Ozzfest UK review, Interesting!!

Gonzo

Here is the Metalhammer Ozzfest UK review held at Castle Donnington the day previous to the Irish Ozzfest, apparently it never stoped raining for the 12 hour festival resulting in Ozzy catching a throat infection etc.

Hammer gets down and dirty at Donington! Check out all the action from the main stage!

11:00-11:25 Antiproduct
Unfortunately we were stuck in traffic when Antiproduct came on, but we bet they were crap anyway!

11:35-12:05 Zakk Wylde's Black Label Society
On a bill chock full of nu-metal, it's good to know there's someone like Zakk Wylde still happy to represent the old school. And make no mistake; Mr Wylde's BLS are the living embodiment of 'old school'. Their powerful Pantera-meets-Alice In Chains may be in a losing fight with a suss PA in a force nine gale, but it's still enough to keep the older members of the crowd awake until Ozzy's set! [7]

12:15-12:45 Mad Capsule Markets
Brave additions to today's festivities, Japan's MCM are easily the most distinctive band on today's bill, with their full throttle brand of strangely accessible hardcore techno. A great example of how you don't have to be playing metal to be heavy, they smother the spiritual home of rock in shattering sound effects and sonic booms that keep things interesting enough to temporarily forget the turgid weather. [7]

13:00-13:30 Drowning Pool
One of the things missing most from this bill is the kind of band who will resort to 'call and response' tactics and actually warm the crowd up. To their eternal credit, Drowning Pool make a valiant attempt and would have pulled it off, were it not for a lack of consistency in their songwriting abilities - part of this 'nu-metal for old' or 'any old metal' movement. The easily-consumed 'Sinner' starts things off in superb fashion and Dave Williams proves he's more than capable in his role of frontman, working the crowd like a pro. 'Bodies' brings their set to a combustible conclusion, but the similarly-paced nature of everything in between makes it hard to get too excited. [6]

13:45-14:25 Millencolin
Talk about a band being put on the wrong bill! Sweden's premier punk export would have probably gone down a storm on the second stage but never really stood a chance crow-barred onto the metal-tastic main stage. Crippled with a sound quieter than mice in the adjacent field and a highly unresponsive audience, their set must have felt like the most wasted half hour of their lives and that they persevere at all is a tribute to themselves. Great band, great songs, shame no-one noticed. [6]

14:40-15:25 Cradle Of Filth
While Dani's berating of Radio 1 is hilarious and the Filthsters up the volume of ladies on stilts from the usual two to an impressive four, the unfortunate fact remains that Cradle of Filth don't have stadium filling material. The likes of 'Her Ghost In The Fog' and 'Malice Through The Looking Glass' are lost today in the mammoth surroundings of Castle Donington. If you want the most out of Cradle, see them within the confines of a small club (or crypt). [5]

15:40-16:25 Lostprophets
If ever the stage was set for the Lostprophets to step up from potential stars to rock gods, it was today and regrettably it just was not to be. Opening with a rather subdued 'Kobraki', the 'Prophets showcase a sound that was both restrained and sounding slightly out of tune. Whilst they usually detonate the venues they've been accustomed to playing, it's clear on this performance that the band still have a lot of growing up to do before filling the expectations of the world at large. A missed opportunity. [6]

16:40-17:30 Slayer
Despite that you were stood, caked in mud with your shoes slowly sinking into the ground and the rain tumbling down on you at a frantic pace, watching the unbridled ferocity of Slayer was one of the most awe-inspiring events of the day. The spectacle of watching Slayer, complete with a breathtaking performance from Dave Lombardo, massacring the crowd their way through 'Hell Awaits', 'Post Mortem' and a particularly savage 'Reign in Blood' is as jaw-dropping today as it's ever been. [10]

