The BIG DAY OFF is for people who wont be getting ozzfest in their town. Big Day Off tour includes Slipknot, Papa Roach, DISTURBED, Linkin Park, and some other ozzfest bands.
Big Day Off dates are in Yellow

Radio Show dates are in Blue

6/8 Chicago, IL - The World Amph.
6/9 East Troy, WI - Alpine Valley Amph.
6/10 Springfield, MO Price Cutter Park - BIG DAY OFF
6/12 Indianapolis, IN - Verizon Music Amph.
6/15 San Francisco, CA - Live 105 Radio Show
6/16 Somerset, WI - Float-Rite Park
6/18 St. Louis, MO - Riverport Amph.
6/19 Kansas City, MO - Sandstone Amph.
6/21 Denver, CO - Mile High Stadium
6/22 New York, NY - KROQ Radio Show
6/23 Los Angeles, CA - KROQ Radio Show <~~LIVE WEBCAST! www.disturbed1.com for details
6/25 George, WA - The Gorge
6/27 Sacramento, CA - Sacramento Valley Amph.
6/29 Mountain View, CA - Shoreline Amph.
6/30 San Bernardino, CA - Glen Helen Blockbuster Amph.
7/1 Phoenix, AZ Desert Sky Pavilion - BIG DAY OFF
7/3 San Antonio, TX - South Texas Verizon Wireless Amph.
7/4 Lubbock, TX Canyon Amph - BIG DAY OFF
7/5 Dallas, TX - Smirnoff Music Theater
7/6 Nashville, TN AM South Amph - BIG DAY OFF
7/7 Atlanta, GA- Hi-Fi Buys Amphitheater
7/13 West Palm Beach, FL - Mars Music Amph.
7/14 Tampa, FlL - Zephyr Hills.
7/15 Biloxi, MI Miss. Coast Coliseum - BIG DAY OFF
7/17 Charlotte, N.C. - Verizon Wireless Amph.
7/19 Virginia Beach, VA Verizon Wireless Amph - BIG DAY OFF
7/20 Bristow, VA - Nissan Pavilion
7/21 Camden, N.J. - E-Center
7/22 Manchester, NH Singer Park - BIG DAY OFF
7/24 Toronto, Canada - The Docks
7/26 Cleveland, OH - Blossom Amph.
7/28 Pittsburgh, PA - Post-Gazette Pavilion
7/30 Detroit, MI - DTE Energy Center
8/3 Columbus, OH - Polaris Amph.
8/5 Hartford, CN - Meadows Music Amph.
8/6 Portland, ME Cumberland County CC - BIG DAY OFF
8/7 Mansfield, Mass. - Tweeter Center
8/9 Wantagh, NY Jones Beach - BIG DAY OFF
8/11 Holmdel, N.J. - PNC Bank Arts Center
8/12 Holmdel, N.J. - PNC Bank Arts Center

*On a side note....I've noticed a lot of these venues are owned by Verizon, with P.N.C. coming in 2nd....what's next? Trojan Latex Condoms Arena? Man that would be fun naming those parking lots. "O.K. honey. Don't forget. We're in the 'French Tickler' lot."

Ozzfest Opens With a Bang

Barrage of newer acts leave metal fest lacking punch

In a word, the 2001 opener of Ozzfest was efficient. Held at the Tweeter Center just outside of Chicago, both the main and second stages at the annual metal fest featured rotating platforms that allowed set changes to happen during performances. The result was that there was never more than ten minutes without live music being played somewhere on the grounds, and by the end of the night the schedule was running about a half-hour early.
The well-oiled machine that Ozzfest has become may raise some eyebrows. In its fifth year, the aggressive extravaganza is starting to take on shades of the latter Lollapalooza years. The predictable lineup is filled with today's top established and up-and-coming bands that have a new album to promote. Ozzfest isn't just a gathering of like-minded bands anymore; it's a de rigeur tool of heavy metal promotion.

Yet while you're much more likely to hear this year's lineup on your radio, the festival still stays true to its counter-culture roots. The Village of the Damned booths housed everything from mobile tattoo and piercing parlors, to a paintball range featuring Barney as the main target, to live S&M demonstrations. The day's master of ceremony, Reverend B. Dangerous, also kept things twisted with his sideshow antics including stapling his tongue and swinging heavy suitcases from his nipple rings.

With perfect weather overhead, the music kicked off on the second stage around 10 a.m., and with only a few exceptions (Otep, Nonpoint), the barrage of emerging acts came and went with little impact, although rabid concert-goers kept the large area in front of the stage jam-packed, and the moshing was virtually non-stop. The crowd's building energy was finally tapped when Union Underground took the stage. Working with only a twenty-five-minute set (as nearly all of the second-stage bands were), the San Antonio quartet managed to whip-up the already hyped crowd, but it was the hometown one-two punch of Peoria, Illinois' Mudvayne and Chicago's Disturbed that pushed the crowd over the edge.

The day's most violent set went to Mudvayne, whose riffs and time signatures were as jagged as their hair. Several members of the audience could be spotted wearing vocalist Kud's signature makeup, and the crowd erupted and almost knocked over the flimsy stage barrier as Mudvayne took the stage. The band suffered from its own weight, however, only able to fit five of their complex compositions into their thirty-minute set.

Second-stage headliners Disturbed kept the energy high, as frontman Dave Draiman arrived in a metal cage. With a slightly longer set to work with, the band pummeled the overheated crowd with a barrage of catchy hard rock, including their cover of Tears for Fears' "Shout."

