Ozzy Osbourne - Live at Budokan

A lot of music fans must be wondering why bands like to record live albums in Japan, esp. when the fans are more subdued, well behaved and very appropriately (or unappropriately, depending on how u see it!) dressed for metal concerts. But upon finishing watching this, the answer is pretty simple. Quality.The visual quality here is simply astounding, and this is definitely the most visually appealing DVD that I have. The images are really sharp, with the camera angles changing constantly. The audio mix is excellent as well, and you can really compare the difference with the Megadeth DVD. Zakk's guitar is HUGE here, with tons of distortion and gain which enables him to pull off wicked sounding harmonics. The bass and drums, however, could use some improvement esp. with the lower frequencies.Zakk was simply terrific here, nailing every single note with conviction and with great style too ! His huge beard did give me a shock at first, and along with those wrist brace, he really did look like a true metal warrior lol. His lead playing on stage has improved tremendously since the Loud and Live days as he seems to be more careful and attentive to hitting the right notes. And damn those pinch harmonics of his ..Ozzy has really aged alot since I last saw him. However, he did pull of the vocals pretty well I must say. Great job indeed for a guy his age (the guys at Deep Purple sure could use some lessons from him!) Mike Bordin was awesome, and he really filled up the gaps well with plenty of varied beats and ultra cool drum rolls. He's definitely injected that missing aggression into the songs.I've yet to check out the extra features tho, but I must say, this is truly an impressive live performance and a HUGE improvement from the Live n Loud days.

This is an excellent live dvd of Ozzy & his solo group,with Zakk Wylde on guitar,Rob Trujilo on bass,Mike Bordin on drums & John Sinclair on the keyboards. Ozzy & the gang are all in top form here,the vocals are excellent & the guitar and bass are nice and crunchy(nice audible bass) the drums & keys are top notch as well. The gang runs through half the set & then Ozzy,Rob & Mike take a 9 minute break while Zakk does some great guitar solo & he shreds his way through some Van Halen & the star spangled banner. The entire set consists of 2 tracks from each of Ozzy's first 3 solo albums,1 Sabbath song,4 from No More Tears & 3 from Down to Earth. The crowd is somewhat good at times but some of the shots are somewhat dissatisfying,they just stand there staring when they should be jumping around. There is also some extras,there is about a 23 minute behind the scenes making of the dvd,the show itself and the band and family in Japan. Also included is the Ozzy discography,there is a short bio. On Ozzy & all his career achievements. This is a great dvd because the camera angles are not like super fast,like the camera man is on speed & the audio is surround sound which is great.The setlist is good & Ozzy does a great job considering his age.Any fan should own this.

All Ozzy concerts are wonderful but this one was filmed by a crew that knew what they were doing. The sound, color and being able to see all the band members was fantastic. The Japanese audience loved him and showed it. Just watching Ozzy perform you know that he loves his audience and enjoys being on stage. He is fantastic. This particular DVD is well worth buying and watching. I love it.

Closing in on 60, Ozzy was in his mid-50s during the 2002 recording of Live at Budokan. You'd never know it by watching his performance on this DVD.It's absolutely amazing that these days when you hear Ozzy speak he sounds as if he just smoked a dooby after 13 Cuervo shots (but supposedly he's been clean for years). Although when he sings he still sounds as good today as he did 30 years ago.The line-up of the band for the show on Live at Budokan is: Ozzy Osbourne, Zakk Wylde (Guitar), Robert Trujillo (Bass), Mike Bordin (Drums) and--hidden off stage the entire show--John Sinclair (Keyboard). All of the guys in the band prior to hitting the stage must have huddled and committed to each other to go out and play the music true to the studio versions of the songs. All of the tracks on Live at Budokan are performed with careful detail and a lot of energy.Throughout the show, Ozzy acts just like you'd think he would (if you're familiar with his other DVDs or have ever been to one of his shows): summing it up...he's one of the iconic rock performers of our time. He acts like he's nuts. He rocks out. He runs (saunters) all over the stage....But the whole time he never skips a beat.And Zakk Wylde? Man...this guy is nothing short of phenomenal. To most of the general public if you say, "Eddie Van Halen," everyone knows who you're talking about. If you say, "Zakk Wylde," everyone usually goes, "Who?" Zakk Wylde is one of the best...no wait...is THE best hard rock guitarist on the circuit today. His riffs are heavy and melodic and his solos are complex and precise. He definitely brings his guitar playing talent to his live shows.Trujillo and Bordin back Ozzy and Zakk with talent and classic hard rock showmanship.The picture is full frame on Live at Budokan which kinda stinks, but the audio gives you the choice of stereo or Dolby 5.1; the 5.1 mode is clear and crisp.To me, the biggest negative in almost every Ozzy show that I've seen (and I've seen a lot) is his setlist choices. It seems that he always throws in those songs that were either deep on a release or simply just not the best choices. Here's the setlist for Live at Budokan with my suggestion for replacement (of seven songs) in parenthesis for their next DVD:- I Don't Know- That I Never had (I'd replace with Perry Mason)- Believer (I'd replace with Sabbath Bloody Sabbath)- Junkie (I'd replace with Miracle Man)- Mr. Crowley- Gets Me Through (I'd replace with I Just Want You)- Suicide Solution- No More Tears- I Don't Want to Change the World (I'd replace with Shot in the Dark)- Road to Nowhere (I'd replace with Over the Mountain)- Crazy Train- Mama, I'm Coming Home- Bark at the Moon- Paranoid (I'd replace with Sweet Leaf)I know...a true fan wants the deep cuts; a true fan wouldn't tell Ozzy what to do; etc, etc, etc....Crazy...but that's how it goes.While Live at Budokan is Ozzy's best DVD in terms of quality to date, I'm hoping that with the 2007 release of a new CD called Black Rain, perhaps Ozzy will give us a 2007 or 2008 hi-def, widescreen picture DVD upgrade (with, of course, Dolby and/or DTS sound).