OZZFEST notes '05
My yearly pilgrimage to pay respects to Cernunnos was excellent as always. High Priest, Ozzy ain’t moving around on stage like Britney but considering what he’s been through, it’s astonishing and magikal that he’s vertical and up there at all. And he doesn’t lip synch.
It’s actually a pilgrimage/ordeal but not in the way you would think. There’s not a whole lotta ‘tude there. All ages of folks were amused by my “crone making do” seat at 2nd stage. I had plopped myself down on the curb and had a bush as a backrest. Some had a muffled snicker but if I caught their eye, gave them the horns and yelled, “OzzFest 05!” they always returned the salute cheerfully.
Cernunnos does make us work for it. For some reason, whoever casts the circle does not include the parking lot and area outside the main gate. There’s ‘tude in them parking lots but not from the attendees. It’s the venue people. Sandi puts in alot of time preparing the paperwork for OzzFest so that we can navigate to our seats and be comfortable. People on the phone in the office at Shoreline may get it but they don’t pass the word over to staff. And therefore I had to call one guy an idiot. He was being an idiot becuz he kept pushing it (What, you don’t have a blue plackard??) and I thought I was giving him a break by using the word idiot. He was so much MORE!
Back to da actual R&R. I was sitting on the curb becuz I wanted to hear Rob Zombie eventho seeing him was out of the question. No seats near 2nd stage. From the curb spot I was between speakers so I wasn’t getting distorted sound. RZ was good. Let the head banging begin!
Finally, it was time to go to our seats at the main stage. As often happens at OzzFest, a woman, NICE usher staff person, commented on my snake with pent necklace. She said something about Wiccan. I rarely call myself that but we were on the same page so I said ok, yup. In my pack I had 2 mags in prep for the inevitable band that bored me [Mudvane]. One was an old ish of New Witch so I gave it to her when she said she’d never seen it but was interested.
Then it was time for Iron Maiden. They could really get some religfundies panties in a bunch. Named after an ancient torture device, they actually have a life-sized plus Horned One come up from Underworld beneath the stage. I kept waitng for him to do something fiery but he just sat there with red lit eyes. If you’re gonna put on the suit…
I.M. is oldskool metal and still rocks. At least in Suit #2, an alien/reptile thang, he got more active. Still no fire.
Then before you could say Prince of Darkness, there’s The Sabbath! Out come the War Pigs and the Ironman. Ozzy IS the Ironman! The kat with 9 lives. The Robert Johnson of metal. (First one who can explain that reference gets a prize! Sandi, you’re not eligible.)
There’s no hauling around the fire hose for His Darkness anymore. But where’s the fire? There used to be pyrotechnics but no more. Last time I saw fire on stage was at the Kiss show. I miss that. Ozzy still baptizes the first ten rows with a few buckets of H2o but no hose. Gee, Sharon, I hope that doesn’t say anything about Ozzy’s performance in the boudoir?
The real question is not only about how long Ozzy can “keep it up” but about me as well. R&R may keep me young at heart but as for navigating the logistics of shows, that’s for the more agile among us.
I love to see them, the 4 Sabbath Brothers, taking their final bow arm-in-arm. They are a family. Every year we wonder, will this be the last OzzFest for the Prince? For me? If B.S. played without the Prince, would anyone care? Hard to say. He’s the Ironman and hey, I didn’t get Mr. Crowley this year so he has to come back.
In the meantime, I’d better stock up on concert DVD’s as back-up. There was no Ozz Radio this year so I’m keeping the energy going with some AC/DC and Dead Kennedy’s (not metal but same energy, different decade) And soon it’ll be time for the NIN and Queens of the Stone Age show. Keepin’ on rockin’ but there’s nothing like OzzFest with Black Sabbath!
We have sufficiently rocked OzzFest another year. It is done, done, done.
Adieu, Cernunnos!
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REPORT OF OZZFEST 2001
Roto-Rooter for the lower chakras.
Therre was magik afoot at OZZFEST at the Shoreline June 29. I had a great, rockin’, headbanging lower-chakra-clearing time.
On the way in there were religious zealots warning us about our punishment in the afterlife if we enjoyed our metalmusic too much. I chanted at them, “The Goddess loves all of her children!” Shit, can’t these idiots recognize THEATRE when they see it?
I wondered if there weren’t some compassion/be cool vibes leftover from the recent 4 day stint by the Dalai Lama. Hey, I’m talking about a seriously inebriated crowd that wasn’t hassling each other at all. I didn’t even see any of your typical sexist “nice rack, baby” kinda shit. Big hairy guys in leather were bumping into me and excusing themselves. The drunk by 2pm guy in the seat next to me said, “Welcome back” when I returned from a peebreak. Besides, I wouldn’t doubt Ozzy’s High Priestess (not that I think Ozzy is a Gardnerian, ha ha ha! More likely a Druid/Thelemite, ie “Mr. Crowley.” Ozzy is definitely not a Satanist!) and her circle sisters and brothers back in the UK are setting the vibe every night for the next day’s show. Good work!
Of course by the time Ozzy & Black Sabbath took the stage, we’d already been headbanging for at least 6 hours. Add in all the drinking (not I) and other recreational drugs that went on all day and we were pretty revved up for Ozzy&BS at 10pm. Some brave, probably younger, folks were there at the very beginning at 10:30am for the 2nd stage bands. Sandi and I arrived during Taproot’s set at about 2:20. Since there is no seating by the second stage(s), I didn’t hang out there long. Union Underground, a Bay Area band, sounded good. You’ll havta get info about second stage bands frrom someone much younger and more able-bodied than me. As for the other Main Stage acts, Zakk W did a good opener, Disturbed kicked some butt (I got Disturbed at Ozzfest!) and Papa Roach is always cool. As for Marilyn Manson, I couldn’t see her/him and I guess having her/his saintly image up on jumbotron was deemed not cool. With MM as with Ozzy/BS it’s about theatre so not being able to see was a serious drawback.
High Priest Ozzy was handling the energy quite deftly onstage during BS set. Flames would shoot up from the corners of the satge while the huge cross hanging above the stage would burst into flames during Iommi’s solos. Ozzy would hang on the mike stand, head down, for a moment,regrounding himself, then propelled by his adorable toddler-like shuffle (no self-respecting Satanist would be shuffling around the satge like that) he’d go over to the buckets of water lined up in the corner, throw a bit on his crown chakra and then fling the rest way out over the crowd. Baptism by Ozzy!
Ozzfest is the best.