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The calm before the storm ...
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Page 2
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'Everybody thinks, 'Oh, these bands are partying.' Nope ... '
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Page 3
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'It never gets any less amazing.' ...
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Browse Bands by Name
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 Bands Main
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Months of preparation goes into building Ozzfest every summer. Holman says it takes up much of her year.
"It doesn't ever stop," she says. "As soon as the tour ends, we're already thinking about next year. We're already budgeting, looking at talent, looking for new ideas, new bands, and new things to do to make it cool for the fans — this year we did did Miss Ozzfest. I'm on the phone with [tour organizer and founder] Sharon [Osbourne]'s office every day, year-round. We're always talking, always thinking."
Approximately 30 trucks, 40 tour buses and 400 people — including bands, vendors and carnies — travel as part of the Ozzfest caravan each summer, she says. Most of them have already been here for days.
This year's lighting designer, Patrick Woodruffe, is on hand to see that his creation is respected and realized; he first got the call from the Ozzfest camp three months ago, and has spent much of his time since working on this project. Woodruffe, who lights operas these days but has worked with Bob Dylan and the Rolling Stones over the course of his 30-plus years in the business, likens Ozzfest to an opera.
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"These guys have to load in at 8 in the morning, and the doors open at 10:30 a.m. — they need to have the stage set up in four hours, which is crazy."
— lighting designer, Patrick Woodruffe
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"You have a protagonist who's known as the Prince of Darkness," he says. "And you've got this mad, Gothic chorus of people who are tattooed and crazed, and this madman with this extraordinary and amazing music that people have known for years and years. It is like an opera in many ways — we have more than 100 lights hanging over the stage. And normally, the crew would load in at 8 a.m. for a show where the doors open at 6 p.m. These guys have to load in at 8 in the morning, and the doors open at 10:30 a.m. — which is crazy."
By 8 a.m. Wednesday morning, a little more than 24 hours before Ozzfest's official launch, the bands have already arrived — their Provost buses are idling and parked in long rows inside the venue's main lot. Many of the performers are milling about, carting plates full of fruit, breakfast food and even Buffalo wings with them, looking for somewhere stable to sit and dine — be that a golf cart, a dimmer box or the bumper of a tour bus.
The second stage — where the first half of the day's performances take place from around 9 a.m. till 5 p.m., when the action moves to the main stage — weighs tons and has been up for days. According to Steve Drymalski, the second-stage manager, it's actually a tractor-trailer that manually folds out to make a stage, to which a roof structure is then attached; in all, it typically takes five hours to erect. The crews begin working at 3 a.m. to be ready for the 8:30 a.m. door.
The bands on the second stage each get at least 20 minutes to perform; they have to be on the stage in two and a half minutes, and off two and a half minutes after their set ends. Today, Drymalski will run all of the bands through the rotations, "and get them used to getting on and offstage that fast," he says. This isn't so much a rehearsal for the bands' performances — they play one and a half songs during this run-through — it's more a test to make sure the bands can be on and off in the allotted time.
"It has to be a tightly run ship," Drymalski says. "We need to make sure everyone knows what's going on, and that they live on Ozzfest time. Really, what's happening here is we're putting on two shows: The first one happens here on the second stage, and then it's off to the main event up there in the seats."
Charlie Hernandez, production manager for Ozzfest, says it takes five hours to raise the main stage and have it prepped by 1 p.m., when fans usually begin heading inside to claim prime positions on the lawn. It takes two hours to pull it down and get it back in a truck before the 'fest moves on to the next city.
"It's a labor of love," Hernandez explains. "The whole key to it is the crew — people the fans never see. We have some of the best people in the business, and it comes down to them. These people have such a respect for Ozzy and Sharon and what they've done. We'll walk across broken glass for them, and we don't have a problem with that. There's no screaming, and we're all friends. It's a great experience for everyone."
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Photo: MTV News
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