Written by:	Bad English
Published:	December 19, 2007

Introduction

So, I arrived in Rīga at 18:00, the show starts 19:30, it's just one hour, maybe slightly less, to get there. When I got there I was pissed of by the security guards' rude attitude towards me because of some unknown reason (seems he didn't like my nose), but in th end I give them my chain and get into arena. I had about 30 minutes or so until the show started and I just drank one beer and looked around, saw some faces I knew there. I just stood and looked at the people, all different kinds of Ozzy fans and simple people gathered there in one place. Only at a concert can you see so much of the "dark side" of society all in one place.

So 10 minutes before show starts I take my seat and wait ...

Black Label Society:

Before I start I should say that it was the first time I heard this band (before I knew only 3-4 songs) and so I can't give you a set list but I know there was Suicide Messiah. Before the band came out on stage there was some playing and a warm up, and a very huge banner/flag with Skull and BLS logo cover a stage; the band started playing at 19:30 right on time (there was no warm up band) after playing for one or two minutes the banner fell down and the crowd exploded. I don't know what to say about the songs but the quality of music was very good, it was almost like in the studio. Zakk Wylde with his attitude and beer drinking life style was amazing; I didn't count how much beer he and the other band members drank in concert but it was a lot of bottles of beer (but it didn't make the show bad). There are southern rock/blues/metal elements in the music and Zakk looks more like a Viking and Scandinavian biker, not an American guy. Maybe that was why the show was so good, it was simple and primitive. We didn't need anything more elaborate. The band played for just under one hour.

Ozzy:

Before Ozzy came out there was a 10-15 min break, the staff changed the drums and put keyboards on stage and then...
The arena was full with many more people than watched BLS play and the crowd was so crazy, they just exploded when they saw Ozzy. He walked across the stage and then started singing. Most of the songs were from 80s/90s albums + one of Black Rain and Paranoid. The TV series "The Osbornes" was totally bullshit: I saw him live, and of course he isn't like he was when he was 20, but he is much better than he was shown on TV. His singing wasn't as good as on a CD, but quality was very good, the instruments were also good. Ozzy also said something after every song, you know those things that he s always says like: ''I love you, God bless you all!'' and when you hear it in real life it's like being in a dream, not reality, but at the same time it wasn't anything strange. Any weird feelings disappeared after the first 2 songs, and then the time went so fast. The last song was "Paranoid" and it was one of the not so good vocal parts; Ozzy somehow couldn't sing it like on the CD, it helped to recognise the song if you knew the lyrics. Other songs, even from "Black Rain" were easier to understand.

Set List:

01. Bark at the Moon
02. Mr. Crowley
03. Not Going Away
04. Flying High Again
05. Road to Nowhere
06. Suicide Solution (w/ Zakk Wylde solo)
07. I Don't Know
08. Here for You
09. No More Tears
10. I Don't Want to Change the World
11. Mama, I'm Coming Home
12. Crazy Train
13. Paranoid

Conclusion:

I was almost near exit when he play "Paranoid" so I didn't see what happened after it, and didn't hear what he said. I just left the Arena at 21:45 and had to run very fast, buy 2 beers to drink on the train and caught it with 2 minutes to spare (22:20) I got on the train without a ticket, (I bought it on the train ) but that's another other story....