I must say- what a disappointment.


Granted, I didn't expect much from Ozzfest. I didn't want to see ANY of the bands that were performing, save Ozzy and DragonForce.


The PA was terrible. None of the bands could get any kind of clean sound out of the system, and even for pop metal you need a clean crunch for it to work. This in turn made the crowd lazy and apathetic to literally every band that walked out.


DragonForce's guitar solos were totally muffled, then the lead singer threw a temper tantrum wondering why the audience couldn't get into it.


Disturbed was 2nd billing but was the most unenthusiastic I've ever seen a metal band be. The lead singer of Disturbed again chastised the audience for not being real metal fans or something...


There were 2 highlights of the night though.


About 3pm we were hitting the concesssion stands for water and there was this guy, dressed in all white, wearing a turban, and playing an electric guitar near the concession stands. He was awesome. People were stopping to watch him play and he had a huge crowd for a while. Later on, System of a Down came on and introduced him on stage and handed him a low-mixed electric guitar. So he got to play with them, which I thought was awesome.


Secondly, there was a girl standing, by herself, to the right of our party that was gyrating heavily in some wierd, cheerleader meets vamp/vogue PRE-arranged choreography. It was the coolest thing I'd ever seen. People were laughing at her but she payed no attention and went right on dancing. I thought about asking her for her number lol.


Anyway, that was D.C.'s Ozzfest 2006. It was my first, and hopefully last Ozzfest.

 

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I went to the Camden, NJ, show at the Tweeter Center and it was quite different from what you experienced. I've been going to Ozzfest in Camden every year for the past six or seven years except for once when I went to the PNC Arts Center in Holmdel, NJ, which is an awful place to see a concert (I've seen several there).


The sound at the Tweeter Center was very good, but this is a newer venue and I've never been to a concert there where the sound was bad. The overall layout and the facilities are great; the vendors are all very friendly, the bathrooms are clean and the layout keeps people moving without getting bottlenecked.


I didn't watch Dragon Force as I had never heard of them and the only band I watched on the second stage was Black Label Society. I like BLS but I'm not a big fan; they were good, but they always play well. I watched some of Lacuna Coil and they played well but I didn't care for them very much.


The highlights for me on the main stage were Disturbed and Avenged Sevenfold.


I had heard good things about Avenged Sevenfold but had never heard them before and they were GREAT. I loved their music and they were very tight even if the two guitar players appeared a little apathetic at times (maybe that's just their stage "thing" but, if it is, I think they should come up with a new style of stage presence).


Disturbed were incredibly tight and definitely the best band of the day; they were smiling and running around all over the stage. I'm not a huge fan of them; I like them pretty well and do enjoy listening to them now but they were very impressive.


I hated System of a Down and I mean HATED. It was like they were trying to be Faith No More but they sucked at it. Their songs were like the band all had ADD and kept going from one thought to another with absolutely no cohesion to them. I couldn't wait for their set to end.


Ozzy... Ozzy never was a great singer but he's Ozzy, you know? This past Friday, he was the worst I have ever heard him; it was like he couldn't hear himself or something and was totally off key. We ended up leaving after the fourth or fifth song as his singing was just awful and we were pretty tired from the day and figured we'd beat the traffic.

 

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I feel for ya brother. I dont think I could stand Ozzfest. Ozzfest... To me, Ozzfest is to metal what the Warped Tour is to punk. As in, lots and lots of bands that have no right whatsoever to claim a stake in those genres.

 

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I like Ozzfest not just for the music (there's usually 3 or 4 bands I'm at least interested in seeing out of the 10), but also for the social aspect. I go with a bunch of friends and we make a day of it. I enjoy people watching and you see all sorts there; there's nothing quite as entertaining as watching a goth kid wearing a trench coat in August while his cheap hair dye and mascara run down his face. It's definitely a festival atmosphere and I have a lot of fun every year.

 

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Completely understandable. Nothing like a fest.

 

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The Unholy Alliance tour was wayyyyyyyyyy better

 

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I had more fun at the second stage for Atreyu - I got up front and got some good pics. (See my blog for pics: http://blog.myspace.com/gisel77 it's the third blog down.) I thought they put on a good show - they were full of energy and sounded great. I saw them before and they were pretty scattered, but they had their **** together for this show.


I saw all the bands on the main stage. Dragonforce was okay, but no one seemed into them, and they had to keep asking everyone to respond to them, which I always find tacky. Don't get me wrong - I appreciated them, but didn't become a fan, really.


Lacuna Coil disappointed me. I really like their recorded music, but they don't have the same oomph live. Plus the singer kept doing this stupid thing where she bent over and headbanged with her head between her legs, it was dumb.


Hatebreed has never been a favorite of mine. They were good for what they are, but I think they sound just like 50 other "Hardcore" bands. Don't get me wrong, I enjoyed it, but I didn't want to come home and buy their album or anything.


Avenged Sevenfold was awesome. Energetic and right on. My only complaint was their set was WAY too short. Hatebreed probably played about 3 times as long as they did. It was also domintaed by a way-too-long guitar solo that made me wonder if there was some kind of equipment failure that had to be covered for. I really liked their rendition of Pantera's "Walk" though.


Disturbed surprised me. I've never been a fan, but I really got into them at this show. They were real tight and heavy. The singer gave his speech about metal and stuff, used some words that aren't really cuss words, but that I can't use here. Let's just say that they non-hetero peple in the audience seemed really offended. I heard what he was saying, and agreed with a lot of it, but I think he needs to calm down. Aside from that, they were very good.


System of a Down. Hard to describe. I like all of their musicians, all of their vocals, and I liked their messages, too. I liked the show they put on. I just don't like them. I find them much too random and all over the place, and it just doesn't work for me. I'd have rather seen A7X in the headlining role.


Ozzy didn't play here in San Diego. Apparently we didn't pay him enough to play here. Lame. Incredibly lame.


So that's my review. Take it or leave it. =P

 

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yah i was told the SD fest was pretty lame except for when disturbed and SOAD played and we were one of the shows that didnt get ozzy

SOAD wasent that good this time one of my friends(a huge system fan) decided we could leave early cause they sucked. Evidently they played their entire new CD (with Chop Suey in there somewhere) and ignoring their first album. Whatever. System's music is weird soft melody, soft melody, soft melody, JAKSDHKJASHFDUWHRARHARHAHGHGHGHG, soft meolody, soft melody, soft melody, AILHSFJHAJEHRARARHAGHGHGHGHG for every damn song.

 

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Yep, that about sums it up.

 

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