Ozzfest
Ozzfest has really gotten to be ridiculous. The gates opened at
Not this year…I arrived at a
reasonable
This year’s lineup is the best in a
long time. Every band on the mainstage was solid (the last time that happened was 1997)
and the second stage wasn’t half bad.
The second stage traditionally is loaded with what’s cool at the time…it
is the Hot Topic stage after all, so they know what they’re doing to appease
“the kids.” The only big shock is that
Finnish love metal stars H.I.M. weren’t on the tour as they are probably Hot Topic’s
biggest t-shirt seller.
Either way, this year’s “nu-metal” is a watered down version of a once glorious
genre of music called metalcore. I really shouldn’t say much because for the
most part, there are some solid bands on here—Throwdown,
Hatebreed, Darkest Hour, Unearth, God Forbid—these
are bands helped really put together a great new genre of music. But then you have a terrible band like Atreyu, inconsistent weak “metal” like Bleeding Through,
and the all around crap that is Otep.
So, I’ll give you a chronological
review.
We arrived at
Next up was Lamb of God. It was during Lamb of God that the sound
problems really became apparent.
Generally the sound on the second stage is pretty crappy…I have always
been told that this is the wind’s fault…the wind is strong enough and the sound
system is weak enough that you have huge fluctuations even though nothing is
changing technically from the soundboard.
I should note that the wind was fairly calm. Of course I was in a crowd of people, but it
was not a windy day. You would think
that after doing this for eight years that they’d get this figured out.
Therefore Lamb of God, Hatebreed, and Slipknot all sounded pretty bad. Part of me expected Slipknot to sound
excellent…you know how opening bands never sound as good as the headliners? I figured that would be the case. Not the case, each band sounded equally poor.
Lamb of God were
good, but it’s hard to really get into a show when you can hold a conversation
with the person next to you in your normal speaking voice.
After just ten minutes of set change,
Hatebreed took the stage. They are a tight band and they pretty much
always sound the same. They always
deliver solid sets with lots of energy and all the songs you figure they’ll
play…Hatebreed is a band that really can’t let their
fans down, you know what to expect and they always deliver. I know the singer is a big Slayer fan and I
guess he goes by their standard of putting out consistent quality music and
always delivering live. A good mix of
songs was played with each of their albums represented (except Under The Knife). The sound
problems plagued them as well.
Next up was Slipknot. I first saw Slipknot in 1999, opening the mainstage on Ozzfest. Back then they were interesting…nothing
incredibly innovative, but I’m a harsh critic and they won me over. Five years later and the band has expanded their sound, they’ve “matured” and for the most
part they’re still a pretty good band.
But, the thing is, I’ve never really viewed them as being this
incredible machine. Sure I have their
albums and I really can’t say anything bad about them, but they’re not the
saviors of metal, nor are they the worst band on earth. They are an anomaly…a gimmick band that
shouldn’t be as big as they are. They’re
set was fine, but the poor system definitely ruined the energy of their live
show. See this band in a small place if
you want to really get the experience.
That was the end of the second
stage…we made our way to the mainstage, but I swear
Black Label Society could not have started more than 10 minutes after Slipknot
ended. We made our way fairly quickly
from the second stage to our seats, but by the time we even entered the
pavilion BLS had started.
Black Label Society has been on the Ozzfest mainstage before and
their sound has always been terrible.
I’m not sure if the pavilion was just more crowded this time around (to
absorb some of the echo) or if they figured out their problems, but the band
sounded excellent. They mainly did newer
stuff coming off of the last few albums with only one old song. They did nothing off the new album (which
shows the mellower side to the band), just the more recent loud, Southern fried
rock. I expected very little from their
sound and it definitely went beyond expectations—of course it wasn’t perfect,
but that’s not going to happen—definitely check them out.
Superjoint Ritual was up next after what seriously had to be five
minutes. The crew rolled Black Label’s
drum kit off stage and rolled out Superjoint’s and
that was it. Every set change was
extremely fast so you have to give credit to the roadcrew.
Superjoint was really the only band on the mainstage
to suffer from the large venue’s sound limitations. The band plays brutal music, but in the old
school hardcore/punk sort of way. Phil
does not sound anything like he did in Pantera or
Down…the growl and bark is far more reminiscent of death metal than anything else. The band seemed tight, and I think they
delivered but the sound was definitely muddy.
There have been tons of complaints that Phil rants and raves endlessly
between songs. Phil has done this for as
long as I can remember so it’s no real shock to me, but just from other reviews
I’m assumed he was in better spirits and just not as chatty this time
around. He complimented the crowd and
talked about how other shows have been terrible. He still talked too much, the band would play
one song and then he’d ramble for a bit…but it wasn’t as bad as it could’ve
been. It would have been nice for them
to play, say…two songs in a row. The
band did a good mix of stuff from their albums, and did put on a good show but
the sound really hurt them at this venue.
I’d assume a smaller place would accommodate them better.
