This was my first time to go to Ozzfest. I've seen most of the main headliners, Ozzy, Motley Crue, and Halford before, but in the past ten years I've never been able to go to one of the Ozzfest festivals. It was also kind of cool because it was the first festival I would be taking my 11 year old daughter to. The trip was well worth it and I would do it again. There were a few issues which I'll go through:
The show was at the San Manuel Amphitheater in Devore (just north of San Bernardino). I've been to the amphitheater once before to see Motley Crue but that was quite a few years ago. The parking is terrible, the "parking lot" is a large field of broken up asphalt and dirt, then you have to walk up a fairly steep hill to get into the show. I wouldn't recommend taking an expensive car if you go to a show there.
By the time we got parked and into the amphitheater it was a little after one so I missed the first couple of bands on the 2nd stage, Immune and Skeletonwitch. Not being into hardcore or death metal I wasn't worried. Kataklysm had already started and again, not my cup of tea, so I'll just say musically they sounded fine, I just like to understand the lyrics being sung.
Next up was California Wildebeest. They play more of a punk and groove rock so seemed a little out of place with the other bands, but I actually enjoyed their set and plan on checking them out.
Goatwhore and Saviours were the next two bands. Again, neither one is my type of music, and I'm sorry if I offend any Saviours fans, but they were just bad. The singer didn't sing, he just yelled. I'm not talking about thrash, or death yelling, I'm just talking about screaming with no melody at all.
Exodus was next and at least brought some talent and musical ability, even though I'm not a fan I can appreciate that some people could be fans and I don't have anything bad to say about them.
Drowning Pool was next and I was glad to be able to finally be able to understand the singing. I kind of lost track of them since their first album and their show makes me interested into checking them out again. The crowd seemed to be into them and I thought they sounded really good.
Between each of the previous bands the set changes were quick, usually taking no more than five minutes, and the show didn't have any real breaks. After Drowning Pool there was a bigger change to set up for Black Label Society, and then they decided to have a little wedding ceremony on stage for some couple that wanted to get married at Ozzfest. This bothered me a little because Black Label Society was supposed to start at 4:55pm, and Nonpoint was starting on the main stage at 5:05. I wasn't really happy with the scheduling, even though BLS only played about a 50 minute set I missed all of Nonpoint and DevilDriver was just starting by the time I got to get back to the main stage.
Black Label Society finally came on after the wedding ceremony and played a set consisting of four songs from the new album "Order Of The Black" and a couple of older tracks including "Stillborn". I am a big BLS fan and was really hoping they would be playing a little longer set. They sounded really good and I definitely would like to see them on their own true headlining show. Zakk sounded great on stage vocally and he shredded on the guitar. I think he was trying to show the fans what they wouldn't be seeing on the stage with Ozzy.
After BLS finished up we made our way back to the main stage just as DevilDriver started. The same goes for DevilDriver as I said about Exodus. I'm not a fan but at least I can appreciate their musicianship. They sounded fine and if you're a fan I'm sure you would of had no complaints.
Halford was next on the main stage and he simply sounded great. I've never gotten to see Judas Priest and I would like to be able to see him sing the classic Priest songs. Well, his set consisted mostly of his solo material, Fight, and some of the older and rarer Priest song. It's amazing to see him sound so great at his age. He sounds as good today as he does on any of the classic Priest material. The band was solid and he as solid a front man as there is. Hopefully I can catch him on Priest's next tour.
Motley Crue was next and had a huge show with fireworks and explosions. They played a good selection of classic material all the way to their last album "Saints Of Los Angeles". Musically they were solid even though it's kind of funny to see Mick Mars barely able to move just stand in one place almost the whole show. Vince, well let's just say if you want to know where his heart is read his interview in the latest Ink magazine. He sings at his own pace, losing track of where he is in the song and either having to skip words to catch up or just letting the crowd sing so he doesn't have to. I don't know if it's just because this was the first show or what, but he just wasn't in sync with the rest of the band. I've always been a big Motley Crue fan but I've always know the limitation of Vince's singing, but this was beyond that. I will say my daughter enjoyed it so maybe I'm being a little critical. The show was great with all the flame throwers and fireworks.
Finally Ozzy's turn came up. The last time I saw him was on his supposed retirement tour for "No Rest For The Wicked", over 20 years ago. Well, thank goodness he didn't retire. I was a little worried about how his voice would sound because it was a little rough the last time I saw him, but I was pleasantly surprised and believe he sounded better now than then. With his catalog he definitely isn't going to be able to please everyone, but he played some of my favorites including "I Don't Want To Change The World" and "Killer Of Giants". The band was solid and Gus G. was fine on guitar, but I definitely could tell the difference between him and Zakk and I missed what I feel is a little heavier sounding groove on the songs. The show ended with the encore "Crazy Train" with ten year old guitar virtuoso Yuto Miyazawa and sounded great just like the whole show.
For my first Ozzfest I was glad to be able to see some of my favorite bands and get to hear Ozzy sounding great. I think they could of taken off a couple of the bands from stage 2 and let BLS play a little longer set, but that's just me. I know they are trying to get as many of the younger fans there as possible and it worked. One more thing I would like to say is I was really disapointed in the fans. During the last two bands they started bonfires in the grass area and I thought this was not only unsafe and stupid but you can't tell me they were actually enjoying the show with a big fire burning. I was also disapointed that the venue didn't have some way of dealing with the fires but just let them burn.
I can agree with the above since I stood next to you. But you really can't appreciate the parking until you've almost sprained your ankle over what feel like large boulders in the dark. How any chick in heels would navigate that lot is beyond me. But what do you expect for free parking. All I can add to this commentary is thank god for scalpers since someone left my ticket at home. (Thanks Michelle) and where are all the hot metal chicks?
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