On This Day in History

On this date, 6/12/2001, Ozzfest took over Deer Creek for a glorious day of headbanging and metal debauchery. The main stage bands were Black Sabbath, Marilyn Manson, Slipknot, Papa Roach, Linkin Park, Disturbed, Crazy Town, Black Label Society, and Taproot. The second stage featured Mudvayne, Otep, Union Underground, Nonpoint, Hatebreed, Systematic, Pure Rubbish, American Head Charge, Godhead, Drowning Pool, and Beautiful Creatures. It is nearly impossible to see every band, so each individual kind of charts their own path through the day, making each person’s Ozzfest experience a unique adventure. My favorites that day included American Head Charge and Hatebreed from the earlier sets. Nonpoint were pretty good, too. Union Underground looked like they would be a lot more fierce than they ultimately turned out to be, but they were still good enough that I wound up purchasing their CD. Otep were phenomenal, performing on this tour before they were even signed to a label. Otep herself was hypnotic and possessed of every ounce of fire and brimstone vocal ability as any of the men on that stage. I found myself directly in front of the stage during Mudvayne’s epic set and my shoulders were sore for a couple of days afterwards from helping lift crowd surfers over the barricade into the waiting arms of the security guys. The pits during Mudvayne’s show, particularly during their song “Dig”, were absolutely seismic events. Moving over to the main stage, a few of those bands were not received well by the metal masses. Crazy Town in particular were booed mercilessly. One kid up on the lawn stood with his back to them and held up his middle finger in their direction for the duration of their set. I agreed totally! Linkin Park, Disturbed and Papa Roach failed to do much for me, either. Slipknot got things going when the nine headed beast from Iowa took the stage, unleashing a fusillade of blasting percussion, crushing riffage and the scorched earth policy of Corey Taylor’s vocal chords. Marilyn Manson was still a bigger draw than the ‘knot at that time, and he brought his ghoulish charm to the prime time slot before the mighty Sabbath came to the stage and reminded us all that they are the undisputed godfathers of heavy metal. Ozzy is always great on his own, but there is another level above that, and that level is called Black Sabbath. There is just something in the chemistry of those original four members and the molten lava sound they created together. I’m sure glad I was there, and I sure do miss Ozzfest, and I continue to hope something comes along to take its place!

Written By Braddon S. Williams aka The Concert Critic