Time for heavy metal summer camp… .YESSSS!!!!!! Well this year, summer camp is in the form of the Ozzfest 2004. My day starts off with finding my good buddy and Z-Rock CEO Jarrod Vrazel at a local Starbucks and giving him a lift to the location of the show! The show took place at the Verizon Wireless Theater in Selma, Texas (Outskirts of San Antonio) and finding parking was a straight up nightmare! The venue and the police refused to open the parking lot till 9 A.M… ..and the first band Lacuna Coil was going on at 9:30 A.M. Luckily, Jarrod and I drove around till the parking lot opened, and I was able to get into the venue in time to see the Lacuna Coil open the show. I had actually spent $275 for a VIP package for this show, planned this show 6 months in advance, and was not about to let the Selma, Texas Police Department ruin this for day for me! Lacuna Coil opened the show, did a great 20 minute set,with the theme from The Godfather as their intro music. The band played material strictly from he Comalies album and did not show a single ounce of road rust. Some of the songs that were played were Swamped and Heaven’s A Lie! My fifth time to see this band Next up was the Bleeding Through with their 20 minutes to strut their stuff and expose the crowd to their brand of black metal fueled hardcore… and man did they ever get the pit started! Such highlights included the band opening with Love Lost In A Hail Of Gunfire and playing the anthem dedicated to the straight-edge and hardcore kids called Rise! Even though the set was plagued with technical problems, the band delivered with more fire and venom than I have ever seen them put out live. Overall, I was impressed! Next up was Atreyu with their 20 minutes to play to the crowd and quite frankly, I wasn’t too impressed! Usually, Atreyu deliver and are as razor sharp as any band out there, but today the band seemed to lack a certian focus. Don’t get me wrong, they sounded good, but their timing was a bit off. The band played Bleeding Mascara and their hit single Right Side Of The Bed and sounded really good. The mistakes came during The rememberance Ballad and the set closer Lip Gloss And Black! Seemed like they were more interested in showboating than playing their music. This was my fifth time see this band, and honestly, I have seen them do better! Darkest Hour straight up owned!!!!!!!!!! One word: WOW! This band played material off their newest release Hidden Hands In A Sadist Nation and material off out of print releases. This band had 20 minutes like the previous bands, but you felt like you got a good 45 minute set with these guys. With all the headbanging and throwing around of instruments these guys were doing, they still managed to stay in-sync and not miss a note… ..very well done! This band showed that they are not just a band that you buy their CD just to be cool and keep up with your friends, but you better be ready to do your homework and become a fanatic about this band… ..basically, they went out there and commanded respect! Throwdown, I do have to say took the cake for wanting to win the fans over. Doing such things as getting all the kids in the moshpit to pull all the lazy people in the back into the moshpit, to doing a shout out to Black Sabbath, Judas Priest, and Slayer, and then launching into a cover of Roots by Sepultura. Definitely one of those you had to be there sets! I personally did not think much of the ever radio-friendly Magni-Fi. I watched them play a couple of songs and thought this band was a better fit for a Nickelback Tour to be honest. I will have to say they are very nice guys and saw them all socializing with the fans all day long, so I do have to give them credit for that! God Forbid threw down as usual, but i was so exhausted by then, i spent half of their set looking for water and YJ Stinger Samples to replenish my bodily fluids. They did play Antihero , Soul Engraved and closed with Broken Promise! Great job overall, wasn’t surprised! Devildriver (fronted by ex-Coal Chamber vocalist Dez Fafara) opened with Cry For Me Sky and did not let up for their 20 minute set. Nothing’s Wrong and I Could Care Less were played with such a demonic possession, that by the end of the set you were left asking… . Coal Who? Otep were good and were alot better than when I first saw them 3 years ago at my old nightjob, when I used to think that this band was nothing more than a bad rip off of Kittie! This band has moved into their own sound and sounded great doing so. What got me was Lead Vocailst Otep Shimaya coming out with an impaled pig’s head on a steak to open up the set! Probably would have had more effect in a nighttime setting, but cool as hell nonetheless! Band closed the set with Warhead! This band is on the right path to creating their mark in heavy metal music! Unearth ripped it hard and heavy, but played mostly material off their new album The Oncoming Storm! Nothing too spectacular about