Ozzfest Opens in the US

After the first two US dates were cancelled due to Sharon Osbourse's cancer surgery, Ozzfest kicked off the US-leg of the tour this weekend in Scranton, PA. Here is a long-winded synopsis of that opening show:

After two postponed shows due to Sharon Osbourne's unexpected discovery of colon cancer Ozzfest 2002 finally got underway in Scranton, PA yesterday at the Montage Mountain Performing Arts Center, the first of 30 U.S. dates. Thousands were at the gates when they opened at 9 a.m. for the 14 hour concert, which featured 21 acts on two stages in addition to Village of the Damned midway area. According to USA Today "this year [Ozzy] brought the polo-shirt set face to face with his black-clad clan" because of the success of "The Osbournes". Polo shirts? That's just *wrong*, but USA Today went on to admit that "Ozzfest was still about sex, drugs and rock 'n' roll in a carnival atmosphere. Vendors hawked drug paraphernalia, and the smell of marijuana permeated the lawn, despite a heavy police presence. At the "Pains and Pleasures" booth, customers paid $20 to be tied up while two women in leather chain-link bikinis lashed them with toy whips, then posed with them for a photo." Apparently, Queen Elizabeth suggested the idea to Ozzy at the Jubilee last month. Nice one, Your Majesty! According to the Scranton Times, "The beer lines were long when the second stage opened at 9:30am, but the crowd, while rowdy, maintained a mostly peaceful mood throughout the day. By 4 p.m., parking lots were at capacity." Beer at 9:30am: Why not? It's Ozzfest. Ben Ratliff of the venerable New York Times appreciated, among other acts, "Otep, led by a female singer with the same name (the only woman among about 115 musicians seen all day), [who] had an interesting idea: it flicks back and forth between feminine and masculine rage, as she can do the harpy scream and the wounded-ox scream." Nuclear Blast recording artist Meshuggah, from Sweden, were seen as "one of the festival's coups", referring to their set as "more complicated than anything else tried at Ozzfest all day." Meanwhile, "relentlessly ebb-tide band DOWN, fronted by the metal icon Philip Anselmo - seemingly under heavier sedation than usual - [sang] "New Orleans Is a Dying Whore"; "guitarist Zakk Wylde, all old-school biker-boot, wallet-chain macho, open[ed] a beer can with his head and play[ed] fast arpeggiated guitar licks borrowed from Ted Nugent and Alvin Lee"; "rowdy, road-tested Drowning Pool, at the better end of genre-bound new-metal"; Rob Zombie's "junkyard noises that East Village bands were experimenting with in the early 1980's" delighted the Scrantonians; and, in the strangest part of Mr. Ratliff's overview he remarked on System of a Down's old-school influence: "If every big new rock band has an old rock band inside, maybe System of a Down contains Queen, with its constantly changing dynamics, its drama, its passacaglias." (No, that's not a word Ozzy mumbled on stage.) For Ozzy, it was a rockin' show, per usual, with a brand new intro video and songs played from DOWN TO EARTH, his latest CD, among classics like "Believer", a song rarely performed live. But it also was an emotional show, taking place just days after his wife's surgery. He remarked at one point "I fucking needed you guys tonight, man." Then he mooned them.

Source: Ozzfest.com