Well, I'm fresh back from Ozzfest and I thought I'd drop a few words here about it. First off, thanks a million for the ticket, Kittybeast! The frank truth is that, while I'm not rich, I can afford to go to all the shows I want. But when I put some mild rant up here in Old School about not doing Ozzfest this year Kittybeast stepped up to the plate and said, "yeah, but would you go for free...." which I most definately would, and did. Thanks, I owe you one.
Anyhoo, the only bands I was really interested in were Sabbath and Maiden, so I didn't even show up until about 6:30. I got there in time to see Mudvayne, but this was nothing to feel lucky about. No big deal. New metal grunts and blast beats.
Maiden came out and did a real great set. I was on the lawn, but brought binoculars and so could see everything just fine. As most of you know they are just doing stuff off the first four albums this tour. The mix was great, and and the energy level was huge, as is always the case with Maiden. Revelations was probably the highlight for me, maybe Phantom of the Opera. Worth noting, I think, was that Bruce's voice was in fantastic form, and he even sang the high....HIGH parts on the chorus to Run To The Hills, which he doesn't always do - even on Beast over Hammersmith, which was recorded back in the day when such things were, more or less, easy for him. He just sounded awesome all night. He did his corporate America rants, and in the middle of one someone in the front of the crowd threw fake dollars up into the air, quite a few. I think, seriously, that this was a plant by (probably) Sharron Osbourne as Bruce has been doing this rant a lot on this tour, and I'm thinking she's taken offense at it. Bruce seemed completely surprised by the whole thing, and told the person that they should take a hike since he knew they didn't pay for the good ticket they had. i.e. Sharron had taken a front row seat just to plant this guy to piss off Bruce. This is all imagination on my part, but I have a feeling I'm not too far off and we'll read about it in some blurb or another on Blabbermouth eventually. We'll see. Bruce also seemed a bit dissapointed in the crowd, at first at least. They were a bit quiet, but they really REALLY worked the crowd until they got the response they wanted, which made for a good old fashioned showbiz moment in my eyes. The old warhorses using their whole bag of tricks to wake up a bunch of sleepers (though really the crowd was alright - and increasingly louder as the set went on). At the beginning of Run To The Hills Bruce shouted, "If this one doesn't get you going then you are clinically fucking dead!!!" But thankfully the response was great. When the huge walking Eddie made his appearance it was in the style of Piece of Mind, for those of you who keep tabs on such things. A great set.
Now, here's the thing, after reading so much negative press about cancellations and whatnot, I actually almost left before Sabbath. Now, that's a big deal for me since they are, easily, one of my top three bands. I'm a Sabbath freak, really - and especially for the Ozzy period. I've worn all those damned records out in several formats. I figured though, that since this is now supposed to be the last Ozzfest that Ozzy headlines, it might be the last real go around for Sabbath (not counting the possible U.S. tour after Ozzfest). I decided I'd hang for a few songs , and leave if it was bad knowing the last full show I'd seen (a few years ago) would be my more lasting memory. Man am I glad I stayed. Sabbath were fucking awesome! Really. It's all hype, this bad talk going around. Ozzy amazed me with his energy, and though his voice did crack a couple of times, he was mostly dead on. The mix was perfect, and I somehow managed to work my way up to the front of the lawn section.....There were some very cool surprises in the setlist, most notably Electric Funeral and After Forever, which kinda put the crowd to sleep incidentally. They like the big "hits" they know, I find, the crowd at Ozzfest that is. Faeries Wear Boots was also awesome, and is not aaaalways played, and so was very cool. OH, and Dirty Women, in which Tony Iommi took a good, oh I'd say, 5 minute solo. He was spot on all night. The real kicker for me though was, again despite the hype, Ozzy's performance of Black Sabbath. He was so fucking dramatic in a good way, and clawed the shyte out of his own body at the "Oh god please help me," parts....so much so that when he took off his shirt later in the song you could see these welts he'd put into himself. Also, I noticed him saying a kind of private prayer at one point, silently but moving his lips, then he crossed himself, and it was just so fucking weird and eerie, just the way Sabbath is supposed to be. Oh, and before I wrap this up let me say that Bill Ward, of whom I've also read bad reviews, was just awesome. I don't know what reviewers have against him. He's a great fucking drummer (and he's grown his hair back, just saying...) The whole band was great. Despite the Osbournes and everything else, Black Sabbath is still the biggest, baddest, scariest metal band around. I was so impressed I bought a kick ass (and expensive) Sabbath shirt on the way out to commemorate the occasion. There were other cool things (like a medley that included some of Symptom of the Universe and some other gems) but I'll spare you the rest.
All in all a good (great really) night of metal, the Ozzfest crowd being probably the only downer. A lot of good people in some sense, but a lot of shaven head tough guys in wife beaters too, so, you know, where the hell do those people come from? I mean this with the utmost of humor, but it always seems to me when I do go to Ozzfest that there must be a lot of empty trailer parks in the area for the evening. Sorry, that was cold. Ahem. It's just the strangest mix that shows up is all. There's always fights, people puking, and people moshing who don't appear to give a good goddamn what bands might or might not be playing. Just, "Ozzfest man...AAAAARGH!" and you know, a day to raise hell. Ah well, to each his own.
Oh, a last bit on that. There's always a lot of talk by Sharron (and I'm not a Sharron hater mind ya) about the "festival" atmosphere of it all, but all I ever see are a few crappy vendors and a couple of pop the balloon games where you can win a cheezy Ozzy For President shirt or something. All that stated, they really should work a little harder on the band list. This year could have been, you know, Scorpions, Sabbath, Maiden, Priest....that kind of thing, they'd have sold just as many tickets.
Don't get me wrong though. Seeing Maiden and Sabbath (two of my favorite bands) put out two GREAT sets, I'm glad as hell I went.
