This precious moment
Back at work. Trying to stay awake. Maybe a glass of water will help. [...] That's better. I wanted to post yesterday, but my dad's got a new computer and is having some problems with the ISDN card. So I couldn't get online all weekend. Well, not on sunday anyway. I didn't try on saturday, because that was Ozzfest day! No wonder I'm so tired. But damn, what a great festival. (Check out the complete bandlist at MetalfanNL.) We had sunshine all day, I even got sunburn, which has never happened on a festival before. Luckily I was prepaired for anything, with sunlotion, sunglasses, a sweater and my plastic rainponcho.
I also brought some food and a bottle of water, which was confiscated at the entrance. Which I don't understand, because I was allowed to keep my sunlotion. But okay. There were 10 of us and half went by car and the other half (including me) went by train to Nijmegen Central. From there we took the bus to the festivalterrain. Despite the extra busses, it was crowded with people in metal outfits. Not to mention the ever penetrating odor of beer, sweat and hasj.
When we arrived on site we found the rest of the group and spend a while enjoying the sun, sitting in the grass, listening to the background music. The afternoon was spend checking out the people, and merchandising on sale. Ofcourse there was the obligatory exchange of real money to festivalcoins, which you could then use to buy food and drink with.
We moved a bit forward on the sounds of Within Temptation and after a bit more waiting, finally there came Slayer. They were excellent, as always, and we moved forward a bit more. They performed for us in the original line-up, meaning with drummer Dave Lombardo! He would also have a guestperformace with Tool, together with ex-Faith No More, now Ozzy Osbourne drummer, Mike Bordin. After Slayer, we made our way to the back again and got something to eat. Nothing like being wished a good meal by a biker, as you're making you're way from one end of a festivalterrain to another, through a crowd, while trying to hold on to a pancake. Which, by the way, cost me 3 coins, or €5.
Because I have seen Slayer live a number of times, I was most looking forward to Tool. Who I had only seen live one time earlier, in february 1997 in Paradiso. That has to be one of the best, if not the best, concert I'd ever seen, so my expectations were high. And I was not let down. Singer Maynard was painted half grey and half orange. Since he stood in front of a grey background, it looked as though there was only half a person standing there. The sound was great (even outdoors!) and the set was a good mix of old and new.
Ofcourse, no Ozzfest without Ozzy, so after about half an hour of waiting, the man himself entered. He was alot fitter than I expected and certainly compared to when I saw him last. A nice mix of his current and earlier work, ofcourse including some Black Sabbath stuff. And an impressing display of skill by guitarist Zakk Wylde. Ozzy's set finally ended with fireworks. We returned home by car, since I had heard that parts of the railnet was down for maintenance and we'd rather not risk being stranded in Amsterdam or Utrecht.
I'd better do some work now, so I'll leave you with a fragment of Parabola from Tool's latest release Lateralus.
We barely remember who or what came before this precious moment, We are choosing to be here right now. Hold on, stay inside This holy reality, this holy experience