Ozzy Osborne, July 3rd the point theatre and my two days in the big schmoke…
Hmmmm, I don’t really know how I’m going to get into writing this. There’s a part of me that is inclined to do this is a bullet point way but sure to hell with it, I’m going to do it in bits and pieces.
The gig itself was only ok to be honest. I’ve been to 4 gigs so far and this was definitely the worst. I’ve also been right by the barrier at every one of the gigs I was ever at and that was the first one where I actually had to leave from there because of the crowd. I mean, its two days later and I’m noticing that my back and my ribs still hurt.
The music itself wasn’t that bad though. The opening act were some guys called ‘X-Space’? I’m not sure of the spelling or if thats even the right name of the band - they were greeted with cries of ‘who are you?’ and the lead singers attempts to impress by threatening members of the audience who were taking the piss just made him look like an ass. Also, while I know that no singer can remember all the songs by the band, if you can’t do a 20 minute set without having to look at the prompter at your feet every few lines of the song … well your in the wrong business.
Following them we had the ‘Black Label Society’. They were really the highlight of the gig for me - they were really into the music and the crowd were very into them. The only thing was that the problems I had with the crowd began here - most of us were shoulder-to-shoulder and ass-to-front crammed together, yet there was a good few people who insisted on moving and jumping like there was loads of room! I’m not a small person but when I’m being knocked over by a very fat 16 year-old (least I think he was 16, I couldn’t really tell) there is something very wrong. The band did about a 45 minute set which was cool.
The first 20-odd minutes of Ozzy Osborne I don’t really remember. This was becuase of the fact that after what happened while BLS were on-stage my friend and I decided to move somewhat back towards the barriers - which were for some reason like the kind of things horses jump over spaced randomly across the floor nearest the stage. I think they were supposed to stop mosh pits forming. Well they were absolute failures. But anyway. If I thought that the crowd were bad for BLS they were even worse for Ozzy. We had our backs to the barriers and we actually still couldn’t move. What I think happened is that even more people pushed forward from the back because thats the only explanation that makes sense. And again, with the ‘many people at this gig were stupid/cunts or both’ some guy and I, who were using the railing-thing in order to, you know stop falling down in the middle of a mosh pit were bitched at by some tart over her not being able to put her hands on the barrier as comfortably. After the two of us told her where to go and used the barriers, she started pushing against us. I’m fairly sure I caught her in the face with my elbow though so it’s all good…. But after the 20 minutes of this I just couldn’t take anymore. I mean, when your not a big fan of a band and your starting to feel like your ribs are being crushed. Well, that’s when I say enough is enough. I watched the rest of the gig from the seating area. About Ozzy himself, well he’s much more energetic than one would think onstage. Also, more of his music sounded like rock-ballads than I expected. And his set lasted and hour and 40 minutes which isn’t bad.
To be honest the highlight of my weekend was the visiting of the various bookshops around Dublin. At the moment I’m trying not to think of how much I spent on books over the five days I was off in Cork and Dublin. It’s rather depressing.
On the other hand, I finally completed my collection of the final issue of ‘Wildcats: Version 3.0′ that I was missing.
(Is it bad that finding this comic made me very happy?)
I also picked up several issues of the old 2000ad spinoff comic ‘Crisis’ which is actually very good. Beyond that, it was mainly just books that I was already interested in like the ‘Grendel’ hardcover by Matt Wagner collecting the early issues of his very excellent series. The latest ‘Fables’ book from Bill Willingham was a treat as usual and I got the second ‘Showcase; House of Mystery’ book - here’s hoping its as good as the last one…I was also quite interested to see that in Neil Gaiman’s career as a big novelist these days they’re collecting his old work for the masses too… I ended up with a bloomsbury edition of ‘Signal to Noise’ by himself and the always interesting Dave Mckaen as well as the fact that ‘Mr Punch’ by the same duo is also available from this crowd… I do wonder how exactly this works, as the amazon.com listings say that Dark Horse comics are bringing out the next edition stateside, so I suppose it must be a UK deal. Still though, if you come across a copy get it - I haven’t even read it myself but thats how much faith I have in these guys. I loved ‘Violent Cases’ by them so… And also, for the comic fan out there trying to convince a friend that comics aren’t just superheroes in stupid costumes, these guys are a very good place to start.
Also, the funniest thing I’ve heard in a while was two Dublin knackers and their mother(?) arguing over whether 80 and 60 = 140… I assume they were talking about change but still… Idiots.
And speaking of idiocy, my friend insisted that we get the train which cost 30€ -18€ more than the bus (I think, at least 15€). As it turns out, the train is so crowded that you have more legroom on the train and seeing as you have air-conditioning on the bus that you control, your also more comfortable on than on the train where you have no control at all. And to add insult to injury, the tickets on the way back were never checked so I’m rightly pissed.
Still though, a nice few days away. And I’ve just realised that this is probably the longest post I’ve ever written. So, if you read the whole thing, thanks!
Just cause you wussed out of Ozzy doesn’t make it a bad gig and it was better than faitless (no arguments, at least Ozzy was on stage)……And They are just guys in stupid costumes…….and i don not appreciate being called an idiot who spent an obscene amount of money on glorified picture books……Complain bout the train but no problem spendin at least 4 or 5 times the fare on these glorified picture books….and since when does 18+15=30….really…and you only save 13.50 on the bus……..you never stop complaining do you?
I try!(”,)… Though I apologise for the idiot comment… And faithless are a band, and many of their songs aren’t sung by the lead singer so it doesn’t really matter if he was onstage or not.. And what I meant with the 18/15 thing is that I’m fairly sure that the bus to dublin is only about 15€ so….
16.50
So 12.50 cheaper.. Lands you in the middle of town and is more comfortable!!
for you maybe i much prefer the train even if it was “more crowded”