Ozzfest!!

I'm not as sunburned or tired as I was the past couple of years, I think I'm becoming a pro at this Ozzfest thing. I had a blast though. Chad and Jessi came into town Friday night and Saturday morning we rode up. This was Janine's first Ozzfest and I was super excited for her to see everything.

We left pretty much on my schedule, but I forgot and did not anticipate the traffic going to the beach on a Saturday, duh Mike. With the traffic and a power outage at the Rite Aid on our way to the venue to get water and sunblock we got there in time for Full Blown Chaos. I love the loud brutal New York in your face style of hardcore. Chad and I heard them asking for the crowd to chicken fight. There's no way with the asphault at the second stage anyone should do that! This was the first Ozzfest I went to where there wasn't gravel though. The Va Beach ampitheater was in much better shape than the two prior Nissan pavillions we had frequented in the past!

Bad Acid Trip came out next. I kinda consider them to be System of a Down lite, crazy tempo changes and random screams. They had their road crew come out and start their own circle pit though, very funny...entertaining group...not my style.

A Life Once Lost! God I loved that! That was some crazy loud fun stuff. They pretty much were everything I anticipated...nothing over the ordinary though. All That Remains was pretty much the same as I saw them last time too, just with a woman bass player. Neat. And she had the Ibanez bass that I want badly. I'll have to post a pic of it sometime.

I saw a little bit of Norma Jean. I just don't know how they can preform in flannel, more power to them. I liked their set too. I think Ozzfest has to have a Christian band playing every year for some reason, and Norma Jean was it.

Janine took our break and got back in time for Atreyu. zzzzz. Still the same stuff I saw at Ozzfest 2004 just with weaker songs and lack of delivery. I still appreciate them though in their own way.

There was no way in hell I was going to bear the heat to see Black Label Society. I would have stayed if I had some eggs in my pocket though! I can't support them after insulting Bruce Dickenson who has done more for metal than Zakk will ever freaking do.

We made our way up to the main stage early enough to get a nice shady spot under the venue roofing. We were all very fortunate it was a much cooler day than all of last week was. There was a nice cool breeze and things were very relaxing. Dragonforce started the main stage. Power metal...great. They were more silly than anything else, but they're British.

Next up, Lacuna Coil. We finally got to see them after they were a no show in 2004. They're pretty good, they stuck with their older music. Very melodic sound, very relaxing, semi gothic. It seems the band is all about Cristina Scabbia now though. There are other members in this band and they're all very talented!

Hatebreed! Man what a set! It's hard to get a lot of audience participation at the main stage, but people were waving t shirt, throwing their fists, and the mosh pit got started up in the lawn, pretty intense stuff! I can't wait for their new album next month!

Avenged Sevenfold.....what a wanking waste of time. Outside of their cover of Walk, which was very moving, and Unholy Confessions, we spent the time on the lawn throwing grass at each other and snoozing. Boring!

Distured woke us all up though. I was kinda miffed that they would have such a spot on the mainstage, but Ozzfest made this band, and the crowd loved them. Of course it is cool for them to play 10000 fists and there are literally 14,000 fists in the air. It was a nice crowd. Very drunk, very sunburned, very tired..yet..hyper.

System of a Down was the headliner this year and I am very glad I finally got to see them! Serj, Darren and the boys have an amazing stage pressence and they are super entertaining. Everyone there was on their feet and screaming and singing with the music. Especially the last two bands. I couldn't ask for a better crowd compared to last year when we were getting pelted with bottles of piss!

I am so proud and happy Janine stuck the day out with me. She did wonderful considering the lack of sleep from the previous night and I think that we're only going to have more and more fun beating the heat and the crowd and enjoying good music.

Jessi is my lil metal master. Most of the second stage I left her on her own and when the crowd got crazy at the main stage I wasn't as protective as I used to be. I hope she had a good time. It's my job to keep her around metal since her boyfriend is such a hippie! haha!

It was great to meet her friend Chad. I talked to him a lot about his projects. He also plays bass and I always love hearing about people doing studio work and about the equipment that he has. I'm jealous, but I told him when he plays at Ozzfest I hope to get passes backstage and in return I'd let him hang out backstage when I'm playing up at the mainstage!

All in all I had a great time. I can't wait for next year already and to hit more of the venues I wanted to hit this year. Just remind me to get the sunblock before going, it's always my luck that the power would go out at a Rite Aid of all places!

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