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Ozzfest and Sod Wars (long)

 
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Icarus



Joined: 26 Jan 2001
Posts: 1697
Location: where anger and euphoria collide

PostPosted: Mon Jul 22, 2002 8:49 am    Post subject: Ozzfest and Sod Wars (long) Reply with quote

quote:
Originally posted by Butchman:
Well Icarus, what'd you think of the show? You were at the first night (mudfest) right?

Yup, I was right in the middle of the [i]Sod wars[/i], round one during [b]Drowning Pool[/b] and round 2 during [b]System of A Down[/b].

Here's the basic run down of my day at Ozzfest: (myself, my friend and my brother in-law)
This year the whole thing started promptly at 9:30 am (as opposed to 11:00 or so in the past)!!! The reason being because they played all of the bands on the second stage before any of the bands came on the first stage. This kind of sucked because the past 3 times I had gone, there was always a point where the 2 stages overlapped so that you could check out the main stage when the sencond stage sucked and vice versa. I will say this, times have definitely changed for rock roadies as they are able to change sets in 5 minutes. Even the breakdown and set up before [b]Ozzy[/b] only took 15 minutes. This meant not much waiting around between bands.

If anyone here is familliar with Great Woods (Tweeter Center, aarrrrghhh), then you know how cool the second stage at Ozzfest has been in the past (prior to 2001). The stage used to be nestled among tall trees which made for interesting mosh pits but great shade as well. Unfortunately, they moved the second stage to the parking lot, which I'm sure I don't need to describe as parking lots are a universally ugly, hot and overll bad perfomance space. I'm assuming the stage was moved in order to make room for more booth and stuff that were in the forested area instead.
[img]images/smiles/icon_smile.gif[/img]

Anyway, the bands:
Due to the early start I missed both [b]Soil[/b] and [b]Andrew W.K.[/b]. Two bands I was looking forward to. [b]Soil[/b] because I like their sound and [b]W.K.[/b], well, he just looks like he'd put on a good show. I have to say the with the exception of [b]Otep[/b] and [b]Hatebreed[/b] the second stage was not very enjoyable. I gave everyband a chance but kept getting the bounce in your spot nu-metal/ bounce core thing or the extreme growling pseudo death sound both which I'm not that into. Probably the worst band there was [b]Chevelle[/b], three brothers from Chicago that seemed to be booked on the wrong tour. Their sound was neither heavy nor metal. [b]Apex Theory[/b] was a close second for worst performance as they tried to unsuccessfully to pull off somewhat of an electronica/ tired nu-metal guitar mix sound. [b]Flaw, Neurotica 3rd Strike[/b] and [b]Lost Prophets[/b] and [b]Pulse Ultra[/b] all bad. Although [b]Ill Nino[/b] also had the overdone pogo stick music going, there was something about them that held my attention. Maybe it was the fact that the guitarist had on an empty backpack while playing. An odd but cheap prop I guess [img]images/smiles/icon_smile.gif[/img] ). [b]Messuggah[/b] was probably the most promissning of the bands that made my least enjoyabel list. Their sound as stated by others was more technical but I couldn't get into the vocals.

We missed all of [b]Down[/b] so that we could have a spot on the (soon not to be) comfortable, lush, green, lawn for the rest of the night. [b]Black Label Society[/b] hit the stage at about 4:30 and it was just what I needed to get my head back to reality from all of the previous nu-metal stuff I'd been hearing all day. The only thing wrong with the [b]BLS[/b] set was that it was too short. Only 25 minutes!!! Then [b]Adema[/b] hit the stage and I was taken right off my [b]BLS[/b] high and forced to suffer through a band who wouldn't even be on the main stage if there wasn't some [b]Korn[/b] relation there somewhere. [b]Drowning Pool[/b] was on next and I took this opportunity to lay down and rest my bones. I couldn't have timed it better . . .