their set, but still good overall! Everytime I Die played a good set, but I do have to say this band wins the award for best banner on the tour. Good set overall and the band launching into Floater second song in won it for me. They also played Logic OF Crocidiles which is another personal favorite of mine by the band! Overall, good set! Lamb Of God went out for 30 minutes and played material off their first 2 albums New American Gospel and As The Palaces Burn … … .and played a new cut called Laid To Rest and totally commanded the respect of everyone in attendance… … Lacuna Coil and Atreyu might be enjoying brisk album sales now, but this year’s torchbearer band is definitely Lamb Of God! Hatebreed was absolutely brutal and never sounded better… .my 9th time seeing them since 1998 and they totally owned… ..I ll say no more! If you have not seen Hatebreed live, get up off your keester and go show your respect! Now this is where the day becomes fun… … the VIP Tour was definitely and experience. Before the tour took place, the tour guide actually gave us a warning not to touch anything… .and to watch out for Bug Val (Head of Security, Superjoint Ritual)… .and not to say anything about Pantera, because there is still some extremely bad blood about the breakup! Learning all the tricks of how the Ozzfest worked was just amazing, and all I have to say is this… .and if anyone has a problem with this, sorry… … ..SHARON OSBOURNE IS A GENIUS, END OF STORY! She has running this tour down to a science! Main stage board alone costs $500,000.00 and is all digital… .video screen is 13,000 lbs. Everything is set up to where the roadies tear down one bands gear… .and have band up next ready in 6 minutes ready to play… .unreal! There are some other secrets, but i won’t print them! I did not watch the first half of Slipknot’s set, because I was busy taking the VIP tour, but what I did see of them was the band going on full throttle through the second half of the set. Such songs that i saw were People = Shit and Surfacing! Great way to close out the side stage! I didn’t watch much of Black Label Society either, because my stomach was talking death metal to me, so I went to grab some food. I did watch them play Stoned and Drunk and the band sounded good. Wish I could have seen more, but I had to eat. Still, good job regardless! Superjoint Ritual were loud and brutal as all holy hell! Brutal and loud, except lead vocalist Phillip Anselmo (Ex-Pantera and Ex- Down) would not shut up and sing! A good set regardless, with such songs at The Alcoholik and Waiting For The Turning Point being blasted out with demonic fury and volume! Dimmu Borgir definitely had most of the audience giving the facial expression of what the hell is this about? About a good 80% of the audience didn’t get what Dimmu was all about, but the band didn’t care and still ripped through their set with true majestic power. Such goodies that were played were Spellbound by the Devil and Progenies of the Great Apocalypse! Slayer did Ok, but I have personally seen them do better. Guitarist Jeff Hanneman’s guitar kept cutting out and most of the set was your basic mandatory set list which of course included Mandatory Suicide and South Of Heaven … ..Slayer really didn’t do much to change up the set list from the last 3 times i have seen them, and are teetering on becoming a tired nostalga act… ..I hate to say it, as I am probably one of Slayer’s most diehard fans. I am sure they will pick up the pace when they have to do the upcoming Jagermeister Tour with Killswitch Engage and Mastadon opening for them every night! Judas Priest was definitely what i was looking forward too… .and man they did not let me down… ..the crowd was louder than the band was, there was so much electricity in the air. The band opened with Electric Eye and played such favorites as Breaking The Law and Painkiller Rob even came out on the legendary motorcycle for their encore! YESSSSS!!!!!! Oh yeah, and I cannot forget how he did the Ric Flair strut in 50 lbs. of homo-erotic biker leather… … that, my friend, is entertaimnent! >=)~ Black Sabbath did great and opened with War Pigs! What made the moment even more priceless was that I was hanging with God Forbid singer Byron Davis watching Sabbath (as well as Priest and Slayer). After a few songs, i had to sit down… ..my feet were killing me… .but yeah, Sabbath ruled as usual! And yes, Ozzy did moon the audience… ..as usual! This was a great show and a great day for metal overall and I felt like i got my money’s worth and thensome! I cannot wait to see what next years line up will bring, but hopefully Ozzfest will continue the trend of exposing the new and true breed of heavy metal, instead of the nu breed that the fest has been known for bringing the past few years! My only complaint, where was the pyrotechnics? Maybe next year! – said Joshua V. on Sep 09, 2004
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