You could say that the first Ozzfest was technically the 1997 edition. I mean after all, it’s the first time it became a traveling festival. Of course returning would be Fear Factory who were still touring behind Demanufacture. Let’s take a look…..
Early Fear Factory shows looked like they were a lot of fun. Now (at the time of writing this) I’ve only seen them one other time and they were amazing but man did they have energy during these early shows. There’s definitely a magic that this band had especially during the early 90’s. What also makes 90’s era Fear Factory special is that they were opening for big name bands such as Black Sabbath and Iron Maiden. Imagine seeing the original Black Sabbath AND the original Fear Factory during this time? Even more so imagine seeing this era of Fear Factory at Ozzfest when the only albums that they had at the time were Soul Of A New Machine and Demanufacture?? Those are absolutely Time Machine concerts and so is the 1997 Ozzfest!!! Now unfortunately, the only YouTube footage that I’m only able to find is an incomplete set as well as a couple other songs with one including an interview but even then, it’s pretty good and really shows the intensity that this band had in the early days. I’m hoping that with Ozzfest coming back, they’ll get put on the bill but we will just have to wait and see.
Fear Factory played:
- Demanufacture
- Self Immolation
- Zero Signal
- Self Bias Resistor
- Big God/Raped Souls
- Scumgrief
- Martyr
- Scapegoat
- Replica