17:45-19:00 System Of A Down
OK, if you've lasted this long you've been through the field-wide spin-cycle at least a dozen times. You can't remember what dryness feels like. You're drunk, and possibly flying, depending on who you've bumped into, and you've just about managed to not be ejected from security 'cos you don't possess the right armband (the whole day is without a doubt one of the most shoddily organised big gigs I've ever been to). Basically you're a ****ing survivor and the 10-year old kids crying into their dad's laps are simply grease for your boot treads.
System Of A Down have a hard job following what's come before but are more than up to the task. It's the best they've been on a huge stage, the sound, as it is all day, kinda blown to all four corners of South Notts, but still retaining its grasp over a gagging-for-it crowd by sheer virtue of how so much of 'Toxicity' has burrowed itself into everyone's brain in the past year. There's a noticeable change in the constitution of the pit as the weenie boppers threaten to trample you under foot but SOAD rise to the occasion, pitching everything at just that exactly right level between retaining their song's complexities and going for the jugular whenever they can. And just as you're feeling they could win the day (though Ill Nino and Hundred Reasons and Otep are joint winners), something ****s up with the lighting and they call it short by 20 odd minutes: coitus interuptus has rarely been so squelchy. [9]

19:15-20:30 Tool
Good job we can take delivery of a large portion of Tool: they're stunning. Somehow this band manage to reinvigorate every moment you've seen before into whole new avenues of abstraction. This side of the headliner, Maynard has a hold over the audience like no-one else: no 'Prison Sex', which got your goat somewhat, but 'Stinkfist', 'Schism' and 'Sober' were a triple whammy it was impossible to resist. Any band that can somehow imbue a pissing-wet evening in a mudbath in the Midlands with such mystery and magic have to be held in awe. [8]

20:45-22:30 Ozzy Osbourne
Ozzy Osbourne of course, every gig is a chance to believe again. He's incredible tonight, an object lesson in how to fill the sky with sound, how to play to the heavens. Whatever doubts you have about his new-found second- wind and celebrity, they evaporate as soon as he stumbles centre-stage and comes on the mic, Zakk shadowing every moment with perfect poses of rock godliness. THAT voice, that peal of anguish, fills the space like no-one else, tumbles through hits you've grown up on and newies that impossibly continue the myth. And sure by the fiftieth time he's screaming 'I CAN'T HEAR YOU' you feel like shouting, 'Turn your hearing aid up y'old get!' but for anyone to still devote so much energy to upping the electricity in so many strangers is both testament to how much he still ****ing cares about music and palpable proof of how much he still believes in rock'n'roll. You join the trudge homeward with that belief burning inside you and that's something bad organisation, an unfriendly God (cheers for the rain y'****) and the stench of burger-vomit can't erase. See y'next year. [9]

Gonzo

and here is Metalhammers review of the 2nd stage!

Hammer gets down and dirty at Donington! Check out all the action from the second stage!

11:00-11:25 Pulse Ultra
Okay, a word in Ozzfest's shell-like: fer Chrissakes, next time DON'T have the second stage inside Donington's exhibition centre. A cold, sterile, seemingly mile-long warehouse with all the party atmosphere of your average abattoir, it's not just that all day bands battle titanic sound problems, it's the feeling it gives you that you're cattle being prodded into the stun-gun line. With only two impossibly narrow ways in and out and with the rain muddying things underfoot, simply moseying to the second stage isn't an option and getting in and out of the place rapidly becomes something akin to the second day of the Somme. Pulse Ultra (at least I think that's who it is, the most frequent question shooting around all day is 'who the ****'s this then?') pull you in from the pissistent rain with their racket in a wind tunnel and 'Big Brother' sounds curiously apposite when you feel like Radio 1 are watching your every move. [7]

11:40-12:10 Flaw
Flaw capture you a hell of a lot more in the flesh than they can on vinyl: 'Payback' and 'My Letter' are perfect reasons not to be laughing your ass off at Zakk Wylde right now. [7]

12:25-12:55 Skindred
Skindred lash down a typically masterful set which actually plays on the stage's curious sense of space. Walking towards the stage things get progressively more deafening until Benji's in-yer-face gabba during 'Brainkilla' becomes part of the same unholy siren-noise bouncing around the walls and down your throat before you have a chance to object. Ace. [8]

