Ozzfest 2005 TR

[dipstik]

It It f'ing rocked!

Wicked Wisdom was terrible, Gizmachi was forgettable, Trivium was great considering how young those guys are, they put on a great show and this is definitely not the last we'll be seeing of them, "Like Light to Flies" is a cool song, it really got the crowd going.

Soilwork got a shitty set time (around 10 a.m.) but put on a great show: a few new songs, a few old. They closed with "As We Speak", which is one of my favorites. It Dies Today was just OK, Arch Enemy was probably one of the best second stage bands. Their chick lead singer has an unbelievable voice and really knows how to use it. I thought The Haunted were pretty good, but I guess not a lot of other people did. The singer got pissed off at the crowd when he screamed in the middle of a song "you wanna hear some more?" and no one really reacted, so they cut their set short.


Bury Your Dead was sick, some of the biggest pits of the day for these guys. I missed The Black Dahlia Murder and A Dozen Furies because I needed to get out of the sun for a little bit, but I heard A Dozen Furies sucked the big one. (they were the band that won "battle for Ozzfest"). Mastadon and As I Lay Dying were good, though I didn't really know any of their music. Killswitch was one of the other best second stage performances, the crowd loved 'em, especially "My Last Serenade".

I had to miss Rob Zombie's set so that I could make it over to the main stage for In Flames. I was a little irked that In Flames was coming on just a few minutes after Zombie's set ended, because there was no way anyone could watch both sets in their entirety, and unfortunately for In Flames, a good number of people missed their set because they were still making the walk over from the second stage. In Flames also kinda got screwed for their set time (20 minutes, only enough for 5 songs!), but they still rocked all the fans that decided to skip Zombie for them. They also played mostly new stuff, with "Pinball Map" being the furthest they went back, but it was still great to finally see them live.

Up next on the main stage was Black Label Society, who were a little disappointing. Zakk Wylde is an amazing guitar player, but the whole set just sounded like a giant guitar solo. I think Zakk spent too much time showing off his mad guitar steeze (even once playing with his teeth) than trying to work the crowd or focus on anything else.

Shadows Fall was another great main stage band, though I can't say I know their music too well. They originated in Ma., so naturally the crowd loved then.

Mudvayne was next, and though I know a lot of people really love their music, I thought they were the worst main stage band. In fact, they kinda sucked. They played a pretty bland set, especially for 45 freakin' minutes, but the crowd seemed to like it.

Iron Maiden totally killed it!!! I wasn't sure what to expect, but they were no doubt the performance of the day. Bruce and the guys, despite their age, still have an amazing stage presence, and can still really just play good music!! The crowd rose up for these guys, and were standing throughout the entire hour+ set. They are an amazing live band, their sound is perfect, hardly any distinction between live and prerecorded. I have to say I was blown away by the energy these guys had, if you are going to Ozzfest this year just to see these guys, you will not be disappointed!!!

Unfortunately a number of things kept me from seeing Black Sabbath, so I had to head out after Maiden, but all in all I wasn't the least bit disappointed. It was a really long day (9 a.m.- 9 p.m.) in the HOT sun (85+ degrees, minimal cloud cover, $3.50 bottles of water). but I had a great time.

Notable second stage performances:
Arch Enemy, Killswitch Engage, Trivium

Notable main stage performances:
In Flames
Iron Maiden

[hop]

as lifted from the metal geeks at www.ironmaiden.org

Ides of March
wraithchild
Trooper
revelations
phantom
run
number (goat head)
hollowed
iron maiden walk on Eddie
#####
running free
sanctuary

Short, but sweet. I'd like to see Prowler and Die w/ your boots on in there (as per European tour), but then again I'm also not complaining. Stoked on Revelations and especially Phantom of the Opera.

[Jumper Bones]

I'm fucking pissed I can't get my iTunes account to work. I'm away on business to Oklafuckinghoma for several months, and I really really want the As I lay dying CDs. Grrrrrrrrrrrrr!

Maybe I'll just have to see if I can make it to Ozzfest in Dallas. There's a Monsters of Metal show I want to catch there in August, with Fear Factory and Megadeth....yeah.

I'm also fucking pissed as I got here about a week or two too late, Static-X just toured all through Texas for their new CD, and I missed 'em. Where are they going next? Fucking Seattle. Goddammit!