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THE BAND
- Ozzy Osbourne - Vocals
- Tony Iommi - Guitar
- Geezer Butler - Bass
- Bill Ward - Drums
- Geoff Nicholls - Keyboards
CONCERT PHOTOS
None available - if you have any, let me know.
TOUR REVIEWS & REMARKS
From: Raddion@aol.com
Date: Sat, 28 Aug 1999 19:08:29 EDT
Subject: Review Of Hartford Ozzfest 6-19-99
Hi, I saw you didn't have any reviews of the Hartford Sabbath show on
6-19-99, I thought maybe you could use mine!!!
Raddion
The Meadows, Hartford, 6-19-99...
Man, what a day yesterday. What a concert. What a venue! I have to say, the
Meadows is a great place to see a show, way better than the Fleet Center.
The sound was crystal clear and REALLY loud, just the way I like it! The
security shakedown at the gate was minimal, I could have smuggled in a
toater oven and some pop tarts if I wanted. By the way, jr, it killed me,
but at about 9:30p.m. or so I pulled out my mini pocket knife and sliced a
slit in my Sabbath hat to stick the you-know-what out of... great idea! I'd
like to review the show more, but I don't want to bore you people... ok, if
you insist!
The carnival area was much improved from the '97 Ozzfest I went to in
Massachussets, or maybe I was just in a carnival kind of mood. Great
HOOTERS booth!!! I bought a great shirt that says in huge white letters:
BLACK
SABBATH (you were expecting Deftones?)
and under that in red lettering:
RUINED
MY
LIFE
I love this shirt!!! It was close between that and the "Last Supper" shirt
I saw a lot of people sporting, but ultimately the right shirt came home
with me. So I went with my wife, my brother, and our friend Dave, I think
the four of us have seen every Sab show together since uh, well, a lot of
them, you know? Last night we got rocked big time. We walked around a
little bit and then headed for our seats to catch Godsmack. It was funny,
but I snuck into a section and sat down, thinking I was giving myself a
seat upgrade and chuckling to myself about it, when a security guard asked
to see my ticket stub. Oh well, I showed it to him and got up, ready to be
sent back a couple sections. But no, this dude was pointing towards the
stage! As you can tell, already I was incapable of correctly reading a
ticket stub... so ANYWAY... Great seats almost dead center, a little to the
right maybe. Nah, fuck it, it was dead center, that's the way I'm gonna
remember it, that's what I'll tell my grandchildren when I tell them about
the night I saw Black Sabbath for the last time. Great, now I'm going to
cry like a baby...
So Godsmack was cool, not a lot of people in their seats yet, though. But
the chairs seemed to be enjoying them. Then came Primus, I spent their
whole set in the bathroom puking. Just kidding, we walked around some more
and drank beer and ate real delicious crap food. I can honestly say that I
never even saw Primus.
So back to our seats for Slayer. I had never heard these guys, as death
metal isn't really my trip, but I knew they had a rep as mega-heavy and
their fans were out in full force. They hit the stage and after about three
notes I was banging my head in dangerous fashion, straining the ligaments
in my neck and causing my brain to swell in my skull. This caused a
Priority Level 1 post-Slayer headache that required three or four or five
(I was just swallowing them, man) Tylenols and more beer.
After Slayer slayed us (slew us?), they started setting up the Deftones.
All red stage, with a big red backdrop with some kind of real important
looking stupid symbol on it. So they're setting up and I'm going: "What the
fuck is that thing on the drum riser, a snack table?" I'm looking at it and
looking at it, I can't figure out why it's there. And I had plenty of time
to look at it, because the Deftones were tardy Timmy's...
It was a turntablist! They came out, started playing their putrid
rap/metal, and I was outta there, went back to the lawn area and soaked up
the rays and the sights, completely ignoring the Deftones. This was a cool
time because the chick next to us had chosen body paint as her clothing of
choice for the day. Only at Ozzfest!!!!