[i]sidenote: Anyone familliar with Great Woods knows that the lawn at this venue had always been worth the price of admission as the location was never too far from the stage and the large screens aided in the viewing. Well, not this year. When Great Woods became the Tweeter Center a few years back, more and more ways to make money were implemented through out the grounds. This meant more banners with corporate logos and advertising out the a.ss throughout. Probably the worst move (for the fans) ever made was the construction of 26 rows of seats that extend past the covered pavillion through half of what was once a quite generous lawn space. All of this to increase revenue by charging under the roof prices for bascially a permanant lawn chair. Needless to say people were not happy with this. Before the outdoor seats were added there was at least some ground that wasn't as steep where mosh pits could happen. Infact, one of the most aggressive pits I'd ever seen was when [b]Slayer[/b] was here 2 years earlier at Ozzfest. Where the neew seats end the lawn is fairly steep no matter where you are. To me I figured any kind of pit would be out of the question. Nope, where there's open space, there's a pit, no matter how closs the 4' high metal fence is or how great the chance is of tumbling down and getting trampled.[/i]

(back to our story)
As I was saying, I couldn't have timed it better to rest my bones as I would find out later that I would be on me feet watching my back, sides and front for the rest of the night. It was about the 3rd to last song from the end of [b]Drowning Pool's[/b] set when it all went down. Way off to the left (we were on the right side of the lawn) a VERY aggressive pit was happening. It was so far away from us all you could see was just mass motion and arm waving. It looked real serious. Then all of a sudden during the beginning of this 3rd to last song a small patch of grass went flying.

[i]sidenote: Because of the torture the lawn goes throgh at this amphitheater, expensive sodding is done (I assume a few times a year). Those of you not familliar with Sod, it's like instant lawn. It comes in 2 to 4 foot (or more) widths and is rolled out like a carpet. Anyway, because of the nature of sod, if someone feels like it they can usually dig in and pull it up just like a carpet at massive lengths and widths if so desired.[/i]

. . . As anyone knows, actions like this usually don't take long to snowball into mass chaos. And that's exactly what happened. Slowly like a swarm of bees the grass started flying coming in our direction. After about 90 seconds from the first chunk thrown the entire lawn was a sea of grass and dirt. I do mean sea. At some points you couldn't see much in front of you except for dirt. People (including myself) ran for the highest point. There. I just stood and observed the masses. This stuff was flying. Talk about timing. Although I'm not a fan of [b]Drowning Pool[/b] the next sequence of songs to close out their set couldn't have been timed better (or worse) to fuel the aggression of the alcohol and drug induced masses to a peaked frenzy. At this point the band decided to do a tribute to one of the all time masters . . . [b]Metallica[/b]. The song . . . [i]Creeping Death[/i]!!! Holy Crap, the place went (as [b]Ozzy[/b] would say) FU.CKING CRAZY! The sod actually made it on to the stage. Then they went into their aggresive crowd pleaser [i]Bodies[/i]. I even saw the ambulance at one point not knowing if anyone got hurt. When they left the stage things calmed down and some guy came out giving the speech about property destruction, blah, blah, blah. Even the state troopers came in and lined the back portion of the lawn (eh hem) dirt. Until [b]System of A Down[/b] hit the stage later just minor incodents happened where the lawn and bottles went flying. Either way you were forced to watch your head for the rest of the night I even saw a few dudes wearing the lawn carpet like a cape.

Things mellowed out when [b]P.O.D.[/b] hit the stage with their rap induced nu-metal. Then [b]Rob Zombie[/b] came out with his toned down but still entertaining horror show brand of rock. Then one of the bands I alway enjoy at Ozzfest hit the stage, [b]System of A Down[/b]. These guys are incredible. Say what you will about their style, to me they have the most original sounding metal out there. By this time the sun was down and as we expected, it was time for sod war 2. Again things went nuts about 2/3 through [b]System's[/b] set. This time it was dark which made things interesting. In the end the second sod war ended and things just sort of mellowed out.

