I'll give a quick review (for the bands I saw) of THE BEST Ozzfest I've ever seen.
Slipknot-We were tailgating in the parking lot since 1:00 and thought they went on at 4:00...Apparently we were wrong. I only saw the last two songs so I can't really give it a fair review. Alot of people don't care for Slipknot ( I'm a fan) which is fine, but I had a good time in my only moshpit of the day (There were seats for the mainstage) during Surfacing. I think their new album is the best they have ever made so I was disappointed that we got there so late and didn't get to hear any of the new stuff live. Oh well, they will be back around on a headlining tour soon.
Black Label Society- I missed the first two songs because of the design flaw they have at Alpine Valley. There is about a 15 foot wide entrance to the main stage when exiting the second stage. This created quite an obnoxious "traffic jam" to get to the main stage. That and the fact that I needed to get my "eligiable for drinking" wristband and then stand in line for a beer caused the delay. Anyway Black Label was excellent as usual, concentrating on 1919 Eternal, and The Blessed Hellride Material only. I'm sure the reason they didn't play anything from the new one (Hangover Music Vol.1) is that it is mellow. I heard Zakk say in an interview that he didn't think any of the mellow stuff would go over with the Ozzfest crowd well. I can understand that and thought their set was excellent I do think they need to go on a HEADLING tour though. I'm tired of only seeing these half hour sets from them when they have so much material to work with!
Superjoint Ritual-The reviewer is correct that Phil did do his usual banter quite a bit, but the one thing that surprised the hell out of me and my friends was that he APPEARED TO BE SOBER! I have seen Pantera 11 times, and Down four times, and I have never once seen Phil sober. Maybe he has finally realized that playing gigs when you are completely wasted may not be the smartest thing to do. I don't care for Superjoint at all, but it was at least entertaining to see Phil clearly enjoying himself up there.
Dimmu Borgir-I could understand alot of people not quite knowing what to think about them. I thought this was an excellent performance and was quite impressed at how good they sounded in an "arena" setting. I've seen Dimmu quite a few times and they sounded even better than they have at some of the clubs I've seen them at. Very odd, but true!
SLAYERRRR!!!!!!!!!!!!- WOW. This was the 12th (!!!) time I have seen Slayer and I still have yet to be disappointed. Obviously they didn't have alot of time up there, but they still managed to kick all 23,000 of our asses! As usual Slayer tore through their set and I got to hear Halllowed Point which was quite a surprise. I am glad they have decided to mix their setlist up quite a bit in the last couple years. Something odd was eliminated from the set though...They DID NOT play Angel Of Death!?!?!?! I'm not complaining since I have heard it live 11 other times live, but that was very surprising. I got Hallowed Point though, so you won't hear me complaining anytime soon.
Judas Priest-The Metal God!!! I finally got to see Judas Priest with Rob Halford!!! They were easily the highlight of Ozzfest for me. They opened with Hellion/Electric Eye and Rob was singing from an "Electric Eye" prop on the top of a huge staircase. I was floored at how tight they were as a band. I know it's been said that it seems like Rob never left, but believe the hype because it's 100% true. They were fantastic. There were obviously some songs that weren't played that I would've liked to hear, but I understand they had limited time to work with. Victim Of Changes was worth my entire ticket price alone. Rob hasn't lost anything, and neither has the rest of the band. I cannot wait for their headlining tour in 2005! They looked like they were having a great time up there and the crowd response was phenominal. I asked all of my friends who were there who their favorite performance was and they ALL said Priest. That includes a few who weren't even big Priest fans to begin with. It's almost scary how good they are live!
Black Sabbath-I will admit I wasn't expecting much from them. Nothing against the other guys in the band, but I said after the last Ozzfest (When Ozzy stumbled through a very poor performance of his solo material) that he should hang it up and just announce bands at Ozzfest from now on. I still think it's time to hang it up. but Sabbath was amazing. I have NEVER heard Ozzy sound so good. I have seen him live many, many times (Granted the first time was February of 1996) but he has never sounded so good. The band was a little choppy occasionaly (This was mostly due to Bill losing time once in a while) but all in all it was the best Sabbath (And Ozzy vocally!) performance I have ever seen. They were a perfect end to as good of an Ozzfest as I think I will ever see.
I hope everyone gets a chance to see Ozzfest 2004. Yeah, I missed seeing Lamb Of God (Who I really wanted to see...) but I'm still giving it a 10 out of 10. My neck feels like it's going to fall off right now, but it was all worth it!
