Ozz and Off

For those of you who missed the Music as a Weapon Tour, dry your tears: Disturbed is back. The Windy City metal powerhouse is returning to the Ozzfest lineup headlining with fellow icons Chevelle, Korn, Marilyn Manson, and of course Ozzy Osbourne. The annual summer music festival will hit nearly 30 cities across the nation, coming to our area in early to mid-August. But Disturbed has taken things a step further by supplementing their already strenuous schedule with additional tour dates known as the Off-Fest. "We love to play, and we can't go a day without playing," explained Disturbed frontman David Draiman. The six scheduled Off-Fest dates will also feature Ozzfest performers Chevelle and Nothingface.

Disturbed, who are known for their intense, powerful live performances, first earned their place at Ozzfest three years ago, performing in the morning on the second stage. With the release of The Sickness in March of 2000, Disturbed won crowds over with their driving rhythms, angrily articulate vocals, and Draiman's infamous animal noises. The album went double platinum and put tremendous pressure on Disturbed to deliver with their second album. And that is exactly what they did with the release of Believe in September 2002. As the album title suggests, the theme contrasts that of The Sickness, focusing on faith and "the creation of life." Draiman described the change as "organic, natural development." "You realize what you're capable of," he said, "and it makes you want to do more; we wanted to take it up a notch."

With two successful albums and Music as a Weapon tours under their belt, Disturbed has climbed its way to the headlining slot on the biggest rock tour of the year, and they are in good company. This year's Ozzfest will be "truly interesting," Draiman said. "I think you'll see some of the best performances out of each of the headlining acts ... out of friendly competitiveness."

Ozzfest attracts enormous audiences and a variety of fans. "There is a tremendous difference between playing for fans who are already ours and opening up for a different band, having to fight to win them over," Draiman said. While Disturbed should not have to do much fighting, they maintain the hard-working, driven attitude of an unsigned band. "We want to prove we deserve the position we've achieved," Draiman said. "We want to move the crowd each day and make our mark ... to truly belong."

Ozzfest gives many bands the exposure they need to achieve success, as it did for Disturbed. While the main stage is packed with well-established acts, the second stage presents this opportunity to up-and-coming bands. This year's second stage has a tremendous lineup featuring Chimaira, Cradle of Filth, Voivod, Depswa, Endo, Grade 8, Hotwire, Killswitch Engage, The Revolution Smile, Memento, Motograter, Nothingface, Shadow's Fall, Sworn Enemy, Twisted Method, and Unloco, who was featured on this year's Music as a Weapon 2 tour. The Datsuns will also be featured on the main stage for selected dates in July. While many of these artists have already made appearances on MTV's Headbangers' Ball and Fuse's Uranium and have strong fan bases, Ozzfest is known as the ultimate stepping stone to recognition. This year's second stage is very fierce and is the perfect compliment to the main stage; it will definitely get everyone pumped up.

Ozzfest 2003 was originally anticipated to be somewhat of a disappointment, as Ozzy Osbourne declared last summer that 2002 would be his last tour. But Ozzy is back with one of the most powerful Ozzfest lineups ever, with Disturbed as one of the definite highlights. And for a double dose of this metal madness, the Off-Fest will give you a taste of Ozz with a healthy serving of Disturbed, which alone is quite fulfilling. Catch Ozzfest and the Off-Fest to see what happens when the finest bands are compelled to new levels of greatness. Experience the majesty of metal.

Ozzfest comes to New York City on August 18 and 19. Though there was to be an Off-Fest performance on August 8, it was recently cancelled.