Those of you who have been to the Ozzfest know that one of the best parts is the montage of pop cultrue spoofs that is played prior to [b]Ozzy's[/b] performance. During this video [b]Ozzy[/b] is inserted into pupular movies and music videos of the past year. For example he inserted himslef in the movies [i]Titanic[/i] and [i]Gladiator[/i], the South Park cartoon, [b]Hanson[/b] and [b]Spice Girls[/b] videos, etc. He acutally gets edited into these clips, looking like he actually was part of the film, and performs some outrageous or rude act. Well, thanks to (I'm pretty sure) the doings of Sharon Osbourne, all we got was a stupid preview of the damn T.V. show. Once again I get screwed. I was looking forward to those clips all day telling my brother in-law how cool they are. As if it wasn't enough to see the in your face advertising for the [i]Osbornes Family Album[/i] cd (whatever the hell that is), between every band's set, we have to be subject to this torture.

Well, [b]Ozzy[/b] came on and did his predictable set opening with [i]I Don't Know[/i] then into [i]War Pigs[/i], etc. The water was sprayed, the peopled were Godblessed, and that was it, another Ozzfest under the belt.

Overall an uneventful day musically but a fun day just the same.
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Butchman



Joined: 18 Nov 2000
Posts: 522
Location: Your Imagination

PostPosted: Tue Jul 23, 2002 6:20 pm    Post subject: Ozzfest and Sod Wars (long) Reply with quote

Good review. I always enjoy going to this event also. I've been to 5 in a row. Usually there's only a few bands each year that I want to see, but all in all it's usually a fun day. I really enjoyed the last 3 bands on the 2nd stage (Meshuggah, Hatebreed, and Down) especially Hatebreed. I've been listening to them a lot lately. I usually go to Greatwoods for this show because the sound is soooo much better there than it is in Hartford, but a 10 minute drive on a Saturday is just to hard to pass up. I wouldn't have liked the sod throwing as I go with my wife and some friends and we are all old fu#ckers now. (29) I heard that they recorded the Greatwoods shows for the CD also. Maybe we'll here the Icarus' screams in the backround.

Here is my review of the Hartford show that I posted on another site.

I tailgated for a while before I went in so I missed A few bands.

First band I saw was Ill Nino, I liked them a lot. The percussionist is a nice touch. They played 5 songs, as did most of the warm up bands on the second stage.

Next up was Pulse Ultra, I never heard of them before and their debut album comes out next week he said. I liked what I heard, they were different. Lots of odd tempos and sudden changes in their songs which I think is cool.

Next was Otep who had problems setting up the drums, the band was getting pissed and came out and paced the stage for about 10 minutes till they fixed it. Finally they went on, they were OK, would be better if she didn't rap on some songs. Bass was too loud! Couldn't hear the guitar player.

Next was Soil who I watched from a distance so we could go get beverages and take a break. Seen em before, mediocre at best.

Meshuggah came out next and kicked major ass. Talk about odd time signatures, shit these guys are the masters. Only bad thing is all their songs are in the same key. This is definitely the drummers band. I think they were over a lot of peoples heads though.

Hatebreed came out, and this being their hometurf (they're from New Haven CT) they came out and owned the audience. Biggest crowd of the 2nd stage (bigger than Down) and best response. Pits were huge, everyone was singing aloud on almost every song they did. If you are going to an Ozzfest go see these guys. They are an AWESOME live band. There was about 20 people from other bands on the sides of the stage watching their set, and more sitting on the buses and motorhomes behind the fence from the backstage area.

Next was Down, I've read that Phil was pretty ****ed up at the other shows, but he seemed OK here. Did look very pale though. I was really looking forward to seeing this band live but it wasn't all that great. Their sound was very muddy and they didn't play alot of the songs I wanted to hear, oh well can't always get what you want. I left before their last song so I could get over to the mainstage to see all of BLS set.

