August 04, 2002 - Cleveland, OH - Ozzfest 2002

Venue:  Blossom Music Center

Lineup:  System of a Down, Rob Zombie, P.O.D.,  Drowning Pool, Adema, Black Label Society, Down, Hatebreed, Meshuggah, Soil, Flaw, 3rd Strike, Pulse Ultra, Ill Nino, Andrew W.K., Glassjaw, The Used, Sw1thced, Otep, Lostprophets, The Apex Theory, Neurotica, Chevelle

Ozzfest 2002 was my fourth conert and my first music festival.  It was also the only concert I have ever attended with my older brother Mike.

As far as I was aware, Ozzfest had always been a traveling one day festival that featured a long day's worth of bands playing unopposed, one right after the other.  On this particular day, it was in the 80s and 90s and the first half of the day took place on a hot asphalt parking lot.

The band Down closed out the second stage, and then everyone had to move on over to the amphitheater for Black Label Society onward.  Andrew W.K was an early stand-out, and he brought an energy and a fun that I had not witnessed in a live setting before.  I still tell people about how he would tuck the taped up microphone into the front of his pants rather than set it down, and then proceed to pound on what sounded and looked like it would have to be the same key on a beat-up old keyboard.

Black Label Society and Adema were boring, but Drowning Pool was energetic and put on a good show (singer Dave Williams would die 10 days later of an un-diagnosed heart defect).  P.O.D were already a joke to me and they did not change my mind.  Rob Zombie was good fun and he played the 4-5 songs that everyone wanted him to.  We knew going into the festival that Ozzy had cancelled due to his wife Sharon getting diagnosed with cancer.  System of A Down played an extra long set that included almost every song off of their first two albums.

Alongside all of these metal acts, Ozzfest introduced me to and prepared me for some of the worst aspects of music festivals.  From the ridiculous bathroom lines leading to filthy bathrooms to the price gouging on water (I remember it being $7-9 for a 20oz bottle of Dasani), it was a hot, dirty wake-up call.  I recall trudging up to the top of the lawn towards the end of the evening, t find that they were just giving away bottles of water.  People had been passing out in the 90 degree heat, and someone, somewhere finally made the right call.

I used to look back onto my attending Ozzfest as something I should be embarrassed by, especially considering that many of these acts have passed into obscurity or are considered to be some of the worst bands to come out of the late 90s and early 00s, but now I look back on it fondly.

Fourteen years later, even though he is still alive and well, and lives nearby, Ozzfest was the last major thing that I did with my brother Mike.

I should really give him a call.