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Live Review: OZZfest 2008 by DevilDriver's Dez Fafara

Since he was playing that day, we asked our good friend DevilDriver vocalist Dez to send in a review of OZZfest 2008. One thing the ever-humble singer did neglect to mention was that his band simply slayed the sold out crowd with cuts from their latest offering The Last Kind Words. It was a bone-breaking, beer-drinking good time in Dallas! Check out what Dez had to say about America's biggest metal festival…

What's up!

Hope everyone is well. This is Dez Fafara from DevilDriver. The night before OZZfest, we were in Houston, and it was cracking thunder and pouring down rain. After a five-hour drive the following morning, I awoke at 9am in Dallas to the sound of metal bands. To mention any bands, whom I liked or didn't like, would only single out my particular taste, instead of drawing attention to the fact that the lineup was diverse and massive in the fact that it had well-established artists as well as solo projects and offshoots from other bands. A perfect example would be Jon Davis of KoRn or Serj Tankian of System of a Down, both solo. Another example of this is Cavalera Conspiracy.

The fact that Ozzy and Metallica were on the same stage together in one night is mind-blowing. I can only hope that next year's OZZfest uses this model, because it worked! From what I heard, it sold out clean at 32,000. Hello! Did you hear me!?!? 32,000 people. In the States, for a festival to do those numbers shows that American fans will turn out for a metal festival much like the European fans will.

The side stages worked well, because both the small stage and second stage were side by side, and the bands just kept playing one after the other. Those two stages did compete with other bands going on at the same time on the main stage. That would be the only thing that I think could be worked on…that no bands go on at the same time, allowing the music fan to see all their favorite bands and not compromise one band for the other.

The weather was hot, the crowd was rowdy, and the day ended perfectly with two of the most legendary artists of today, Ozzy and Metallica closing out a sold out metal concert! We thank them for inviting DevilDriver. We had a great time with a lot of good friends.

Hail Metal!

Dez Fafara

DevilDriver
Coal Chamber
The Family Management