After many months of anticipation, the time had finally arrived. It was Sunday 26th of may and it was time for the Ozzfest an Punchestown Racecourse Dublin Ireland. Three friends of mine and myself, got in the car and began our trek towards North West Dublin. When we arrived and we were queing we were informed that Ozzy would not be taking becuase he was sick: the only thing is most people didn't really care at all as the largest majority of the crowd were there to see Slayer. Ozzy absenteeism made the bill 18 bands strong an it reads: Tool, System of a down, slayer, Ill nino, Therpay?, Lost prophets, Drowning Pool and cyclefly on the main stage. On stage two we had Anti-product, OTEP, Flaw, Skindive, Superskin, Pulse Ultra, Hell is for heroes, Mushroom Head, American Head Charge and Kittie. The bands are reviewd out of ten.

Cyclefly: Got a small recption due to being Irish. Other than that total bullshit.[4]

Otep: This crew were absolutely crazy, they played a small set though. I knew one of their songs" Filthee" which was excellent. They were generally good and the pit was a frenzy + We got too met their guitarist and bassist afterwords. [7]

Drowning Pool: The first big surprise of the day. I knew two of their songs " Bodies" and " Tearing away" but I didn't think much of them at all. We decided we would check them out anyway cuz we knew they were quite heavy. Boy, we were taken by surprise: they blasted away the stage, and ruined the crowd but the Irish metal crowd, which has a reputation for being insane, lapped it up and dealt it back in spades. The two songs I know went down real well and they connected amazingly. They turned the pit into a slaughterhouse and it was fucking fantastic. Later on I met their singer and got a photo with him: he was totally cool.[8]

Lost prophets: Saw two of their songs and it really sucked badly! [2]

Therapy?: Again cuz they were Irish they got it going a bit and the fact that there were some people out to see them. In all truth though I was very very disappointed. Their music was boring as shit but they carried themselves very very well in between songs. Still though their music is far from my cup of tea. [5]

Ill Nino: I have always liked Ill Nino but nothing could have prepared me for this. I have only started getting into nu-metal a bit recently as I have always been into just thrash, black/death and heavy metal but Ill Nino were amazing. Opening with "IFYOU STILL HATE ME" and thenlaunching into " God save us" Ill nino blew the place away. They connected very well and seemed genuinely chuffed to playing in Ireland and to have us love it. They called everyone Horny motherfuckers before bringing the Drowning Pool singer out to sing Soulfly's "Eye for and Eye." They also played " What comes around" and closed with an insane " Liar." An absolutley excellent show and I will definately go see them again next time.[10]

SLAYER: Darkness of christ pumped across the speakers and the whole race course went insane!! Just then we saw Kerry come out cuz we were right at the front, in front of him and I looked left and saw Tom and Jeff come out too. Just then Dave took his place behind the drums and they launched into "Disciple." Dave's bass drum galloping was so unbelievably fast, the floor rocked an unbelievable amount. After that Tom welcomed us thanked us and asked if we were ready for " war" if we were ready for " War Ensemble." After that came a triple rendetion of " Post Mortem" Raining Blood" ( which was insane) and "Hell Awaits." Tom told us we were " magic" and that" it feels really good up here." A extremely insane version of " South of Heaven" closed by a more insane version of " Angel of Death" closed their show and everyone was just in awe over what they had just seen. Just Like their show in The Point last October, Slayer defined what a live show is all about. Out of all the bands, Slayer were the only band who everyone watched, the only band where the floor was packed and no one could leave it, and the only band whose t'shirts sold out. It just shows Slayer really should have been playing later on but nevermind that they were amazing. Despite the fact that Jeff's solo for " Mandatory Suicide" cut out and the fact that it rained through much of the set Slayer showed all the people who weren't there too see them, who they should have been their to see. Absolutely unreal!!![10]

System of a down: these boys were also very very good. Their bassist Shavo really know how to please the crowd. And he sure did a fanttastic job doing that. They played their usualy classics like " chop suey," Toxicity" of the new album and "sugar, Know, suggestions" and " Suite pea", whichthey dedicated to Slayer, off the new album. Before Suite Pea they got a Slayer chant going on and Dave Lombardo came out and drummed on that song. All in all they were well worth it. [9]

Tool: Watching Maynard James Keenan in blue body paint with red spots is always gonna be a sight. Tool are a bit too art metaly for me but they were very good and suprisingly heavy. Their drummer really churned out some unbelievable sounds and they were very good. " Stinkfist," "Schism," and " Sober" were all particularlily good. [8]

Kittie: These girls closed the second stage while Tool closed ther First one. Kittie's drummer is bar far the best part of them and she was brilliant. Throwing in blast beats here in there and just making the floor rumble seems to be her talent and she was successful. Morgan Lander also has a powerful voice and " What I always Wanted" was crazy. She goes from singing to and insane scream with no effort. A truly unbelievable sight, I am just disappointed I was so bloody wrecked by the time they came along. [8]

All in all Ozzfest was an excellent day! [10]