Next up was Dimmu
Borgir. Dimmu plays a sort of melodic twist on black metal. They’re not as brutal as many fans of black
or death metal prefer so they’re frequently labeled sell outs. I found them to be quite entertaining, they
put on a good show, sounded great and were really tight. My gripes with them are few and far between
though I don’t really care for the clean vocals (done by the bassist). He can sing well enough and a contrast now
and then is nice, but I really think it should only be a sample now and then, and
not nearly as frequent as it is. I also
found their stage presence to be silly because they have the black metal look
down…spiked boots, all block, white corpsepaint, the
whole thing…and then some of them wind up smiling for half the set. Are you evil or are you a clown? A smiling person in corpsepaint
looks like a clown. Of course, a
scowling person in corpsepaint looks foolish, so what’s
better? Dimmu
provided a solid set.
Slayer was next. Slayer’s sound also suffered a bit from
muddiness which was strange since Dimmu came off
sounding pretty good. The setlist was strange…no Angel of Death, nothing off the
first two albums or Divine Intervention, yet they did “Bloodline.” Personally, I’m glad “Angel of Death” got cut
as it’s really not the best Slayer song out there…“Raining Blood” is a far
better song for a closer. I’ve seen
Slayer a bunch of times and they’ve never disappointed. The one shame is they only get a 50 minute
set which really isn’t enough time but so be it. Lombardo’s return to the band definitely
seemed to bring more energy, he is entertaining to watch even behind his huge
kit and it definitely just brought back some of the power that you really didn’t
even notice was missing until you see the band with him. I’d love to get a copy of this show as their
performance of “Mandatory Suicide” was probably the best I’ve ever heard…extremely
intense, and really capturing the spirit of the song. I would still love to hear some “Undisputed
Attitude” stuff live.
Judas Priest, the metal gods were up
next in a co-headlining spot. The band
played 75 minutes and what can you say, they were amazing. The show was a sort of “greatest hits” with
everything you’d expect—“Victim of Changes,” “The Green Manalishi,”
“Electric Eye,” “Beyond the Realms of Death,” “Breaking The
Law,” “Living After Midnight” and so on.
The only downside is that I wish the band would’ve done their own
headlining tour right off the bat…it would’ve been great to see the band go all
out and do the “greatest hits” thing for 2+ hours with Rob. With only 75 minutes, I can think of about a
dozen songs I would’ve liked to have heard (Exciter, Screaming for Vengeance,
The Ripper, etc.). The band was tight and they definitely seemed happy to be
back together, especially Rob Halford. Halford’s solo band
and Priest with Ripper Owens were playing comparatively tiny venues, so to be
back in an amphitheater clearly brought back the rush of the old days.
Halford was great and I enjoyed seeming him, but I’m about to commit
blasphemy, so I ask you to forgive me.
I saw Judas Priest with Ripper Owens singing a couple years ago. When Ripper sang those songs, he tried harder
than I think anyone could as he had something to prove and huge shoes to fill. I felt Ripper just had more energy, and when
it came to the crazy high notes, Ripper would hit them higher and longer than Halford. Of course,
if you listen to the old Priest live albums Rob would never hold notes nearly
as long as Ripper but I think that that style of doing the songs really brings
a new dimension and emotion to the songs.
The final “NO!” in “Victim of Changes” on the 98 Meltdown album really gives the anguished cry that I think was
intended in the original. Sure Rob hits
it, but without holding it, I don’t think the emotion is captured. Is Ripper better than Rob? No, but I do think it wouldn’t be a half bad
idea for him to look at the Ripper live records and hear what really is a sort
of idealized version of the material.
After Priest finished, I really began
dreading Sabbath. The last time I saw
Sabbath was Ozzfest 99…let me put it bluntly…that set
was the worst I have ever seen a headlining band perform. Ozzy was horrible,
every song he screwed up, he fell down during half the songs, and worst of all,
the band was off. It would be one thing
if Sabbath was good but Ozzy sucked, the whole thing
sucked. Could Sabbath, with a still recuperating
Ozzy actually stand up to the reenergized, reformed
Judas Priest?
I was completely shocked and extremely impressed when the band came out with “War
Pigs.” I’ve seen Black Sabbath four
times since the reformation in 1997. The
first time they were good enough. The
second time in January of 1999, they were amazing…among the best show’s I’ve
seen. Just a few months later at Ozzfest ’99, they were horrible….and then this time…August
2004 and they were phenomenal. They were
as good as January 1999…absolutely amazing, the band was completely on and Ozzy sounded great. Ozzy sounded better than I remember him ever sound
live. And I’m saying this even though
they went on just a few minutes after Judas Priest…so that says something.
The complaints are the same with the
others—festival settings don’t work well with classic bands…the set was pretty
standard…I would’ve preferred the band to mix it up instead of the same old “Into
the Void,” “Paranoid”, “War Pigs,” “Fairies Wear Boots,” “Black Sabbath,” “Iron
Man” set…how about “Sabbath Bloody Sabbath” (which they teased the audience
with but then went into “Paranoid” instead)?
Why not something unexpected like “Evil Woman” or “Never Say Die”? Hell—“Rock and Roll Doctor” would’ve been
cool or even “Am I Going Insane?” The
band has six excellent Ozzy era albums and two good
enough Ozzy albums…there’s no need to do “Snowblind” again when you have songs like “Behind the Wall
of Sleep” and “Hole in the Sky” sitting in the closet. Set choices aside, Sabbath was amazing…I’m
still in shock of how great they were, and just how great the event was as a
whole.
Ozzfest, at this point, has nowhere to go but downhill. This year’s lineup was if not the best ever,
the best since 1997, every performance was excellent with the only flaws being
in the sound.
Review by Chris