Slipknot-We were tailgating in the parking lot since 1:00 and thought they went on at 4:00...Apparently we were wrong. I only saw the last two songs so I can't really give it a fair review. Alot of people don't care for Slipknot ( I'm a fan) which is fine, but I had a good time in my only moshpit of the day (There were seats for the mainstage) during Surfacing. I think their new album is the best they have ever made so I was disappointed that we got there so late and didn't get to hear any of the new stuff live. Oh well, they will be back around on a headlining tour soon.
Black Label Society- I missed the first two songs because of the design flaw they have at Alpine Valley. There is about a 15 foot wide entrance to the main stage when exiting the second stage. This created quite an obnoxious "traffic jam" to get to the main stage. That and the fact that I needed to get my "eligiable for drinking" wristband and then stand in line for a beer caused the delay. Anyway Black Label was excellent as usual, concentrating on 1919 Eternal, and The Blessed Hellride Material only. I'm sure the reason they didn't play anything from the new one (Hangover Music Vol.1) is that it is mellow. I heard Zakk say in an interview that he didn't think any of the mellow stuff would go over with the Ozzfest crowd well. I can understand that and thought their set was excellent I do think they need to go on a HEADLING tour though. I'm tired of only seeing these half hour sets from them when they have so much material to work with!
Superjoint Ritual-The reviewer is correct that Phil did do his usual banter quite a bit, but the one thing that surprised the hell out of me and my friends was that he APPEARED TO BE SOBER! I have seen Pantera 11 times, and Down four times, and I have never once seen Phil sober. Maybe he has finally realized that playing gigs when you are completely wasted may not be the smartest thing to do. I don't care for Superjoint at all, but it was at least entertaining to see Phil clearly enjoying himself up there.
Dimmu Borgir-I could understand alot of people not quite knowing what to think about them. I thought this was an excellent performance and was quite impressed at how good they sounded in an "arena" setting. I've seen Dimmu quite a few times and they sounded even better than they have at some of the clubs I've seen them at. Very odd, but true!
SLAYERRRR!!!!!!!!!!!!- WOW. This was the 12th (!!!) time I have seen Slayer and I still have yet to be disappointed. Obviously they didn't have alot of time up there, but they still managed to kick all 23,000 of our asses! As usual Slayer tore through their set and I got to hear Halllowed Point which was quite a surprise. I am glad they have decided to mix their setlist up quite a bit in the last couple years. Something odd was eliminated from the set though...They DID NOT play Angel Of Death!?!?!?! I'm not complaining since I have heard it live 11 other times live, but that was very surprising. I got Hallowed Point though, so you won't hear me complaining anytime soon.
Judas Priest-The Metal God!!! I finally got to see Judas Priest with Rob Halford!!! They were easily the highlight of Ozzfest for me. They opened with Hellion/Electric Eye and Rob was singing from an "Electric Eye" prop on the top of a huge staircase. I was floored at how tight they were as a band. I know it's been said that it seems like Rob never left, but believe the hype because it's 100% true. They were fantastic. There were obviously some songs that weren't played that I would've liked to hear, but I understand they had limited time to work with. Victim Of Changes was worth my entire ticket price alone. Rob hasn't lost anything, and neither has the rest of the band. I cannot wait for their headlining tour in 2005! They looked like they were having a great time up there and the crowd response was phenominal. I asked all of my friends who were there who their favorite performance was and they ALL said Priest. That includes a few who weren't even big Priest fans to begin with. It's almost scary how good they are live!
Black Sabbath-I will admit I wasn't expecting much from them. Nothing against the other guys in the band, but I said after the last Ozzfest (When Ozzy stumbled through a very poor performance of his solo material) that he should hang it up and just announce bands at Ozzfest from now on. I still think it's time to hang it up. but Sabbath was amazing. I have NEVER heard Ozzy sound so good. I have seen him live many, many times (Granted the first time was February of 1996) but he has never sounded so good. The band was a little choppy occasionaly (This was mostly due to Bill losing time once in a while) but all in all it was the best Sabbath (And Ozzy vocally!) performance I have ever seen. They were a perfect end to as good of an Ozzfest as I think I will ever see.
I hope everyone gets a chance to see Ozzfest 2004. Yeah, I missed seeing Lamb Of God (Who I really wanted to see...) but I'm still giving it a 10 out of 10. My neck feels like it's going to fall off right now, but it was all worth it!
