Ozzfest Recovery

Well, I have seen it, and it was good.

Ozzfest came and went in New Jersey and the impact was significant. First and foremost, unfortunately the concert brought about changes to New Jersey Law as PNC Bank Arts Center will no longer allow people to consume alcoholic beverages in the parking areas (so now people will drink off site and drive while intoxicated to the events). This after two deaths (!) and 83 arrests (New York Times report here, review of the show here). Another report here, without the hassle of NYT-registration or archival time constraints). There's a WNBC news report here (note the YouTube clip from the Hatebreed set).

Yours truly is fine, my recovery was of the sleep-pattern-disruption kind. I saw no more chaos than any other metal show. There are always knuckleheads that will get arrested. As for the two deaths, it is unfortunate that these two twenty-somethings passed. The news reports that cocaine/marijuana/alcohol trifectas caused their bodies to shut down (although the CBS affiliate here reported it was caffeine, not cocaine, I'm guessing errantly). The extreme heat and humidity most likely contributed as well. The crowd was estimated to be over 17,000. I would always point out that rock concerts are statistically safer than driving on the freeway/throughway/turnpike/expressway, etc.

Anyway, after the show ended, it took me 3 hours and 45 minutes to get home.....PNC shuttle to NJ Transit to Penn Station to the D train to the N train to the R shuttle.

Another funny small world story, today I was walking down my block and saw a dude that was on the train down to Holmdel with us, and on the shuttle to PNC. The guy lives across the street from me. Wow.

Here are some clips of Ozzy Osbourne's performance:

First, my capture of the tail end of "War Pigs":



I'd have to say seeing guitarist Zakk Wylde was the highlight of the show, especially his guitar solo:



Here's another part of the same solo, with Zakk doing the Star-Spangled Banner:



"Mr. Crowley":