MAIN STAGE REVIEWS:
Zakk Wylde’s Black Label Society:  After all the second stage bands whose goal was simply to play loud, it was refreshing to hear a true musician like Wylde, who provided multiple lengthy guitar solos and made eardrums bleed with the loudest performance of the night. This band is not nearly as well-known as even Drowning Pool or Mudvayne from the second stage, but it’s easy to see why the festival’s organizers wanted them on the main stage.  GRADE: B+

Crazy Town:  Crazy Town’s rap-heavy style clearly didn’t fit in, but they deserve credit for going on full-steam with their performance, despite the fact that the crowd completely didn’t care. They were probably happy the crowd was indifferent, as some previous Ozzfest crowds have been downright contemptible.  GRADE: C

Disturbed:  The band managed to get the place rocking, despite the fact that lead singer Dave Dramain looked more like a German Nazi than a rock singer, with his bald head, sleeveless black vest and black boots. They did revv up the crowd, especially when they talked about how they wanted to lead the revolution against the Britney Spearses and N Syncs of the world. They captured the audience’s attention with a Pantera cover, "Respect Rock", a Tears for Fears cover, "Shout," and their closer, the hit single "Stupefy."  GRADE: B-

Linkin Park:  Linkin Park was by far the most disappointing band of the evening. They never played their current smash, "Crawling," a song which would have had the entire audience screaming along. They skipped a song in order to sing "Happy Birthday" to Papa Roach lead singer Coby Dick, which was a total waste of time because most of the audience didn’t sing along. If they skipped "Crawling" in order to sing "Happy Birthday," they have a lot of explaining to do. They closed with "One Step Closer," which didn’t really excite the crowd, who were still reeling from the birthday fiasco.   GRADE: D

Papa Roach:  Papa Roach was the third rap-rock band to perform on the main stage, but they managed to set themselves apart. They were the first band of the entire afternoon that really sounded great, creating songs rather than just noise. The guitars were very clear, and singer Coby Dick was actually heard over the instruments. Dick was a madman onstage, running around, doing backflips and headstands, and jumping on the equipment. He also scored points when he announced that, unlike other bands who are in it for the money, Papa Roach are in it to connect with people and express what’s in their hearts.  GRADE: A-

Slipknot:  Chaos and pandemonium ruled when this nine-man outfit took the stage. Wearing their trademark rubber masks and red jumpsuits, the band showed why they are perhaps the hardest-rocking band in the world today. They played aggressive and violent music, and when they returned for an encore, the crowd joined in the destruction, throwing around plastic beer mugs, clumps of sod, and anything else they had to toss. Literally hundreds of objects were raining through the air, and with the music coming from the stage, it all seemed to make perfect sense.
GRADE: B

Marilyn Manson:  The spectacle of the evening. The group came out and ripped into one of their heaviest songs, "Irresponsible Hate Anthem," showing any skeptical fans that they were indeed here to rock. The band tore through their biggest hits, "The Dope Show," "Disposable Teens," and "The Beautiful People." Manson’s performance was all about theatrics. Attired in his usual leather waist band and not much else, he donned three-foot tall stilts for "The Nobodies" and stood behind a ten-foot tall podium for "Antichrist Superstar," behaving like an emperor, bowing and smiling to his admirers.
    During one song, he put on a long black cape and stood on a platform several feet off the ground. As the song began, the platform began rising, finally coming to rest just feet from the roof of the pavilion. He stood at least 50 feet in the air, right in front of the giant video screen, with his cape stretching all the way to the ground. It was vintage Manson, though the one moment that most will remember was during a stellar performance of the Eurythmics cover "Sweet Dreams." Manson proceeded to bend over, expose his bare backside, and do something with the microphone that can’t be printed here, while the cameras captured an extreme close-up. The moment proved that, although Manson compromised somewhat by playing the songs he thought an Ozzfest crowd would want to hear, he was unwilling to give up the boundary-pushing, shock-value style that first made him a household name.  GRADE: A

Black Sabbath:  Most everyone was here to see Ozzy Osbourne, Tommy Iommi and the reunited Black Sabbath, so they excused the many curiosities that marked their performance. Ozzy, at 50-something, must be going deaf, because if he screamed, "I can’t fucking hear you!" once, he did it a hundred times. He must also be going senile, because he wandered aimlessly around the stage and clapped off-rhythm all night. One also has to wonder how guitarist Iommi must have felt that every time he launched into a solo, Ozzy stole the spotlight, grabbing water guns and spraying the audience. It was cute seeing Ozzy pull off the childish gimmick once or twice; by the 20th time, it was just weird. Still, Ozzy has pretty much earned the right to do whatever the hell he wants. And while many of the band’s hits, particularly "Paranoid," didn’t sound as crisp as they could have, no one seemed to care on this night. GRADE:  B

OVERALL GRADE: B+

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