It was a rainy day at the beginning, but the real storm didn't occur until around 6 p.m. We got to Blossom Music Center around 1 p.m. We walked in as Throwdown was playing on the second stage. They were decent, a hardcore band. We really didn't pay attention to them, walking around, etc. Lamb of God was next, and I was very impressed. As a fan of Death Metal_Hardcore, they combined the Death elements with some Metallica and Slayer-esque riffs. You can tell who they grew up listening to. I would definitely check out their CD.

Up next was Hatebreed, one of my favorite new bands on the metal scene. In a word, they were outstanding. They got the crowd into it, forming a huge circle pit in the parking lot where the second stage was located. Jamey Jasta (who is also the host of the new Headbangers Ball) kept the crowd going. Anyone who wasn't into Hatebreed prior had to be won over by their stage presence and their sound. Some of their messages in their songs are cliche (most of their songs have a positive message, which goes against the genre), but they are very good at what they do. My fiance met the band afterward in the Jagermeister signing tent, and they took the time to thank everyone for coming to the show and supporting them, always engaging in a conversation with everyone as they walked through. Wow, rock stars who care about the fans. What a novel concept! (Oh, Jamey Jasta himself mentioned that, by logging on to his website, you can request any video for the Ball, and he will get them on www.jameyjasta.com).

Up next was Slipknot. I really don't care for Slipknot. They sound good, but I don't like the gimmick. Plus, there's a Cleveland bias against Slipknot for stealing the gimmick of a band called Mushroomhead, which is a locally-based band. There were some boos. I spent this portion of the show meeting one of my idols, Kerry King, getting his autograph and shaking his hand. Slayer is the greatest!!!
I got down to the pavilion in time for Black Label Society. Zakk Wylde is the best Metal guitarist around. The man is one man concert. All his stuff has a Sabbath-like sound to it, and Zakk's singing is like Ozzy Osbourne with more balls. The fans that watched went nuts. His sound guy could have been better, but Black Label Society held their own and then some. I'd love to see Black Label headline, or get a better placement on the bill with more time. The Ohio Chapter, as he called us, definitely delivered for Zakk.

Superjoint Ritual…(Note to Phil Anselmo, heroin is bad, you shouldn't shoot up heroin, mmm kay). Combine heroin with bitterness, and you have Phil Mother fucking, god-damn Anselmo, the lead guy for Super Fucking Joint Fucking Ritual, mother fuckers. The man ranted for 5 minutes in between songs, sometimes forgetting what he was talking about, saying God-damn and Mother fucking every other word. As in, This next fucking song goes out to all the god-damn mother fuckers out there who don't give a fuck about god-damn anything. I want to see all you mother fuckers out there making some fucking noise. God-damn right, mother fuckers. I guess Phil wasn't happy with Cleveland. He tried to start an Ozzy chant that didn't get picked up on, and then he said, If I were Ozzy, I'd be pretty pissed off at you fuckers. After his last song, he said that this Ozzfest crowd was the worst Ozzfest crowd he's seen. Suck my dick! and threw down his mic. Despite all this, I liked their stuff. Very loud and fast, and Phil can still do that patented yell.

OK, Dimmu Borgir is fucking terrible. I saw Cradle of Filth last year. Same gimmick, yet better stage show and music. And, I like Death Metal_Black Metal, but these guys stunk up the place. Musically, they were good. But, they went over like a fart in church. The only good thing about them was I could rest up and get some beers before the mighty Slayer came aboard.
Slayer is my favorite band of all time. I've seen them 8 times in my life. Once again, they were phenomenal, but I could tell something lacked. They didn't play Angel of Death (minus points for that), and after their last song, Tom Araya simply said Thanks, and walked off the stage. No encore or nothing. Slayer needs to headline to truly appreciate them live. Even friends of mine who didn't really like Slayer thought their performance was cool. Everyone's favorite Satanists delivered once again.

I've never seen a band outdo Slayer in concert, and that includes Pantera. However, Judas Priest blew EVERYONE off the stage. They were super. Rob Halford can still bring it vocally, continueally hitting the high notes. He strutted around the stage like he owned the joint, and for 75 minutes, he did. Some people in my group weren't into Judas Priest before, but after their set, were on their feet and yelling and cheering them on. I definitely liked the older stuff, like Victim of Changes, The Green Manalishi and Beyond the Realm of Death. Halford came out on the Harley for Hell Bent For Leather, and finished up with Living After Midnight and You've Got Another Thing Coming. I've never seen Judas Priest before, so it was definitely a life-altering moment. I will definitely see them again if they come back around.

The best part is, Priest is done, everyone's pumped, and you still have Black Sabbath coming up. It's was like the cake was done and icing was on it, now all you needed was the decorations. Sabbath was the decorations, and Ozzy and Co. delivered. I had heard bad reviews about Sabbath's prior performances, but they seemed motivated to put on a good show this time. Ozzy was running all over the place (he always seems to play well in Cleveland) and his singing was right on. Iommi was great, Geezer was great, hell, even Bill Ward was great (he looked like he was about to keel over when they came in 2001). Their set was exactly how it was described in every other review I've read on this website, but it was still awesome. The show ended just after 22:30 with Sabbath taking a much-deserved bow to cap a truely amazing concert.

It was by far the best concert I've ever seen and well worth the $80 we spent on pavilion seats. It's not every day you can see Slayer, Judas Priest and Black Sabbath back-to-back-to-back. Throw in Phil Anselmo, Zakk Wylde, Slipknot and Hatebreed, and some body painting, and you've got yourself a show that will go down in history. Hopefully, next year's Ozzfest will be just as good, but it will be hard to top.

[Ed. Note: Has there been a review of Ozzfest that didn't make reference to Anselmo and his excessive swearing and inane rants? Makes me think that it might be a good thing that the Anselmo_Iommi project didn't work out. Could you see that on tour? OK you fuckers, here's a mother fuckin' Black Sabbath fuckin' Song. You better go fucking crazy, because this is fucking awesome god-damn fucking shit, you FUCKERS!]