QUEST FOR FIRE

Quest for Fire

The high school cousin is in a metal band (shown above). No surprise. Long time feeders of the FJ buffet have seen photos of the metal concerts the boy and I have gone too. Our first concert was to see Gwar at the Juke Joint near the square. He was 14. Since then we've been to OzzFest and RockFest (and there were others, too). It's been a hoot.

He's in a band now (Quest for Fire) and they play gigs in and around Missouri and Arkansas. Very cool I must say, especially for a senior in high school, but I've been unable to attend one heretofore because of school. Dang. I was hoping to see him in concert in Tulsa, but that fell through. It appears he will play at a weekend concert in Kansas City this summer. That one falls on my daughter's birthday, so I cannot go. Double dang. I can't catch a break to see him play.

Anyway, I'm listening to a metal album (Priestess) he gave me and I'm thinking of him and how he's grown into his own. He's still a kid, don't you know, but he's heading off to college next year and then who knows. He's good people and I adore him.

‘Let It All Bleed Out’

Cousin Austin with Sheri Moon Zombie

Zombie is on tour with Ozzy and he took a break to do an independent show in Springburg last night with the hardcore band “In The Moment”.

We are fans of Rob Zombie, but not so much so of the other band. The teenage cousin got us into him a few years back and since then, we have been to two Zombie concerts. Great concerts both, but last night’s shin dig was a real party. The Shrine Mosque played home to the concert and there was little security. I have never seen such poor security at a concert and people got hurt because of it.

This crowd pushed – hard – and it was hard to stand at times. We were very close to the stage in the middle of the floor and folks were fighting over places to stand. At one point we were between two different mosh pits, both of which were rough. People were crowd surfing, sitting on shoulders, girls showing off their goodies. The place, as you can image, was a cloud of cigs and reefer.

Picture this. There were at least two times when the crowd got upset and tried to get the attention of the Springfield PD to take some drunk poobah out because he was picking fights. Metal fans do not typically care for the fuzz much. The PD did nothing both times. I do not even know why they were there. The security did finally drag one guy out of the crowd. No wonder the floor has smatterings of blood all over it at the end. It was the roughest concert I’ve ever been to. It was fun, don’t get me wrong, just rough.

It was a special concert because it was the cousin’s 17th birthday. He and the niece are both Pearl Harbor babies. (Happy birthday to you both.) When he found out Zombie was coming to town on his b-day he went nuts. His dad took the night off and came too: A real boys night out. Get this. The cousin also won a Total Skull contest and he got to go backstage to meet Sheri Moon Zombie, Rob’s wife.

While he was backstage, his dad and I sat and talked. It is cool to see a teenage boy have so much fun. That dad was amazed how excited his boy got at these concerts. The boy is usually pretty somber, but he cuts loose at these venues. That is why I spend the money on tickets when I do not have it. He means a lot to me and it means a lot to him to go. I love seeing him so happy. Now I need to find something like that to take his preteen brother to. I wish my nieces and nephews lived closer so I could do things like that with them. I’m hoping that when I am a teacher and have summers off, I can have the nieces and nephews come and stay a week with me. That would be so much fun.

OZZFEST: HEADBANGER'S BALL 2007

I’m really not a hard-core metal rocker or anything like that, but I manage to make my way to some major metal concerts and motorcycle rallies. The bike things are by choice but the concerts have more to do with my cousin. I just got back from the biggest metal concert in the nation, OZZFEST. It was a crazy time. Think of thousands of toothless head bangers and drunk rockers in black leather, and high hardcore hillbillies. Actually that description works pretty well for either the concert or the biker rallies, but in this case I am talking about Ozzy Osbourne’s well known metal tour.

There were bands galore on two stages and the music rocked for a little over 12 hours. There we were –Austin, Evan and I – head banging, and moshing with the best of them. Austin is my 16-year-old cousin and I have taken him to concerts since he was about 14. We’ve seen Gwar, Rob Zombie and Anthrax, 3 Inches of Blood, Ozzy and all kinds of bands. This makes our third concert together and I’m sure it won’t be our last.

This was the first time that I have taken another minor with us. Austin’s long time friend, Evan (also 16-years-old) went with us. I was a bit hesitant of taking him because I hadn’t met Evan before. Normally I would insist on meeting the kid first. In this case, they have been friends for years and Austin’s parents vouched for him. Both he and Austin are great and I would take either one of them anywhere without worrying about them. They have good heads on their shoulders, which explains why they are both allowed to go to such things.

Austin and Evan with their favorite band, 3 Inches of Blood.

This concert was a hard one this year. Seeing how I am a full time student and am remodeling my kitchen, I don’t have any money just floating around. But the boys carried their own weight. They both work and have money. Cousins Jennifer and Tim got us the hotel room, which just happened to be 20 minutes from the concert. I hate driving in large cities. I’ve grew up in a small town and live in Springfield, so I’m not used to driving in the big city. Having the hotel so close was very handy and much appreciated. We owe Jennifer and Tim big time.

As for the concert itself, Ozzy arranged for the tickets to be free this year. We paid for parking ($20), food (a hot dog was $5), t-shirts ($30), and water ($4 for a 12-ounce bottle). You couldn’t take hardly anything in the venue with you. No backpacks, no food, no chairs, no towels, no CD’s to be signed, nothing really. They did allow each of us one bottle of water sans the cap and allowed me to bring my digital camera, my hat and sunscreen.

There were two stages. The second stage held the majority of the bands. It was a concrete pad with a stage. So we had no place to sit from noon to 5 pm. We just hung out and listened to the bands play. Two hours of which was in the pouring rain. The bands didn’t stop and we didn’t either. Just stuck it out and squished around the rest of the day. We did luck out. The main stage had seats, but they were reserved. Our free tickets were for the lawn, which was on a major slant.

This is a shot of the crowd at the main stage.

We found a seat and quickly figured out that sitting was not going to be an option either. There were going to be too many on the lawn. Some guys were walking around selling CD’s for the main stage bands. For a cool 20 bones, you could get an upgrade to the seats and a CD of your choice. I cajoled the salesman to give us three tickets and we had great seats really close to the stage. I got a Lamb of God CD to boot.

I will warn you. If you ever go to a concert be sure and take earplugs with you. You will need them. Having gone to other concerts with Austin I knew this. Luckly, I bought a whole pack of them because our first set in the beginning got really wet and nasty. We got seats in front of the speakers and had a ball. I was glad to sit. My dogs were barking. To be honest, when our bands were playing the main stage we didn’t sit anyway. It was too fun to get up and head bang and show are metal horns.

If you’ve ever seen the show, The Osbournes, you may be wondering if Ozzy himself actually made the venue. Yep. He was the headliner and the crowd went nuts when he hit the stage. He was amazingly spry.

It made their day. The boys loved the bands and were so excited to get to go. Austin couldn’t quit talking about getting to meet and talk to his favorite band, 3 Inches of Blood. We got his picture with the band and autographs. Nothing cooler than that. It was worth it: the rain, the high prices, the hours of standing.

Here is a list of the bands that were there:

SECOND STAGE:
3 Inches of Blood
Chthonic
Hatebreed
Behemoth
Nile
Ankla
Circus Diablo
The Showdown
Daath
In This Moment (female lead screamer)

MAIN STAGE:
Ozzy Osbourne
Lamb of God
Static X
Lordi (who should have never been a main stage band)