13:10-13:40 Danko Jones
Danko Jones are my most pleasant surprise of the day (except for that little bag of base I found), a truly lurid slam-crush of sleazy blues a la Penthouse/Jesus Lizard crushed against pure QOTSA raunch. A mix perfect for the rising claustrophobia and a hiding place from the piss-awful Millencolin. [8]

13:55-14:25 Nonpoint
In comparison to Danko Jones the entirely accurately monikered Nonpoint can't compete. LET ME OUUTTA HERE!!!!!! [4]

14:20-15:10 OTEP
Taking to the stage with a whisper, it takes all of about three seconds before the band explode into life. Despite her diminutive stature, frontwoman Otep has a scrotum shrivelling growl that complements the impressive dynamics her band set around her. [7]

15:25-15:55 Mushroomhead
Taking to the stage like the demented army that they are, Mushroomhead form one of the most dazzling displays of showmanship in the world of modern metal. Playing their first UK show, the 'Heads powerful combination of dementia and raw power comes off even more powerfully today than it does on their 'XX' album, itself an immense achievement. Forget the Slipknot comparisons and how they look, Mushroomhead ****ing rock and that's the end of the discussion. [9]

16:10-16:40 Hell Is For Heroes
Urgh. That's the only way to really sum up how piss-poor Hell is for Heroes are. A jangly bunch of namby-pamby guitars and bogus angst is the very last thing you want on a day like this. If Hell Is For Heroes, then these geeky chimps are going directly to Heaven. [3]

16:55-17:25 Cyclefly
It takes Cyclefly all of five minutes to prove they're as insignificantly dull now as they were when they supported every band under the sun only a few years ago. Frontman Declan O'Shea still tries to hard to be a manic frontman but only succeeds in looking like a complete tool and his voice still sounds like a Smurf who's voice has recently broken. In short, Cyclefly just aren't very good. [4]

17:40-18:10 American Head Charge
Everybody's current rock darlings, American Head Charge come out with all guns blazing, pulverising all before them with a set that shows increased confidence and brutality from the band that nervously supported Slipknot earlier this year. With a relentless set that hardly lets up from start to finish, Head Charge storm through a rampantly heavy set with forthcoming single 'Just So You Know' proving particularly phenomenal in a set littered with highlights. [8]

18:25-18:55 Kittie
There's a genuine feeling of anticipation in the air as Kittie prepare to take the stage and that so many people favour them over System of a Down on the main stage speaks volumes about the place they've claimed in the hearts of the nation's youth. They no longer need to prove that girls can rock as hard as the boys, there's not a high speed drum beat out of place, Morgan Lander's vocals are straight from the depths of hell and they command the stage like they own it, but this doesn't actually make them any good. It'd be nice to say that the novelty of young ladies playing humdrum death metal will soon wear off but to the masses here, they're nothing short of awesome and I feel like a lone voice of dissent somehow blind to the obvious. Whatever. [5]

19:10-19:40 Ill Nino
The fact that virtually all Ill Nino's press refers to them as standard bearers for the sound that Sepultura perfected on 'Roots' must give them a huge weight to bear. But if the label fits, then so what, there's far worse things to be tagged with and in this context their tribal assault works a treat. There's a passion evident in Ill Nino sorely lacking in so many of their peers, with every member playing their part to the nth degree. It's mighty impressive that they manage to harness the many elements of their sound into such a destructive whole. They receive much love and sweat from the crowd and look to have a seriously bright future. [8]

20:00-20:45 Hundred Reasons
There must be masses of pissed off people who couldn't get into the second stage area to see the UK's finest thanks to the 'one in one out' policy enforced by security that saw a 25-person wide cue permanently outside the fenced-off entrance throughout the day. But despite the annoyance involved with getting in, half a Hundred Reasons set is still better than a full one from virtually anyone else on today's Ozzfest. Call them emo if you must, but 'Silver' and 'If I Could' are essentially huge slabs of modern rock with even huger choruses, played with incredible energy and equal confidence and they are for want of a better word, brilliant. A hangar full of people has had to endure one of the most miserable days in Donington history to see this lot and not one leaves disappointed. Spare a thought then for those stuck outside. [9]