OZZY OSBOURNE + JUDAS PRIEST, KISS + MEGADETH and IRON MAIDEN. All in less than a fortnight, all happening on working days, all in Lisbon. A choice had to be made, but honestly it was a no-brainer: I’ve seen MAIDEN a handful of times; same with MEGADETH, and in brighter days of their history; I prefer KISS unmasked, playing the songs from the eighties-nineties, and since I’ve seen them once already after the put on the make-up again, I could skip it; now OZZY I’d never had the chance to see, and even aware that it was a 50-50 chance of going very well or very bad – no middle term -, PRIEST will always be PRIEST.

The new PRIEST songs, taken off “Firepower”, seemed pretty popular already but, as expected, the oldies were the most rejoiced. And the thing about an almost 50-year-old band is that when they skip a hit – let’s say “A Touch Of Evil” – another one – “Turbo Lover”  – steps in, making it impossible to complain about songs they didn’t play.

“Metal Gods” and “Breaking The Law” for the encore wasn’t exactly a surprise, but having Glenn Tipton defying his Parkinson disease and joining his former band on those two songs was eye-watering epic.

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After this, I didn’t care if OZZY fucked it all up – but he didn’t! I didn’t understand a word of what he said to the audience, true, but what he sang was totally clear and in tune. No memory was tinted.

The first OZZY song I’ve ever listened to was “A Shot In The Dark” and it marked me on the spot, but I confess I didn’t expect him to play it – maybe because I remembered him saying something about how embarrassed he was of the video-clip (which is not even available on YouTube)… Given the weak response of the majority of the crowd, it would’ve been understandable if he’d chose not to, but personally, I screamed my lungs out to every word. To this one and “Mama I’m Coming Home”, but the latter so did the whole arena. And there came the tears to my eyes again. 

I believe the only thing I could’ve gladly lived without was Zakk Wylde‘s guitar solo. Half… no, a quarter of it would’ve still been enough to prove the virtuoso that he is – as if he still needs to prove anything to anyone… Luckily I was on the front row (behind the golden circle, that is) and I could put my elbows on the barrier and hold my head on my hands while waiting for the end of said solo…

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