Well, the sun was going down and it was time for me to be led back to my
seat for Rob Zombie. It was definitely time for some music. Things get hazy
here. That dude had the place going nuts, all the chicks were dancing, all
the guys were slamming! There was pandemonium everywhere, and a great fight
with good punching and falling down and beer flying erupted right in front
of us! Zombie was on his monitor dancing like a freak, the music was
crushingly intense. I started to float into that zone that only a great
concert can create... he brought out his White Zombie guitar player, I
think his name was Death or something, and they blew the place out with
"Thunder Kiss '65". I have to give Sabbath credit here, I wouldn't ever
want to follow this guy onstage! He said goodnight, and Hartford just
roared back, all hands in the air, and nobody moved as the technicians set
up the very impressive Black Sabbath stage.
At this point you could look around, and see that everybody was just
exhausted by partying with Zombie. I leaned over to my brother and Dave and
said "Man, Sabbath's got their work cut out for them tonight!" Everybody
nodded, it would be a tall order to top Mr. Zomboli. Boy, it wasn't a long
break. Sabbath is Sabbath. Lights go down, siren sounds, War Pigs, the
ultimate metal song! I started headbanging again, it had been a long week
without my favorite music! But inside my head, something wasn't quite
right...
I realised it was Zombie. The satanic images and heavy groove he had
created had left the top of my head looking like a spent shotgun shell.
These images were still echoing in my head, and I needed Sabbath to blast
my skull clean and do a little imprinting of their own! It was weird. I'm
used to seeing them come out and blow everybody off the stage with a single
note. This time was better. It was like seeing a gritty heavyweight
champion get up off the canvas and come back and defend his unbeaten record
one last time! It was gradual, but perceptible, and pure magic. They just
got tighter and tighter, and with every song came more control and
confidence, it couldn't have been more beautiful... I think the turning
point for me was during Fairies Wear Boots, I just started thinking how
happy I was that they were playing so great and that I would probably never
see them again and I just started bawling, tears were splashing on the
concrete slab, and Rob Zombie was flushed from my conciousness.
I slapped on my air guitar and got down with Iommi leading the way! FWB,
After Foever, Electric Funeral all sparkled, the Funeral was so heavy and I
think it was here that Ozzy himself began to show why he became famous in
the first place, because he is a great singer. It was evil and malicious,
and I was now banging my head so hard I was just missing the top of the
seat in front of me with my forehead, and I was standing! Ozzy rules!!!
Well, as if that wasn't enough, Iommi must have put a fresh 9-volt in his
preamp or something, because Into The Void hit us like a freight train in
the gut. This is the heaviest I've ever heard them sound, anywhere, on
record, tape, or live performances. Ozzy was dead nuts on. Into The Void
rocks! So the guitar solo thingie was nice, you know Iommi is a great
guitarist, and he showed one of the reasons why his band was the headliner,
because they have the best guitar player!!! But the Snowblind it led into
was glittering in it's tale of descent into the cocaine lifestyle. I had a
blast swaying my peace sign back and forth with Ozzy one more time... what
a night! Iron Man, what can I say? Usually, it doesn't work for me live, I
think it should be brought back up to the original tuning and tempo... but
at this show, it came at me like a giant mechanical man should, furious and
stomping and sooo fucking HEAVY!
Did I say Into The Void was heavy? Children Of The Grave almost PUT me in a
grave, the riff was like a flying lawnmower cutting through my soul,
giving me one last shake before I grow up and finally become an adult
Raddion. Yeah, RIGHT!!! COTG was incredible!!! So they closed with
Paranoid, as I suspected they would, just a hunch I had.... Blisteringly
heavy, I know I keep using that word, but you just had to be there. They
took a well deserved bow and blasted off into their own void, leaving the
stunned and exhausted fans totally satisfied. I would like to thank the
good people at the Tweeter Center shows in Mass on Wed and Friday for
warming these guys up for us, they were in top form, all the bands we saw!
I'm proud to be able to say I was at this concert,and I will remember it
for the rest of my life.
RADDION
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