Ozzfest 2005

I answered an ad online the other day regarding working shows as a stagehand. I figured it was probably the House of Blues again, since I keep finding those ads, but figured I’d apply anyway, just in case. Good thing I did. The company that ran the ad is ERM, they staff the White River Amphitheatre, a venue located on the Mukkelshoot Indian Reservation in Auburn, just South of Seattle. They were looking for people to work Ozzfest. Of course I was on board, now if only I can find some more of these companies, I’ll be set and make my living as a roadie, but for now it’s definitely a very nice addition.
The routine was pretty much the same as always, unload the semis, help set up the stage (equipment, backdrop & props, etc.) wait to be cut and told when to come back to pack everything back up. This was my first time with the company, so I didn’t get show call, which is where you’re part of the crew that performs set changes between acts and is on standby in case anything needs to be moved backstage. The difference between ERM and House of Blues is that I don’t have backstage access during the show if I’m not working, but I can enjoy the show for free. (It’s great, I get paid to attend a Black Sabbath/ Iron Maiden concert!)
To be quite honest, I wasn’t too impressed by the venue, but I did enjoy the show. Right as I was coming out onto the lawn, there were a bunch of people huddled around an Ozzy look-a-like who was posing for pictures and signing things (the sad this is that most of those people though it actually was Ozzy). I had to take a picture because from a distance, he really was quite convincing, if you ignore the fact that he had absolutely no security with him, and the passes around his neck where not official Ozzfest passes (which of course you wouldn’t know unless you saw people backstage wearing the actual ones, like I did).
Interesting moments during the show include Killswitch Engage telling us that we are all ugly and our fathers should’ve pulled out, Rob Zombie doing his rendition of “Jessie’s Girl”, Mudvayne taking a moment to thank all the stage crew for all their work, a sign backstage anouncing the time of an AA meeting and a single solitary clock on the wall of the loading dock with a label proclaiming “Official Ozzfest Time ( I don’t care what your watch says)” It was interesting to see that Ozzfest is apparently 10 minutes ahead of the rest of the world.
Highlights were, of course, Iron Maiden and Black Sabbath. Both legendary bands I have never seen before. Maiden went all out with a set consisting of a changing backdrop for each song (they only played songs off their first 4 albums) several stage additions for running around on, an animatronic statue of Satan, a 10 foot Eddie who came out and interacted with the band, and of course, my favorite thing a band can do, they talked to the audience, explained things, told anecdotes, it was just great.Then came Sabbath, most of the set I had to listen to from backstage, since call for the load-out is always during the last 45 minutes of a show, but they played “War Pigs”, my absolute favorite Sabbath song and I was happy. Ozzy is surprisingly active on stage running around like “a retarded 5 year old” as one of my co-workers put it. But it was true, he was like an overly excited kid, thoroughly enjoying the attention and the whole process of being on stage. As we were loading his stuff onto the stage and setting it up, I did notice that he uses a teleprompter. I guess all the years of all the shit he’s done to his body has taken a toll not only on his speech and motor functions, but his memory as well. Amanda thinks it’s cute, I just think it’s interesting; the prince of darkness singing karaoke to his own songs.