BEWARE: If you are going to Ozzfest anywhere, they will try to run everything 10 minutes early as they did the entire day here in Hartford, and if you show up 10 minutes late for a early band, you'll miss half the set. BE EARLY!

Black Label came out and opened with Demise of Sanity which is probably my least favorite song on 1919, then did (I think) 13 years, then Bleed for me. They lost all power to the stage right towards the end of this song. It was out about 10 minutes then he came back out and said "I'm going to finish my set and play one more song for you and if you don't like it, you can suck my balls", finished with 2, Beserkers, and Graveyard Disciples.

Adema - missed them, Beer break. Don't like them anyway.

Drowning Pool came out next. They're OK but their songs are too repetitive. They were much better and tighter than last year's second stage performance, but they didn't have the same energy level. They did a cover of Creeping Death also.

POD - Didn't even stay to see them walk out onstage.

Rob was cool, had some big Boris Karlof pictures in back of the stage of Dracula, Wolfman, Frankenstein, and the Mummy. Played some new and old. Was that J on guitar??? Sure looked like him.

System I'm not a big fan of. Too quirky for me. I did watch their set though and they are definitely tight. The drummer is excellent. The guitar player is one of those guys you just want to ****ing knock out though. The crowd sang the chorus lines to Chop Suey very loudly which I'm sure is a huge ego boost for any band. I don't agree with these guys being the co-headliners though. Just don't think they're to that point yet.

Ozzy came out next. This incarnation of his band, Zakk, Mike Bordin, and Robert Trujillo, is tight as hell and awesome together. I would love to hear what these guys would write together. Maybe next album. I was suprised with the freedom Zakk had. He ran that set. His solos in every song were extended and tons of ad-lib riffs in there too. He was on fire!!!! Ozzy also gave him a 10 minute guitar solo which is unheard of these days, and he tore shit up! He has gotten so much better over the years, not like he ever sucked, but he's on a new level now. This was the best Ozzy set I've seen. They didn't play anything at all from the Jake E. Lee years either. From what I remember - I don't know, Believer, Suicide Solution, War Pigs, Iron Man, Crazy Train, Road to nowhere, That I never had, Mr. Crowley, Gets me through, Mama I'm coming home, Paranoid
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Subtraction



Joined: 10 Feb 2001
Posts: 631
Location: Corpus Christi, TX

PostPosted: Tue Jul 23, 2002 11:24 pm    Post subject: Ozzfest and Sod Wars (long) Reply with quote

That sod flying incident reminds me of when I went to see Metallica in Dallas at the Texas stadium. I had floor tickets, and naturally most of the people up in the seats were pissed about that so after a while..and if you have ever seen Metallica they seem to take an hour before they decide to come on, the traditional titty showing went on and then, for some reason the stadium left thier damn seat covers on the seats. Bad idea at a metal show, so as soon as one person throws thier padded blue Cowboy's seat cover everyone decides to do it. They start throwing those things like frisbees! And this stuff is gaining momentum as they spiral down to us. Needless to say it wasn't pleasent getting hit by these things, and all hell broke loose after the end of the show! No black eyes though hehehe
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Jeff



Joined: 18 Apr 2002
Posts: 491
Location: Las Vegas

PostPosted: Wed Jul 24, 2002 12:13 am    Post subject: Ozzfest and Sod Wars (long) Reply with quote

quote:
sidenote: Because of the torture the lawn goes throgh at this amphitheater, expensive sodding is done (I assume a few times a year). Those of you not familliar with Sod, it's like instant lawn. It comes in 2 to 4 foot (or more) widths and is rolled out like a carpet. Anyway, because of the nature of sod, if someone feels like it they can usually dig in and pull it up just like a carpet at massive lengths and widths if so desired
..We sell sod at Home Depot for $1.85 per strip, Just incase you wanted to guestimate the cost of this sod war....
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Icarus



Joined: 26 Jan 2001
Posts: 1697
Location: where anger and euphoria collide

PostPosted: Wed Jul 24, 2002 6:33 am    Post subject: Ozzfest and Sod Wars (long) Reply with quote

quote:
Originally posted by Butchman:

System I'm not a big fan of. Too quirky for me. I did watch their set though and they are definitely tight. The drummer is excellent. The guitar player is one of those guys you just want to ****ing knock out though. The crowd sang the chorus lines to Chop Suey very loudly which I'm sure is a huge ego boost for any band. I don't agree with these guys being the co-headliners though. Just don't think they're to that point yet.

