Live And In The Flesh
Ozzfest - July 24, 2001
Ozzfest 2001! Where to begin? We were a bunch of sixteen year olds just getting into the concert scene and we heard about Ozzfest coming to Toronto. This was the first time that Ozzy's major festival would be making its way through Ontario's capital. Black Sabbath were headlining the entire tour as all four original members had just reunited and were back in the studio for the first time in years. That alone couldn't be missed, while everyone else on the bill was considered a bonus, for the most part anyhow. There were plenty more acts to catch throughout that entire summer day down at The Docks in Toronto. Marilyn Manson would be one of the bigger names playing the festival as he was out touring his Holy Wood album which had just been released the winter prior. Slipknot, Black Label Society, Mudvayne, Taproot, Nonpoint, Drowning Pool, Hatebreed, Spineshank, The Union Underground, Disturbed, Linkin Park, Papa Roach, Slaves on Dope, Project Wyze, and even the lovable Crazytown all joined in on the festivities. As you can see, the Nu Metal scene was thriving. Most of these bands were out promoting their first albums, and experiencing their first taste of major success.
About half a dozen of us piled into our buddy's dad's van and headed to the big city. This was my second time attending a major festival, first one in Toronto. We couldn't have asked for a more beautiful day. Seeing as how the gates opened at 10:00 am, we had to get up bright and early for the four hour drive. By the time we made it to the venue, which ended up being a few stages set up in a parking lot by the water, the temperature had to of been in the mid-twenties already and it hadn't even reached noon yet. I can remember us cooking in no time out on that pavement. Water had turned into gold as they sold it at $4 a bottle.
Some of the lesser known bands were getting things started up throughout the various stages they had set up. We were able to cool ourselves down a bit indoors at one of the stages before we decided to make our way back out into the sweltering heat. We knew Mudvayne were about to hit the stage and weren't wanting to miss them. We managed to catch the last half of their set before Slaves on Dope came out to try their luck with the crowd. We caught Hatebreed, Spineshank, Drowning Pool, Nonpoint, Taproot and The Union Underground before needing to rehydrate ourselves again. One band after the next out there seemed to be giving it everything they had, regardless of the heat from the mid-day sun. We gathered ourselves in the smallest bit of shade that we were able to find before we headed over to the main stage to see what kind of action it was providing.
Things were starting to get pretty heavy with Black Label Society on the stage. They had just released their second album Stronger Than Death and graced us with a few killer jams, finishing off their five song set with No More Tears, an Ozzy Osbourne cover. Crazytown then came out, which seemed pretty strange to have BLS play before them. The crowd didn't seem to care for them much either as bottles, some empty, some full of urine, were hurled to the stage. Disturbed came out onto the main stage next and played some of their debut album trying to win over some fans. I wasn't that into them but they were alright. Linkin Park came out swinging with a Guns N' Roses cover, Welcome to the Jungle. It seemed as though they were trying to avoid the same outcome Crazytown had been faced with not long before. The sets began to get a bit longer as they played for nine tracks, all of them off of their Hybrid Theory album. Papa Roach followed them up as they tried to get everyone prepped up for the next band slotted on the bill, Slipknot.
Slipknot had just blown up and we were pretty excited to finally get a chance to witness this nine man wrecking machine running at their prime. We knew they would be pulling out all of the stops that day at Ozzfest, and did they ever deliver. They were gearing up for the release of their second studio album, Iowa due out later that summer. The very first track would be a taste of what was to come. People=Shit had the crowd losing their minds in no time. Liberate and Eeyore, a couple of amazing tracks off of their debut self-titled release were played next. We would get another new track before they dove back into their first album to play Purity and Eyeless. We couldn't believe what we were experiencing out there. The crowd was going wild, the heat was unbearable, and the mosh pits had bodies flying everywhere. At one point during their set they asked the entire crowd of thousands to all crouch down before one of their tracks had everyone jumping around. We had a couple of bigger guys behind us begin to shove us around. We were pretty beat anyways and didn't want the hassle, so we decided to tone things down a bit. Spit It Out and Wait and Bleed finished up their regular set. (sic) and Surfacing were chosen to wrap their twelve song set up. They were everything we had expected and then some. Watching all nine of those guys on stage together doing their thing was incredible. Their energy was phenomenal.
Slipknot had already made the show worthwhile and we had yet to see Manson come out to perform his theatrics. Right out of the gate Manson busted out a classic from Antichrist Superstar - Irresponsible Hate Anthem, the perfect opener to his set. He had the crowd pumping their fists and cheering along in no time and proved just how much of a true performer he really was. The Reflecting God followed that up, another Antichrist Superstar era track. So far his set was full of energy and Manson was giving it everything he had. He then dove into his Holy Wood (In the Shadow of the Valley of Death) material, first with Disposable Teens, then The Fight Song, and then The Nobodies. It was incredible how each track turned the energy up within the crowd. About half way through Manson's set he stopped the show to call out a member in the crowd for throwing a water bottle at him up on stage. Manson pointed out the individual and called him up on stage to have a water bottle duel (actual duel, ten paces and everything) before letting him back down into the crowd as he continued his set. This moment was later included in Manson's Guns, God and Government World Tour DVD. The two Mechanical Animals singles were thrown into the mix that night as well, Rock Is Dead, and The Dope Show. A few more Holy Wood tracks were played along with his classic Eurythmics cover, Sweet Dreams (Are Made of This) before he finished it all off with Antichrist Superstar and The Beautiful People. Marilyn Manson had proven to be a force to be reckoned with after he had finished his thirteen song setlist up. I'm glad we were able to catch him during this tour as his career would seemingly begin to slip post Holy Wood.
Last but not least was Black Sabbath. The original lineup had reunited back in '97 and announced that they were back in the studio recording a new album. Bill Ward had recently recuperated from a heart attack in '98, so we thought we better jump at this opportunity to witness these living legends. Living would be a bit of an overstatement for Ozzy that night. It seemed like they had to wheel him out on stage for the show as he proceeded to read most of the lyrics off of his sheets of paper. We were pretty wiped by this point in the night and the sheer lack of enthusiasm from Ozzy had lost our interest. The crowds of leather-clad, old, biker chicks seemed to be loving every minute of it though. Needless to say they did play all of their classic songs that night, and Iommi and Butler were on point all show. N.I.B. started things up for them followed up by one of my favourites, Snowblind. Bill Ward was even busting out some pretty heavy drum solos throughout their set. Scary Dreams was played along with War Pigs and the infamous Iron Man. We couldn't help but chime along. Ozzy just couldn't keep up any longer though. This was around the time his MTV show had been taking off, so perhaps his head was elsewhere. Luckily, their 2014 tour proved to be much more energetic and enthusiastic for Ozzy which had reinstilled our faith in the Prince of Darkness.
Sabbath played a total of ten of their hits, finishing off the last half of their set with Into the Void, The Wizard, Black Sabbath, Paranoid, and Children of the Grave. Regardless of how terrible Ozzy was that night, we were pretty thankful to have been able to catch such an amazing band live. The true pioneers of heavy metal were still slugging away out there drawing in crowds in the tens of thousands. Our night wrapped up and the crew of us climbed back into the mini van for the tour home after the long, sweaty day out in the heat.