5th, 1983, Ozzy found his way around a-hole Ossie. He brought his tour to the State Fairgrounds down Airline Highway with Blue Öyster Cult, Vandenberg, and LeRoux opening the festivities. This was my first time ever seeing the Madman live in person and he did not disappoint. My friend and I had a hurdle to overcome when his dad suddenly flaked out and wouldn’t let him use the station wagon to go to the show. It was up to me. I was prepared to beg my dad to let me use the car to “go see a movie” with my friend. He relented reluctantly and as he handed me the keys he said “If you go anywhere near that Ozzy Osbourne concert I’ll have your head in a sack” My poor dad. He never knew we took it there. So we were a little bit late getting there and couldn’t get near the front. So this is still to this day the only show I’ve ever watched from the elevated perch of the sound man after climbing up the scaffold. We just sat right there at the front edge of the platform. I don’t know if the guy ever even realized we were there.

Fast forward just nine months to February 19, 1984 and the Bark At The Moon tour made a stop at UNO Lakefront arena with Mötley Crüe opening on their Shout At The Devil tour. I don’t remember if the seats were assigned but there were chairs on the floor. My buddies and I did wind up on about the 6th row and when Ozzy came on we bolted for the front and were right there on the wall for his whole set. One thing Ozzy loved to do was lean down and shake the fans’ hands. Can’t even say how many times I shook the man’s hand over the years. I was on Cloud 9 that night as by now I was a full blown Ozzy fanatic.

Just a few months later Ozzy tried again to play the Centroplex, this time with Accept opening. This one had me really amped as I was quickly becoming a HUGE Accept fan. The show was set for June 4 but was not general admission. My dad owned a breakfast and lunch café downtown which I worked at about three or four blocks up Government St. from the Centroplex. He let me have the day off on the day before tickets went on sale, which was a Saturday, so I could go camp out (Complete reversal from the year prior but I was 18 now and he knew I was going regardless). So I got out there about 10:00 a.m. on Friday complete with everything I would need to get all the way through the night. My buddy was going to come join me when he got off work later that afternoon. Well after about an hour the lady from inside the box office came out and told me the manager had seen me and for her to get my name and relevant info so I would not have to camp out but instead could just come back in the morning and be first in line. I had mixed feelings for two reasons. I figured the camp out with my buddy and whoever else showed up would be pretty fun and plus I was trudging back up the street to clock in and actually have to work.

The next morning my buddy and I showed up and walked right up to the front of the line. Boy there was some griping going on from the people that had been out there the whole night. It went smoothly though and we walked away with two front row center tickets.

Well just a few weeks later another douchebag screwed up the fun. This time a Baptist preacher named David Diamond. I had never even heard of this dickhole but somehow he rallied enough support locally to get the show canceled. We were sickened. We quickly made lemonade from lemons though. Hatched a plan to catch the show in Biloxi on June 6. My friend’s dad had to go and complicate things again by denying him the use of his car to go to the show. Not to be deterred, on the morning of June 6 we got a ride to the Greyhound station in Baton Rouge and hopped that big beautiful bus for Biloxi. We had a room that night at the Holiday Inn right next to the Coast Coliseum. We got there and just like when I camped out for tickets we were the first in line. When the doors opened we made that dash and were right there on the wall again. This might be my favorite Ozzy show ever just since we were right up close for both Accept and Ozzy. Ozzy just seemed on fire that night too. They both did really. I’m sure the show was 10 times better than a show in the Centroplex would’ve been since the nerves in Baton Rouge were still raw from the AC/DC concert a couple of years earlier and the popo likely would’ve been cracking down on people having fun.

My next time seeing Ozzy was in April of ‘86. This show was epic but actually more for Metallica opening with Cliff still alive. My buddy and I were relegated to permanent seats, top of the lowest section and straight back. Tried but could not find a way onto the floor. This was a bummer for me but holy shite Metallica tore the roof off the place. It was easy to see why Ozzy once said that it was grueling having to get up and follow them onstage every night. They were amazing. Ozzy was his usual steady self but not being on the floor was a massive drag to me.

Later on in October of ‘86 we made our way to Biloxi again to see him, this time driving and this time with Queensryche opening. Down front again.

From that point I had a long stretch with no Ozzy shows. Moved to Jacksonville in January of ‘90 and he never played here throughout my first two decades living here. Ozzfest got huge in the early 2000’s and certainly would’ve made for a good road trip but my wife and I had children in ‘98 and ‘01. That made the first decade of 2000’s very difficult for me to catch shows.

Finally though Ozzy did come to Jax in February of 2011 with Slash’s Snakepit opening. Seats on the floor (so damn goofy for a metal show) but me and my Jax concert buddy had 9th row seats. Luckily there was no resistance to the fans when they decided to move on up so we wound up just a couple of rows back from the wall. We were close enough to get soaked by Ozzy’s supersoaker he had graduated to from the buckets of water he used to throw out into the crowd back in the 80’s.

So all in all, I only got to see Ozzy six times. It was damn near a religious experience each time in the 80’s and in 2011 it was fantastic for the nostalgia.

I would rate Biloxi in 1984 as my all-time favorite Ozzy show but I have no doubt that had he played BR in ‘82 with Randy on guitar and UFO opening that that one would’ve been tops. Of course that was very fresh off the AC/DC show so the cops may have had some things to say about that.

Would love to hear any other stories of you old-school (newer and younger too) Ozzy fans.