Again, thanks Kittybeast! Up the irons! (and also up the, uh, Sabbaths?)
oh, and sorry about the length of this....ha.
Anyhoo, the only bands I was really interested in were Sabbath and Maiden, so I didn't even show up until about 6:30. I got there in time to see Mudvayne, but this was nothing to feel lucky about. No big deal. New metal grunts and blast beats.
Maiden came out and did a real great set. I was on the lawn, but brought binoculars and so could see everything just fine. As most of you know they are just doing stuff off the first four albums this tour. The mix was great, and and the energy level was huge, as is always the case with Maiden. Revelations was probably the highlight for me, maybe Phantom of the Opera. Worth noting, I think, was that Bruce's voice was in fantastic form, and he even sang the high....HIGH parts on the chorus to Run To The Hills, which he doesn't always do - even on Beast over Hammersmith, which was recorded back in the day when such things were, more or less, easy for him. He just sounded awesome all night. He did his corporate America rants, and in the middle of one someone in the front of the crowd threw fake dollars up into the air, quite a few. I think, seriously, that this was a plant by (probably) Sharron Osbourne as Bruce has been doing this rant a lot on this tour, and I'm thinking she's taken offense at it. Bruce seemed completely surprised by the whole thing, and told the person that they should take a hike since he knew they didn't pay for the good ticket they had. i.e. Sharron had taken a front row seat just to plant this guy to piss off Bruce. This is all imagination on my part, but I have a feeling I'm not too far off and we'll read about it in some blurb or another on Blabbermouth eventually. We'll see. Bruce also seemed a bit dissapointed in the crowd, at first at least. They were a bit quiet, but they really REALLY worked the crowd until they got the response they wanted, which made for a good old fashioned showbiz moment in my eyes. The old warhorses using their whole bag of tricks to wake up a bunch of sleepers (though really the crowd was alright - and increasingly louder as the set went on). At the beginning of Run To The Hills Bruce shouted, "If this one doesn't get you going then you are clinically fucking dead!!!" But thankfully the response was great. When the huge walking Eddie made his appearance it was in the style of Piece of Mind, for those of you who keep tabs on such things. A great set.
Now, here's the thing, after reading so much negative press about cancellations and whatnot, I actually almost left before Sabbath. Now, that's a big deal for me since they are, easily, one of my top three bands. I'm a Sabbath freak, really - and especially for the Ozzy period. I've worn all those damned records out in several formats. I figured though, that since this is now supposed to be the last Ozzfest that Ozzy headlines, it might be the last real go around for Sabbath (not counting the possible U.S. tour after Ozzfest). I decided I'd hang for a few songs , and leave if it was bad knowing the last full show I'd seen (a few years ago) would be my more lasting memory. Man am I glad I stayed. Sabbath were fucking awesome! Really. It's all hype, this bad talk going around. Ozzy amazed me with his energy, and though his voice did crack a couple of times, he was mostly dead on. The mix was perfect, and I somehow managed to work my way up to the front of the lawn section.....There were some very cool surprises in the setlist, most notably Electric Funeral and After Forever, which kinda put the crowd to sleep incidentally. They like the big "hits" they know, I find, the crowd at Ozzfest that is. Faeries Wear Boots was also awesome, and is not aaaalways played, and so was very cool. OH, and Dirty Women, in which Tony Iommi took a good, oh I'd say, 5 minute solo. He was spot on all night. The real kicker for me though was, again despite the hype, Ozzy's performance of Black Sabbath. He was so fucking dramatic in a good way, and clawed the shyte out of his own body at the "Oh god please help me," parts....so much so that when he took off his shirt later in the song you could see these welts he'd put into himself. Also, I noticed him saying a kind of private prayer at one point, silently but moving his lips, then he crossed himself, and it was just so fucking weird and eerie, just the way Sabbath is supposed to be. Oh, and before I wrap this up let me say that Bill Ward, of whom I've also read bad reviews, was just awesome. I don't know what reviewers have against him. He's a great fucking drummer (and he's grown his hair back, just saying...) The whole band was great. Despite the Osbournes and everything else, Black Sabbath is still the biggest, baddest, scariest metal band around. I was so impressed I bought a kick ass (and expensive) Sabbath shirt on the way out to commemorate the occasion. There were other cool things (like a medley that included some of Symptom of the Universe and some other gems) but I'll spare you the rest.
All in all a good (great really) night of metal, the Ozzfest crowd being probably the only downer. A lot of good people in some sense, but a lot of shaven head tough guys in wife beaters too, so, you know, where the hell do those people come from? I mean this with the utmost of humor, but it always seems to me when I do go to Ozzfest that there must be a lot of empty trailer parks in the area for the evening. Sorry, that was cold. Ahem. It's just the strangest mix that shows up is all. There's always fights, people puking, and people moshing who don't appear to give a good goddamn what bands might or might not be playing. Just, "Ozzfest man...AAAAARGH!" and you know, a day to raise hell. Ah well, to each his own.
Oh, a last bit on that. There's always a lot of talk by Sharron (and I'm not a Sharron hater mind ya) about the "festival" atmosphere of it all, but all I ever see are a few crappy vendors and a couple of pop the balloon games where you can win a cheezy Ozzy For President shirt or something. All that stated, they really should work a little harder on the band list. This year could have been, you know, Scorpions, Sabbath, Maiden, Priest....that kind of thing, they'd have sold just as many tickets.
Don't get me wrong though. Seeing Maiden and Sabbath (two of my favorite bands) put out two GREAT sets, I'm glad as hell I went.
Again, thanks Kittybeast! Up the irons! (and also up the, uh, Sabbaths?)
oh, and sorry about the length of this....ha.
