Ozzy Osbourne stated his proposition.

“Are you gonna go crazy for me?” Ozzy Osbourne shouted. “I'll make you a deal: The crazier you (folks) get out there, the longer we play up here.”

Judging by how nuts the crowd went, we had a deal.

Ozzy's fans inside Qwest Center Omaha — almost 9,000 of them — cheered enough to make you think Osbourne and his pals would be stuck onstage for eternity.

In the end, it was under two hours, but it seemed to go on and on and on, the fans fueling most of it.

The all-ages crowd — in leather and heavy-metal T-shirts and swilling lots of beer — went nuts for the godfather of metal. Osbourne seemed to have complete control over his acolytes. A request to “go crazy” stirred them up, and “put up your hands” made them into a sea of waving arms.

Unlike his shuffling, mumbling persona on the MTV show “The Osbournes,” this version of Ozzy had energy. He ran back and forth, jumped around, sprayed the audience (and himself) with a hose and said the F-word countless times.

But it was his voice that really got me. He performed songs such as “Iron Man” and “Paranoid” flawlessly. After more than four decades of being a rock star, the 62-year-old sounded impeccable — impressive since most others his age have gone downhill.

In addition to the voice and the command of his faithful, he's still got that piercing, million-mile stare, too. Put it all together and the whole package is a delight to watch.

Still, he seems more grandfather and less metalhead these days, like you wouldn't mind him giving you a hug and $10 on your birthday.

After a mostly unfunny video montage placing Ozzy in “Avatar,” “Jersey Shore,” “Twilight” and other properties, the band took the stage to wail on “Bark at the Moon.”

“Let the madness begin,” Osbourne shouted.

Osbourne and his band — young, talented guys who injected a load of energy into the night — plowed through the singer's solo hits as well as stuff from his Black Sabbath days.

My personal favorites were “Suicide Solution,” “Road to Nowhere,” “Shot in the Dark,” “Iron Man” and “Crazy Train.” Also good was “Let Me Hear You Scream” from Osbourne's latest album.

Opener Slash was pretty fun to watch, too. The guitarist treated the crowd to a selection of songs from Velvet Revolver, Guns N' Roses and his solo efforts, though the best stuff was GnR songs such as “Night Train” and “Sweet Child O Mine.”

Myles Kennedy held up the vocal end and was a pretty good stand-in for Axl Rose.

As for Osbourne, he still refers to himself as the “prince of (expletive) darkness,” and isn't above ruffling some feathers.

“This song has caused some controversy over the years,” Osbourne said before singing “Suicide Solution.” “But I like it when they get pissed off.”

Why?

“Because I'm Ozzy.”

Works for me.

Contact the writer:

444-1557, kevin.coffey@owh.com