Ozzfest By The Numbers:
Arrival: 10:15 am
First ridiculous freak sighting: 10:17 AM, before we even got into the venue.
Bands I actually saw: 10
Bands I missed: 6
Pairs of breasts, female, that I saw over the course of the day: 15
Pairs of breasts that were not painted: 4
Pairs of breasts, painted, that should not have been on display: 2
Good, old style egg-white, stiff-assed Mohawks: 1 or 2
Cheesy, fading mohawks by midday: 3 or 4 at least(these kids today)
People I knew that I did not come with/know were coming: 2 for sure, 1 possible(Thom, next time you talk to Martin, ask him if he was at the show)
Overpriced sodas I drank: 4
Overpriced hot dogs I ate: 1
Bands I missed because of a need for the men's after eating said hot dog: 2/3(I saw the first two songs of Dimmu Borgir before bolting)
Females that I ran interference for from pits: 2
Injuries suffered during the show: 1 (cut ear from idiot crowd surfer)
Physical abuse: 2 instances(kicked in the back by mosher, punched in stomach by mosher)
Time spent watching guy getting soccer ball kicked at his head to win a pimp hat: 40 minutes
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Just got home from the show. Awesome, awesome, awesome. Brendan and I got there at 10:15 and parked across the railroad tracks from the Meadows, in free parking(w00t~!). As we were walking in, a kid passed us by, probably about 17-18, all black clothing, with about 12 piercings in the ears, pierced nose, chains on his clothing, metal-tipped boots. When we got to the gate, we figured out why he must have been headed in the other direction. The security to get in was somewhat restrictive, and chains and metal objects were strictly off limits. One thing that was allowed in was 1 factory sealed bottle of water. If only I'd known.
We walked over to the second stage, passing the standard group of alterna-booths with all sorts of alterna-products, as well as a number of corporate sponsors(including Trojan~!) all hawking their wares. WCCC out of Hartford had their own stage, and when we went by, they were having "Sabbath Karaoke" for upgrades. The guy that was on wasn't bad. We passed the PS2 truck, and the FYE autograph booth, and arrived just in time to see God Forbid. They were very good, and the crowd was pretty into it. The temperature wasn't too bad yet, but there were already plenty of sweaty moshers. After God Forbid was Unearth, and they also rocked pretty hard.
After Unearth was Every Time I Die, who I'd never heard of, but Brendan was uninterested, so we went off to seek some food and check out the booths. It was at this point that we spent 40 or so minutes watching people try to hit a bald guy in the noggin with a soccer ball(at a dollar a kick). In the time we watched, only two people managed, one of whom was a girl who got to kick from close range. The prize? A fuzzy novelty pimp hat, which I saw quite a few of. After we left the spectacle, we met Brendan's friends Jeff, Rob and Lysette. We spent some time chilling out with them in the shade waiting for the Atreyu set.
Back at the second stage, we worked our way into the crowd, but unfortunately when Atreyu started, we found ourselves at the edge of the pit. Rob ended up going into the pit, and I found myself keeping an eye out for Lysette from the angry suburban youth. (Honestly, all I could think about watching these kids moshing was, "Mommy and Daddy don't understand me! Aaaaarrrrrgh I'm not popular, girls don't talk to me, grrrrrrrr".) The pit is quite a bit more violent then it was when I was in college. I don't remember being in any pits where there were kids windmilling fists around or kicking out at people. (That suburban angst again.) Atreyu finished off their set of punk-hardcore-metal with their two guitarists standing on top of their amps, riffing with their guitars behind their heads.
