First off, I got my years mixed up, I went to Ozzfest in '99 and 2000. Sabbath got back together in 98 for UK Ozzfest, played the states in 99. They were awesome, just the "legends" of it all, along with the music; but the best show that year was Primus, as they always are, no matter who else is playing. Slipknot played the smaller stage, if I remember correctly, and they were mindblowing, and absolutely crazy! Deftones killed it, too, of course.
The best show in 2000 was Incubus...they completely burnt the whole festival down, they were badass. Queens Of The Stone Age, badfckingass, as always. Ozzy solo was good, Pantera was amazing. I remember the lead singer from Godsmack getting pissed because the crowd was not going crazy enough for his liking, all the while fires were burning in the grass at Starwood, and people losing their minds in the pit. I guess he wanted murder.
I also remember Kittie. All-girl band, and they killed!!!
They also had a very cool "Shakedown Street" area, if you know what Shakeeown is. Merch, carnival, tattoo parlors, goth dancers, magicians, fire eaters...on drugs, it was A LOT!
The one thing I remember most though about 2000, thru all of that haze, is the Godsmack singer getting PISSED. Strange, that being rhe most vivid memory.
But, one of the coolest stories I have, Devo..I can't remember what year it was, 2006, maybe, somewhere around that time...idk if you've ever heard of Secret Machines? One of my favorite bands around that time...they played City Hall, in The Gulch, one night. My friends and I were there. The next night was Halloween, and they were playing in Atlanta. After the show in Nashville, me and my friends were hanging out, as the crowd was thinning, and got their autographs on our posters. We were chatting them up, and told them we were thinking of driving down for the Atlanta show.The band got our names, and told us we would have free tix and backstage passes waiting on us. So, that next morning we headed out from Murfreesboro, all the while saying, "These tix won't be there, they probably forgot", fully expecting to have to pay. We got there, and both the tix and passes were waiting for us. Awesome, right! But, here's where it gets REALLY ****** AWESOME...after the show, we were hanging out with them backstage, and caught wind that Beck was playing a secret show upstairs in the same venue, on Halloween night! Brandon, their lead singer and keyboardist, asked if we wanted to go see Beck upstairs...are you kidding me, yeah!!! So, Halloween, 2006 or 7??, I saw one of my favorite bands in the world, then saw one of my favorite artists of all time, WITH said favorite band. All for free. I didn't meet Beck that night; BUT, I did meet him one night in Sambuca, after his show at City Hall, in Nashville.