I agree. As much as I think their an inovative band and all I don't think their strong enough to co-headline / support [b]Ozzy[/b]. Bands like [b]Adema[/b] should have been thrown to the middle of the small stage.

Next year I think we're going down to Hartford. The whole second stage in the parking lot deal really sucked and I think we want to try a new venue just the same. Even though it will be a 2 hour ride I think the change will be nice.

(that is if the Ozzfest even happens next year. With the deterioration of Sharon's health I would almost bet this could be the last, at least for a few years. I'm just guessing.
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Jake



Joined: 02 Mar 1999
Posts: 4963

PostPosted: Wed Jul 24, 2002 8:50 pm    Post subject: Ozzfest and Sod Wars (long) Reply with quote

Sounds similar to the Ozzfest I went to a couple years ago what with all the just sitting around and waiting for something to happen.

I think it would be good if the Ozzfest could have at least 3 older groups on each tour along with all the new ones. I think it may be good business, cause it would be a better incentive for older fans to come to see the Ozzfest. I havent' really considered going to see Ozzfest since they last had Slayer, Motorhead, or Megadeth on the bill.
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JGunnz1



Joined: 15 Sep 2000
Posts: 896
Location: Minneapolis

PostPosted: Thu Jul 25, 2002 9:23 am    Post subject: Ozzfest and Sod Wars (long) Reply with quote

Good review! I will be attending Ozzfest this year on August 17th in Somerset, WI. For those of you not familiar with that location, Somerset is a camping town with a river that everyone tubes down. During the summer, every weekend on the river is like Mardi Gras. Beads, Naked Chicks (and unfortunately the occasional naked guy), and drunken debauchery.

At Ozzfest, the Mardi Gras atmosphere is multiplied tenfold. The city of Somerset will only allow Ozzfest to play on the weekends, so there is always a HUGE crowd. The ampitheater is outdoors and most people camp out, since Somerset is in the middle of nowhere and there are few hotels.

My friends and I go every year, just for the spectacle and Party. It has gotten to the point where I don't even look to see whose playing because it is usually a bunch of clone Nu Metal bands. However, there are always the occasional bright spots like BLS, SOAD, etc. I am really getting sick of Ozzy though. I have probably seen him 8 or 9 times now, maybe more and he always plays the same songs. You'd think that he would change it up a little since the same crowd essentially goes to ozzfest everyear. It has gotten to the point where I know what song he is going to play next. He never plays anything off "The Ultimate Sin" or "No Rest for the Wicked." His show just has gotten less entertaining, and now with the montage being gone before the show, it sounds as though it will be worse this year.
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Butchman



Joined: 18 Nov 2000
Posts: 522
Location: Your Imagination

PostPosted: Thu Jul 25, 2002 9:30 am    Post subject: Ozzfest and Sod Wars (long) Reply with quote

No JGUNS, If anything watch Ozzy to see Zakk play. He's incredible on this tour. You're right about the song selection though.
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Icarus



Joined: 26 Jan 2001
Posts: 1697
Location: where anger and euphoria collide

PostPosted: Thu Jul 25, 2002 9:54 am    Post subject: Ozzfest and Sod Wars (long) Reply with quote

JGUNS, sounds like we all need to make a road trip (from wherever everyone hails from) to WI. That place sounds sick. I think I used to see photos of some of the nakedness at the river you're talking about at a jokester site called [url=http://ilovebacon.com]I Love Bacon[/url] (before they removed the nudity links)
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