It's 4:45 PM as I start typing this blog. My face and neck are burned
like a hamburger patty thrown onto the surface of the Sun. My entire
body is sore from thrashing around like a madman.
And I've never felt better in my life.
Yesterday
was my first Ozzfest ever, and unless the future ones are free (or a
lot cheaper), it could also possibly be my last. Purely by coincidence,
this year's Ozzfest also had what was (IMO) the BEST lineup ever to
grace the festival. This was the first year that extreme metal was
represented in force at Ozzfest; there was one black metal band in
Chthonic (and not the commercial kind of black metal like Dimmu
Borgir), and three death metal bands in Nile, Daath, and Behemoth.
Needless to say, I was excited for all of those bands, and the other
ones I didn't care about ended up being really good. The only bands
that sucked were In This Moment, Lordi, and Static-X (who were actually
the least sucky of the three).
The show did kinda start off on a
sour note for us, though. We (myself, Ben, Steven, Brett, Carmelo, and
my dad) got there, a littl before 12:30 (which was when Nile were
supposed to start), and we were parked close to the middle-end part of
the line. We tried to get into the line, and one of the venue workers
stopped us and told us to get to the end. As you could expect from a
huge concert like Ozzfest, the line was fuckin' huge; to get to the end
from where we were would have taken way too long, and I wasn't about to
miss Nile. After looking for a way to get passed the "security," we
ended up walking down the line a little bit to try and jump in near the
middle, which was made easier when we some friends of Bonnie's
recognized Brett.
Unfortunetly, by the time we got inside, Nile
had already finished their set; we got in right as Ankla were
finishing. After Ankla finished, we walked over to the Artist
Merchandise near the entrance, and I missed Chthonic as a result (screw
you, Steven and Carmelo).
After sitting through In This Moment,
we headed for the mosh pits for Daath's set. This was the first concert
I've been to that had a real mosh pit that I could get into (I couldn't
get onto the floor for the Slayer concert, and the other concerts
weren't heavy enough for moshing), and I wasn't exactly prepared for
the madness that ensued, but I survived and had a kickass time. Daath
were easily the best band on the second stage that day.
I rushed
over the FYE tent, bought a copy of Daath's The Hinderers, and went
back to watch 3 Inches of Blood. After they ended, I went back to the
FYE tents and waited in line to meet Daath. They were really cool; I
didn't say much beyond "you guys rocked," but they seemed genuinely
happy to be meeting the fans and signing their stuff. As a result, I
now owned a signed copy of The Hinderers (and an autographed ticket).
The
Showdown started while I was in line to meet Daath, but what I heard
impressed me. They kinda sound like a slower, heavier, more
Southern-rockish version of Shinedown's newer stuff. DevilDriver were
on right after, as the first second stage headliner. I was not a fan of
DevilDriver from what I had heard of their previous work (I Dreamed I
Died sucks), but I was suprised by how heavy they were, and I may check
out some of their new stuff as a result.
Behemoth were the
second headliner on the second stage, and they absolutely dominated.
They played a few songs I recognized (Conquer All and one other song
from Demigod that I knew), but the other stuff was either older or
newer. The last song they played (Chant for Eschaton, as I later found
out) was probably the best song I heard all day.
We left to get
a good lawn spot on the main stage before Hatebreed came on. I did
catch a bit of their set when I went down to get a Behemoth shirt (I
tried to get a Daath one, but the biggest they had was a medium). They
played Doomsayer, which I do like, but I didn't pay much attention to
them.
Black Tide opened the main stage. I had previously thought
they weren't going to play; they were supposed to be on the second
stage, but they were kicked off because they weren't of legal drinking
age (the second stage is sponsered by Jagermeister). Apparantly.
because of this, they were brought up to the main stage instead, which
is huge for a band made up of 18-year-olds. Having never heard them
before, I was really impressed; they kinda reminded me of Motorhead.
Lordi came on after, and just couldn't compete; they make a big deal
about how they "bring back the balls to rock," but when you play on a
festival with a bunch of heavy metal bands, you don't have the right to
brag about "bringing back the balls" to anything. Ironically (or maybe
not so), they were the least-ballsy band to play the entire festival.
I
kinda tuned out Static-X. They weren't as bad as I thought they were
going to be, but they just weren't that impressive (not that they're
any good to begin with).
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