Next up was a main-stage battle of two dual-vocalist bands, and a good lesson in how to become radio stars without losing your core audience. With their inescapable, but less-than-aggressive hit single "Butterfly" all over the airwaves, Crazy Town showed how not to do things, earning them the only icy reception of the day. A chorus of boos rose from the crowd when Rev. Dangerous announced the band, but most of the crowd was respectful during the set (although later several concert-goers flashed homemade "Crazy Town Aren't Metal" T-shirts). "Butterfly" itself earned cheers from many of the females in the crowd, but in response, drew middle fingers from many of the guys. Linkin Park fared much better with their radio-friendly metal and got the crowd back up out of their seats. Unlike "Butterfly," Linkin Park's first single, "One Step Closer," is a vitriolic anthem, and, as they closed their set with it, vocalist Chester Bennington ran into the crowd and let fans shout out the chorus with him.

Papa Roach filed in next for a by-the-numbers set, led by vocalist Coby Dick, who seemed irritated throughout but still managed to incite the crowd. His practiced microphone twirls came straight from the Roger Daltrey school of rock stardom. During P-Roach's set, however, the audience seemed to take one deep collective breath in anticipation of Slipknot. Judging by the countless concert-goers clad in orange jumpsuits, a man with the nine members visages tattooed on his back, and, of course, the soaring band T-shirt barometer, the nine angry men from Iowa were the most anticipated act of the day -- and they didn't disappoint. On a stage filled with jagged steel and sheet metal, the band's explosive neo-death metal set got the lawn moshers moving. Percussionists Shawn "The Clown" Crahan and Chris Fehn rode their hydraulically enhanced drum platforms like mechanical bulls, Crahan's lifting him ten feet above the stage, Fehns swiveling around and almost dumping him off.

By the time Marilyn Manson took the stage around 9 p.m., it was refreshing to hear a band that actually had a body of work larger than one or two albums. Arriving in his old black corset to the strains of "God Bless America," Manson displayed an assortment of his usual tricks (striding around the stage on stilts, ascending a gun-adorned pulpit, dressing up as the Pope), but had the solid catalog of songs to keep things fresh and keep the crowd pumped.

And then there was Sabbath. Although not as anticipated as their initial reunion on the first Ozzfest, the Tweeter Center was electrified as the godfathers of metal took the stage. With a mix of classics as well as a new song called "Scary Dream" from their upcoming album, the legends proved that while they may have lost a step (in particular Bill Ward's imprecise drum fills and Ozzy's blatant use of a teleprompter), they can still hang with today's freshest young talent.

Ultimately, this is what will save Ozzfest from going the way of Lollapalooza. As long as the old guard can hold their own with the up-and-comers, the tour will prove a vital link between the past and the future of heavy metal. Unfortunately, Ozzfest 2001 may better be remembered as the year of the one-album wonders.

JOE HAULER
(June 11, 2001)

- I almost don't feel the way I do.. - I called a suicide hotline because i was feeling depressed. the guy asked why. i told him. he hung himself. - Ever pour glue on a bird? - Scientists discovered a new number today. Bleem. it belongs in between Six and Seven. - Do other dogs think poodles are in a religeous cult? - If PRO is the opposite of CON...whats the opposite of Progress? - Who is the asshole that put an S in the word Lisp? - What would the world be like without hypothetical questions? - If a guy is an obvious fruit, and he becomes braindead...is he still a fruit? or is he now a vegateble? Or is he like the tomato. its like a fruit, but more of a vegeatble? - I got into an arguement with my rice crispies. I distintcly heard "snap-crackle-fuck you" - Why do they call it a near miss? isnt it a near hit? I'd think a Collision would be called a Near Miss. - I dont wanna live in New Hampshire. their license plate says "live free or DIE". I dont wanna live anywhere where it mentions death right on the license plate. - If i painted my turtle black, would it be spooky? - If someone with multiple personalities threatens to kill himself, is it a hostage situation? - Eye boogers are cool. those crusty things. They're cool, cause you know, even the POPE gets eye boogers. - How come the voices in peoples heads always tell them to kill someone? These people are crazy right? Shouldnt the voices be crazy too? How come they never say crazy stuff like "Go Take a shit on the salad bar at Wendy's". - What wine goes withh Cap'n Crunch? - You know what would be an interesting Debate that would turn into a fistfight? Existentialists vs. Skepitcs - If the TV says "dont go away", and you ACTUALLY stay there, do you realize you are obeying a talking box? - Worship the Potato. seems like a good idea. why not? - If someone runs into you, i say take a 3 point football stance and tackle their ass. they deserved it - Fuck soccer moms - Why do they swab your arm with alcohol before they give you a lethal injection? - If I'm in a room, and something screeches through the air and latches onto a guys neck spewing pus, and the guy runs around screaming...I have to laugh because..What is that thing? ya know? - Sties are caused by watching your dog shit - Why is it a moment of silence? how bout a moment of screaming?! these people are dead! AHHHHH. how bout a moment of Muffled Convorsation...for those who were treated and released. - the average family household has 1.7 kids. So thats means Billy and his decapitated sister. - I HATE people who dont know what Amallagamoplasty means. they really annoy me. - If you are reading this, you have tooo much time on your hands. - The man who invented crest toothpaste died this week. 9 out of 10 dentists attended his funeral. - I find this funny. a group trying to fund president clintons legal bills after the lewinsky scandel actually sent a letter to Monica's dad because she was on the mailing list. - By the age of 18, the average child has seen 34,551 people murdered, killed in a violant way, or decomposing corpses, In Movies and Television. but if you break it down....its only like 3-4 a day - Tom Brokaw smells like Pie - I have a mixed dog. 1/2 rottweiler, 1/2 poodle. not a good attack dog, but a vicious gossip. - Whats your favorite planet? mines the sun. its like the king of planets. What? its not a planet? oh well planet or not when that thing burns out we are all gonna fry -