Live-Metal.Net - Concerts: Ozzfest 2007

What was the difference between the Ozzfests of years past and this year’s so-called “Freefest”? The lineup didn’t quite have the star power we have become accustomed to over the past decade. Instead, it featured a mix of established acts that could afford to tour for two months without getting paid but are still looking to expand their audience (Lamb of God, Static-X, Hatebreed) and lesser known acts who can’t get the kind of exposure Ozzfest offers on their own (virtually everyone else). Throw in sponsor logos everywhere you look (including the bands’ stage backdrops), and that was about it. From a fan’s perspective, the show rolled on as usual. You’ll hear no complaints from me on that because Ozzfest is always one of the highlights of my summer.

The bulk of the action occurred in a parking lot across the street from the Tweeter Center on the Jägermeister second stage (actually a flatbed truck). The bill proved to be the most diverse of the seven Ozzfests I have attended and sported a distinct international flavor: the power metal of Canada’s 3 Inches of Blood; the Southern stylings of The Showdown; the technical death metal of Nile; Ankla’s Latin metal; the black metal of Taiwan’s Chthonic; the death metal of Poland’s Behemoth. However, In This Moment and DevilDriver emerged as the two stars of the second stage. In This Moment frontwoman Maria Brink caught the crowd’s attention and the band’s melodic metal that takes a page or two from hardcore held it. They showed they are more than an act with a pretty face as they worked the audience into its biggest frenzy to that point. Twenty minutes was far too short a set for them. But as good as In This Moment was, DevilDriver might have been even better. With three albums now under their belts, they have grown from Dez Fafara’s new band into a tight, brutal musical unit. Someone hearing them now for the first time would never guess that Fafara first rose to prominence as part of the “nü metal” scene with Coal Chamber. Their vicious performance was arguably the best of the entire day. Dez gets extra points for taking another shot at hardcore dancing, which is just plain silly.

Unless you’re a headliner, the main stage of Ozzfest is always a tough gig. Fans are spent from rocking out at the second stage all day under the hot sun (though not on this day; it was overcast and actually a little chilly at times—a first for me at Ozzfest). Most of the crowd is seated. There might be a small pit area in front of the stage, but most of those on their feet are on the lawn, which must feel like it’s miles away to the performers.

The teenaged Black Tide kicked off the main stage. They are going have a hard time winning over much of the metal audience simply because they look so young. But they’re musical chops are impressive, and they showed their old-school roots with a nice cover of Metallica’s “Hit the Lights.” Finland ’s Lordi, with their monster masks and costumes, put on an entertaining, pyrotechnics-filled show, though their brand of hard rock is maybe a little too cheesy for my liking—they actually have a song called “Who’s Your Daddy?”—and 45 minutes was a long time for a band few in the audience had ever heard before. Static-X finally revved up the crowd with their self-described “evil disco,” and I think a large part of it was that many were happy just to see and hear someone they recognized. “Cold,” their track from the Queen of the Damned soundtrack, was one of the better songs of the day. Lamb of God brought a more extreme sound to the main stage, and though the setting seemed too big for them, they punished the crowd for a full 60 minutes. You know what you’re going to get from them and they delivered: no flashy stage show, no bells and whistles; just one pummeling song after another.

Then, of course, there was Ozzy. The man is approaching the age of 60, and he is nowhere near what he once was. But who cares? He’s Ozzy, the prince of darkness, and he has Zakk Wylde (guitar), Mike Bordin (drums) and Rob “Blasko” Nicholson (bass) backing him up. None of what I’ve written about would be possible without him. “I’m not going away,” he sings on one of his new songs. Legions of metal fans wouldn’t have it any other way.