- July 24/25, 2003 - DTE Energy Center - Detroit, MI
- It took some time but the Osbourne corporation has managed to drive OzzFest, the once grand Metal event of the year, into near complete irrelevance. So what did you get this year for your $60. -$150? Well, you got plenty of Alterna/Nu-Metal stars of yore whose stubbornness to leave the scene is almost as pathetic as the groups that they displaced in the nineties. Why is KoRn still around? It truly is a mystery to me and it seemed to perplex the audience as well. Then there is Marilyn Manson. Though I personally love the guy's penchant for acting the part of a modern day Alice Cooper, Manson is so far into his arc of decline that nearly half of the available seats in Detroit's pavilion went empty during each of his two performances in Mo-town. Of course there was the immaculately coifed, industry manufactured and desperately hip pair of Disturbed and Chevelle attempting and occasionally succeeding to create some kind of stir. In all it was just a sad choice of openers to warm up the crowd for the legendary but sadly senile Ozzy Osbourne.
- If there was a silver lining to the whole affair it was that the second stage acts, most of who were made to pay for the privilege of performing at OzzFest, were outstanding. The finest hope for Rock's and/or Metal's future to perform on this years bill was definitely Endo. The Miami, Florida group is celebrating the release of their sophomore record and if there was a group who could do more with their twenty minutes of stage time, I have never seen them. Passionate and artful with gut puncturing power Endo delivered on the promise to supersede the mundane by blistering the audience day after day. On both days in Detroit the group easily scored the highest with the second stage fans and if the reports form other venues are reliable the same has been true for the entire OzzFest trek. Not only is Endo the group to watch but the group to feel.
- The terribly out of place in daylight Cradle of Filth managed to outshine even Ozzy and Marilyn Manson as they performed a truncated set of macabre Metal. With their image, a light show is nearly indispensable but somehow Cradle managed. Damn the daylight everything from the enticingly costumed acrobats, back up siren singer and minimal stage dressing drove the point home that COF are the reigning kings of Dark Metal. A headlining tour would have served the group better but then again they wouldn't be playing to nearly ten thousand people each night either so the trade off worked in this instance.
- Voivod is of course only on the bill by virtue of their bass player, Jason Newsted. Playing in both Voivod and Ozzy Osbourne's solo band, Newsted's status as "former Metallica bassist" was thought to be of significant enough drawing power to muscle Cradle of Filth out of sole ownership of "second stage headliner." Sure it was cheeky on its face but the group kicked progressive/Sci-Fi/Metal ass so by the end they were certainly a boon to the overall lineup. Matching Voivod classics with tracks from their new disc this one off project put on performances that will undoubtedly be remembered as some of their best ever. Now if we can only get Jason to join some other already established bands that deserve attention we really could have a winning formula here.
- Shadows Fall and Depswa hit the music from opposing ends of the Heavy field meeting in the middle of Metal while Grade 8, Sworn Enemy and Memento carving out their own sonic territory for the day. It was all aces from the second stage without a dog in the bunch and infinitely more interesting than anything that would come later in the day.
- The Endpoint for OzzFest 2k3 is this, though he has become an embarrassing mess and exists mainly as the butt of jokes Ozzy Osbourne can come back year after year at these prices if he keeps the mix of the new and hungry with the worn and nostalgic. Hell, next year I am just going to stand in the parking lot to see the second stage and when that is done I will head home a little richer that if I had dropped the coin on an actual ticket.
- Written by David Lee Wilson
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