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Ozzy’s Easy-Bake Oven™
This is my second time attending the 13-hour series of concerts called Ozzfest. Each year, about 20 bands come to Dallas (and many other cities) and rip the crowd a new one. This year was no exception.
traci and I took off on Thursday and Friday. Last year, we didn’t take the Friday off and were really hating ourselves when we had to go back to work the next day. Talk about a downer! So we planned ahead and were able to have both days off.
We woke even earlier than we would have had to if we were going to work, as we had to drive across town and meet our friends for breakfast. We arrived at Smirnoff Music Center at 9:00am just as the first band was playing their set. It was Black Dhalia Murder, not my favorite, but you gotta give ‘em credit for rocking that hard, that early in the morning. The first 6 hours of Ozzfest takes place on the “second stage”, set up in the huge parking lot. On asphalt. And the weather was a beautiful, cloudless 104 degrees. At 9am, it was already in the upper 90s (and I chose to live in Texas because why?). Luckily, the security guys near the stage had water hoses and were spraying down the crowd at regular intervals.
Only one thing really bugged me the whole day. There was someone who brought their baby to the show, a little tyke about 2-3 years old. She was right behind us, less than 15 feet from the huge speakers on the second stage. Nice parenting.
It’s always fun to “people watch” at events like this. There were plenty of gothed-out teenagers and folks wearing shorts and concert shirts from various bands. Many people take advantage of the opportunity to wear their more shocking attire (for instance, you might see a girl wearing a shirt which says “It’s not gonna lick itself” or the popular “Fuck you, you fucking fuck”). Also, there were way more piercings and tattoos per person that you would see at, say, the mall or some sporting event. It’s always cool to see other people’s ink. But there were a LOT of really crappy tattoos, too. So sad. On the brighter side, there were many girls who took advantage of the body painting booth to shed their shirts and sport some airbrush artwork on their boobs. That’s definitely something that’ll wake you up when you see several topless girls walking around!
At the second stage, there were many really good bands which I had never heard before:
Arch Enemy was very noteworthy, as their lead singer is a metal babe who can growl with the best of any hardcore band I’ve ever heard.I thought Bury Your Dead was outstanding, they kicked my ass and I’ll definitely be getting some of their music.
A Dozen Furies – the band which won the Battle For Ozzfest contest/reality show last year – did exceptionally well. I was very happy to see them hold their own among many other seasoned metal & hardcore bands, especially since they hail from right here in Dallas!
As I Lay Dying was really great, too! I’d seen their name before but had no idea how good they were. Rather than just thrashing guitar and growling vocals, these guys had enough musical ability to keep things lively as well as intense.
Killswitch Engage surprised me the most. Their frontman was very charismatic and intense, and the lead guitarist was surprisingly funny. Decked out in too-short shorts revealing colorful boxers and a cheesy cape, his antics were in sharp contrast to his musical prowess.There was a new band in the lineup: Wicked Wisdom. I wanted to give them a chance, despite the fact that it’s Jada Pinkett Smith’s band. She looked great, and her band really played well. But her vocals were uninspired and pretty dull, mostly rap-ish with some hardcore style growling, and a few profanities thrown in for good measure. Not a bad start, but it pissed me off that she managed to land a gig the size of Ozzfest when nobody’s ever heard of her band. It would be different if she had started the band and moved through small clubs and gained a following. Like REAL bands have to do. But no, she’s relying on her name (and hubby Will Smith’s name) to get her on the ticket. She was lucky that the crowd’s aim wasn’t very good that day, as several bottles whizzed past her head. She should go back to Hollywood.
Rob Zombie was the main act for the second stage, and although we were 10 feet from the stage all morning and afternoon, the heat became too much for my girlfriend, so we had to get out and find some shade. I was bummed, but we were still able to see him from a distance and enjoy the music. He bitched about the heat a lot and fucked up a few of his songs, but gave a pretty good performance overall.
After that, we moved over to the lawn by the main stage and waited for the rest of the bands. Only problem with this is that there were no security guys to hose us down as they were doing by the second stage. Luckily, it was after 3:00 by now, so the sun wasn’t quite as hot.
We were very excited to see the return of Dallas’ own Drowning Pool. They lost their original singer back in 2002 while on the Ozzfest tour, he died of natural causes (heart failure), and they replaced him with Jason “Gong” Jones for a while. But he recently left the band for whatever reason. So the new lead singer is now Ryan McCombs, and this show is their debut together. But from the sound of things, they need more time in rehearsal. McCombs hosed up the lyrics on several songs, and was just plain bad. The band rocked, of course, but they just didn’t sound good with him. I love their music and hope that performance was just a fluke.
Mudvayne and Black Label Society were very good, as expected. But Velvet Revolver was definitely the best band there that day (Drowning Pool take note… this is what a headline band should sound like!). They did some songs from STP and GnR, and Scott Weiland was as entertaining as ever! I wished we were closer to the stage. But the lights and music were exceptional and were worth waiting all day to see.
Ozzy and Black Sabbath didn’t disappoint, either. I was happy to see him out there, rocking the crowd despite a recent illness and doctor’s orders not to do the tour. Ozzy’s voice was a bit shakier than usual, but I’ll definitely give him a pass on that. He still kicked ass! I was happy to see him on his last tour.
After so much headbanging and mayhem, it took about 30 hours for my ears to stop ringing.
Note to self: bring earplugs next year, dumbass!
Posted by FullMetalPatriot
12th gen. American, Constitutionalist, Harley-riding Texan, gun owner & NRA member, blogger, illustrator, Florida Gator alumnus. #TCOT
12th gen. American, Constitutionalist, Harley-riding Texan, gun owner & NRA member, blogger, illustrator, Florida Gator alumnus. #TCOT
