"Bol, tu kutta hain", screams the English officer. Aamir Khan spits out (thu-kuta-hain) and repeats "tu kutta hain" and brings in some comic relief to the overbooked Naz theatre in Bay Area. After two nights of 5 hour sleep each, and 6 1/2 hr of lonely driving, I thought my first hindi movie in a theatre in more than 2 years would be something to write about, but 'Mangal Pandey' was a big let down. However, I wasn't in the Bay Area to watch the 1857 uprising, but to see the 2005 Ozzfest.
The Ozzfest 2005 was being held in the Shoreline Amphitheatre in Mountain View, CA from 9 am - 11 pm. Since we weren't aware of the exact schedule, we ended up at the park by 11:00 am. The events in the main stadium was about to start only at 4:00 pm, but there were lot of not-so-famous heavy metal bands playing in the adjacent stage. While the excessive heat gave us a Madras like tan, the highly priced food and drinks left our wallets lighter. The only decent performance before 4:00 pm was by Rob Zombie, and we spent much of the afternoon cursing our host, and discussing some PJ's.
A mention must be made of the composition of crowd. This is only my 2nd big rock concert and so it would be imprudent to generalise, but I must say the hard rock loving fans in this country is predominantly white. There were no one of Hispanic or Oriental descent, though they constitue a sizeable chunk of the Bay Area population. There were only about handful of south-asians (indians), half of which were the group comprising yours truly. However there was color in a different form, as some of the ladies decided to wear paint on their upper body rather than clothes. While 'Mudvayne' was performing, a girl was creating "flash" news for a dollar bill. There were some who competed with her, but she went home richer by atleast 20-30 dollars, as our sore eyes were treated free of cost.
The main action started at 4:30 on the center stage, with "In Flames", from Sweden giving a very energetic performance.The climatic moment of the show came when "Iron Maiden" took centre stage at 8:00 pm. The crowd went delirious as they belted out some of their very famous songs. However, my best part of the concert came when 'Black Sabbath' started performing. Ozzy Osburne still retained his golden voice, and Tonni Lommi mesmorised the audience with his guitaring. In my opinion he was better than all 4 of the Maiden strummers.
Sunday was capped off with a trip to Golden Gate bridge and San Francisco and 50 Mb of 'patel' snaps. We started off spending some time at the 'fisherman's wharf' and 'pier 39', and then climbed some steep hills on the Lombard street and came winding down on the 'crooked street'. God Bless, all the manual transmission owners in San Fran, and I can certainly not imagine myself navigating those 60 degree steep inclines on my stick transmission. The weekend ended on a very tiring note with another 6 hour drive home to Los Angeles. Light rains and lightning lit up the San Bernardino / Verdugo mountains as I approached Los Angeles, and made it a beautiful sight even though it was close to midnight.
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6 comments:
you seem to be fascinated with the name aussie/ozzie :) ..was sus also there? did you guys head bang and all? you shud be careful ..you might lost whatever remnants you have of what used to be a thriving civilization of the Mire kingdom!
what's a "patel" snap?
"Patel" snaps represents to the typical 'touristy' pictures that people take in front of major monuments and landmarks.....
Sus was also there...but he self RGed himself by leaving the stadium b4 Black Sabbath performed.....
Your talk on Mire Kingdom sounds might cause a 'hair' raising controversy..be careful....
Other than the 'news flashes' i cant really think up of any other reason why nyone wud attend a fest celebrating one of the most wierd and psycho guys on this planet.
he must be weird and psycho...I agree...but u just had to c Black Sabbath perform in flesh to realise why more than 10,000 people shelled 50 odd bucks to be there.......
Besides Iron Maiden were outstanding too....
kevvi ritte jaise.... I think that was the highlight of the trip and you really forgot to mention that!!
dude I have been listening to the song 10 times every day....I get really scared when I c the guy unwedded after 30 yrs, and refusing to do a bio-data :)
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