August , 28 West Palm Beach Coral Sky Amphitheatre
Review : by Gatorgrl

Woke up at 4:30AM and began getting ready for my road trip to West Palm for Ozzfest. Hit the road at 6:00AM with my new stepson who had never been to anything like Ozzfest before, since my girlfriend had to cancel at the last minute due to illness. It will be a 2 ½ hour trip across the state. We stop half way and run into several others who were also making the pilgrimage.
We arrive at the venue around 8:30AM and pay the extra $20.00 for preferred parking so I can hopefully get out early. I grab my bat balloon, hide my cameras in all the good places and head for the gates. They then tell me that I cannot bring my precious bat balloon inside, that I must let the helium out. WTF? So I do like I’m told, go inside the bathroom and remove the hidden cameras and blow my balloon back up, except without helium (Those bastards!). We walk around and check out all the sights, waiting for the 2nd stage to kick off. KSE starts the show with their guitarist in a pink pig suit, only to have the generator go up in a cloud of black smoke during their last (?) song. It had started raining and apparently the generator blew. We waited a bit and eventually gave up and went to the other side.
Apparently they got it back up and I totally missed Shadows Fall. We got back over just in time to see Unloco on stage and about five minutes after that again we see the familiar cloud of black smoke coming from the generator. I decide this can’t be a good sign and depart for the other side once more. After some time, they get it back running once more. We went into The End by Jonathan Davis and checked out the movie in the SoBe trailer. I really didn’t get into any of the 2nd stage bands this year, unlike years past. I gave them all a shot, it’s just not my cup of tea this year. Spent most of my time taking pictures of my stepson with body painted females and walking around gawking at the number of children that were there with no ear plugs! I had only brought in 2 pair but quickly gave them out to 2 little kids whose parents didn’t have enough common sense to think of their child’s well being. The poor things were covering their little ears and looked like they were in pain as their adults made their way closer and closer to the noise.

PEOPLE IF YOU INSIST ON BRINGING YOUNG ONES TO THESE SHOWS, BUY THEM SOME FUCKING EAR PLUGS YOU IDIOTS!

ALSO, IF YOU ARE PREGNANT AND INTO YOUR 4th MONTH OR BEYOND, YOU ARE DAMAGING YOUR UNBORN BABIES EAR DRUMS AT THESE SHOWS. THEY CAN HEAR!
I counted at least 8 very pregnant women that shouldn’t have been there, in my book. Not much more to say about the 2nd stage except it rained on and off most of the morning.

We then made our way over to our seats after waiting around at the stairs for about 10 minutes for people that didn’t show. Chevelle blew, simply because their music didn’t really compliment the bill very well. The crowd didn’t give them hell though, they were descent to them. We sat and were more entertained by this drunk who was dancing a few empty rows in front of us. He was clearly having a good time dancing and talking on his flip flop shoe phone. The guy in front of me sparked one up during Manson’s set and of all the weed, he had to be smoking fuckin skunk weed. WHY?!? I don’t mind smelling dope being burned, but for the love of God, at least burn some good shit. I hate skunk weed.

Manson did a descent job, not my type of music, but he does put on a pretty interesting show. His last Ozzfest show in ‘01 was much better though. And the naked outfits could stand to look a little more realistic for a better effect. I met up with Carter3d who found me in my seat. He really surprised me, not what I had invisioned him to be at all. Not that that was a bad thing, just a shock is all.

Disturbed was next and did a good job, but again I felt that their ‘01 performance was better. Maybe they were just tired from the long tour, it just seemed like they didn’t give a fuck basically. The rains started hammering those in the lawn and the patches of sod began to fly and I don’t mean handfuls of mud, I mean total patches of fuckin sod! I was thankful for being in section 1. It wasn’t long before they started pelting those in the back rows of seats with that shit too. I began blowing up my enormous beach ball.

I was looking forward to seeing Korn, simply because I have never seen them live before. They did good too. More energy than Disturbed and had great visuals behind them. I basically got what I expected on that one. I wasn’t really disappointed with them. I did get highly pissed off during their set though. I don’t mind if one or two people sneak in and steal a seat but when that one or two turns into 10 or 12 trying to get past me and my big beachball, I fuckin lost it! I turned around and went the fuck off on all of them, just as a cop was coming up behind them kicking them all out. I swear some people have the fuckin nerve! There was no way I was gonna let that shit fly when Ozzy took the stage…NO FUCKIN WAY!

Met up with Blackdeb, Ozzmancomith, Rintintin and Chuck for group pictures. Snuck Blackdeb in and let her have my seat for Ozzy since she had flown so far to see him, I didn’t feel she should have to see him from the lawn. I know all too well what it’s like to travel to see Ozzy and get shit on. Skunk guy let me stand next to him, so I let her have my seat right behind me. The pictures will be up hopefully by Tuesday. Awesome group of people. Glad we all finally got to meet. We’ll have to make it an annual event.

Ozzy finally takes the stage! J I’ve already listed his complete set list earlier so I won’t get into it now. I noticed his band rushed the hell out of the first three songs and Ozzy did his best to keep up. It was insane. By the fourth song, they had calmed down and were playing right. Ozzy sounded great, all things considering. He never missed a cue and never fumbled a lyric. He was dead on in my book. I launched my beachball during “Goodbye To Romance”. It made it’s way around a bit before being devoured by the fuckin pit to the right of the stage. It was never seen from again. L I only hope Ozzy got to see it after the show. I put messages all over it from us all here on the Ozzy board.
Ozzy looked great from where I was standing, much better than has been recently reported from earlier shows. I was very happy to see him do so well, especially for his Ozzfest show of the year. I only wish the skunk guy next to me would have left to take that shit he so badly needed to go take, cause I had to keep getting assaulted with his noxious fumes without the forewarning of sound and trust me, it was fuckin brutal, but as I’ve said a million times before…ANYTHING FOR OZZY! I didn’t notice anything else around me because I was in my “Ozzy trance”. I saw and hear no flaws on his part. Zakk fucked up some of Randy’s solo’s, as he always seems to do. And each year, his solo seems to get longer and longer, much to my displeasure. I know Ozzy thinks the world of him, but I still fuckin hate him with a passion. Why oh why couldn’t he have been in that plane instead?

We leave the show, in the rain of course and head for the truck after the show. We get there and find out that jr has left the parking lights on the entire fuckin day and the battery is now dead and he has no jumper cables in this truck yet, cause it’s new. I tell him to raise the hood and I get out in the rain and look for a jump. (Oh the fun) So much for me getting out early with preferred parking. I have AAA but there was no way they were going to be able to get in with all the traffic going out. Luckily for us a parking olot attendant rode by in a cart after about 30 minutes and was able to jump us off. Thank you whoever you are! We eventually get out and check in to the hotel. I take a long hot shower and pass out as soon as I hit the pillow.

All in all, it was a great day!

Review : by Gatorgrl