My Ozzfest Wrapup (Bristow, VA)

I went to Ozzfest in Bristow, VA on Friday, so I’ll give you an account of that now. Let me start off by saying I’ve been to Ozzfest 4 previous years and this was the most disappointing of them. I had a good time overall, but there were a number of things that made this year’s event less enjoyable than previous years.

One of the biggest disappointments to me was the layout of the second stage this year. It was not in its usual place, facing an open area with a he hill behind it – a nice place to sit and hang out with friends and still have a great view of the stage. Rather, someone decided to put further left, fenced in, in the dusty/dirty/gravel filled parking area. The only advantage to this is that more people could stand directly in front of the stage. On a scorching hot day, there was no relief from the sun, however, and it just basically sucked to stand there the whole time. The entire time bands were playing on the second stage, there were probably as many people still on the (now far away) hillside, ender trees and seeking shade near the main stage. There were other things I disliked about that setup as well, but I won’t dwell on them any more here.

Let’s talk about the bands… I got there just in time to hear the end of Sworn Enemy…no impression. E-Town Concrete was better live than their CD and joined by singer for Lamb of God on a song, which was cool. Chimaira kicked ass, but it seemed so short (it always does when the really good bands are up for only 20-30 minutes…) Motograter struck me as a Slipknot sound-alike, lame costumes to boot. I had heard Memento was good, but found their set too boring and long. I thought I’d probably like their lighter style more on CD, but didn’t like it much at the concert. I missed Hotwire completely. Twisted Method sounded good, but a little simplistic like a lot of other nu-metal. I was very impressed by both Killswitch Engage and Shadows Fall, who I have heard a little but did not know only by ear. Killswitch has an unique heavy sound, while Shadows Fall impressed me with their old-school sound with some newer elements mixed in with the sound. I’ll be looking more into their latest CDs for sure. Unloco seems to me a generic nu-metal name for a band, but they played some good stuff – very reminiscent of good Korn (not new Korn). Voivod, for all the hype and Newsted, sounded a bit plain to me. I simply cannot imagine Cradle of Filth sounding as good outdoors (and they didn’t) as they would in a club or on CD.

The other source of my mild disappointment was that there were only 5 main stage bands, and no representative of heavy/old-school metal (except Ozzy, of course – previous years have featured Slayer, Megadeth, Pantera, etc…). Each of Chevelle, Disturbed, Marylin Mason, and Korn put on excellent shows, however. Chevelle is earning their reputation and Disturbed was hugely popular with the crowd. Manson didn’t play much of the stuff that I particularly liked, but he puts on a very good show. Korn was the only band to get a pit going, and they thankfully stuck to more of their older and heavier stuff. The blending of their “One” cover (ever since the music awards) to the end of their classic Chutes and Ladders was absolutely perfect (and well received) for keeping the intensity of their set high.

Unfortunately Ozzy was still sick and it showed. He’d be singing along and then his voice would just fall flat. I didn’t really mind, as I’ve seen him several other times and he’s always sounded 100% on. I was just glad he showed up and I thank him for doing so and making the show complete…

I hear a lot of people bust on Ozzfest for being too nu-metal, but I’ve always had a good time there and get to hear a few new bands I haven’t heard or seen live before. Despite this year being headlined by nothing but nu-metal, the crowd was very large and seemed even more into the bands than previous years. This year’s fest was plagued by problems, but I hope they get their act together to do it for a few more years.