Lamb of God was next. They're a "new American" metal band, something along the lines of Pantera or Slayer, and they rocked pretty hard. They also had the first political content of the show, as their singer came out in a t-shirt with a picture of GW with a slash through it. Unforunately for myself and Lysette, more angst was about to be unleashed. At the end of LoG's set, they do this thing that they call the "Wall Of Death". Basically, what happens is that the crowd splits into two halves, and then when the singer counts off, runs toward each other, crashing into each other in a moshing frenzy. Well, Lysette and I found ourselves being pushed along by the crowd, and we got seperated from the others and almost swept into the turmoil. It's something to see, but not so good if it's happening three feet from you. Once Lamb Of God finished, Brendan and Jeff went off for water, Rob and Lysette decided to take a break from the crowd, and I pushed myself forward so that I could have a better vantage point for Hatebreed.
It was worth getting kicked in the ear by a crowd surfer. Of course, I didn't even realize it had happened. One minute I was watching the show, the next minute someone was crashing over my head(which happened with amazing regularity during Jamey's set), and then a couple of minutes later, the kid behind me tapped me on the shoulder.
"Hey, you're bleeding."
"Where?"
"Your ear." I put my shirtsleeve up to my ear, pulled it away, and sure enough, blood. Not a bad cut, just enough to be annoying. The 'Breed was awesome, and the crowd was totally into it. They tore through thirty minutes of their best material. After they finished, I left the crowd and walked towards the back of the second stage area to catch my breath and look for Brendan. The day was hot, but not humid, and being crushed in during Jamey's set had done me in to a point. I waited by the FYE tent long enough to say hello to Jamey as he came in to sign. Brendan found me and then my sister and her husband found me and we headed off to the lawn seats, ignoring Slipknot.
We hung around in the lawn seating area and watched Black Label Society. They were pretty good, though not great. After they finished, my sister and I walked down so I could get an overpriced soda ($6.50 for a 44 oz.) and some food, and we pretty much missed all of Superjoint Ritual(which was okay because I'm not big on them.) It took us forever to go down and back because the idiots at the Meadows only had one way of getting in and out of the lawn seats, so it was like pushing our way through a pit in order to get out of the lawn area. When we got back Dimmu Borgir was on. They're a Norwiegan Black Metal band. They were okay, but after eating the overpriced ($4.50) hot dog, I had a need for the facility very badly, so it was push, push, push back down again. When I got back, Slayer was just starting up. They were awesome, just hard as hell and rocking. Highlight of their set was "Dead Skin Mask".
Then came the Priest. Oh man, what a show. Halford came on stage through a big "Electric Eye" banner at the back of the riser with the big shiny leather and metal duster, and kicked right into "Electric Eye". The Priest show was all hits, Halford was in fine voice, and they sounded like they'd never stopped playing together. The only song I wanted to hear that they didn't play was "Turbo Lover", and there were only two bad things about the Priest set. One, Halford has a new way of phrasing on the chorus of "Another Thing Coming", so that instead of "You got another thing coming", he sings "yougotanotherthingcoming" while the band is still playing the song the way they always have. Dylan-esque of him, I guess.
Then there was the bottle war. Over the course of the mainstage performances leading up to Judas Priest, a few bottles here and there had gone sailing over our heads. Well, apparently the crowd was bored with Priest, because in the middle of "Green Manalishi", a bottle-throwing war erupted in the lawn area. The good thing was that they were all plastic. The bad thing was that a lot of people thought it would be a good idea to up the ante by ripping out chunks of the lawn and throwing them.(All this while security did nothing, by the way.) The war continued until just about the time Black Sabbath went on. (We were worried they might stop the show, but that probably would have made the crowd even worse.)
Finally, out came Sabbath. This was the first time I've ever seen Ozzy before, and it was damn good. He looks good, didn't fuck up any songs(though I think he's working with a teleprompter), and just made the crowd insane. Sabbath played about 70 minutes or so including an encore. They started with an awesome "War Pigs", which included some very anti-GW video in it. Highlights were an amazingly doomy-sounding "Black Sabbath" and a pounding rip through "N.I.B.". After teasing us with the opening chords of "Sabbath Bloody Sabbath", they encored with "Paranoid", and then were gone at 10:40 PM.
Overall, my first Ozzfest was quite an experience. But next year, I'm going to ask Jamey for pavilion seats.
