Rob Zombie at Ozzfest, PNC Bank Arts Center, NJ, July 20, 2002. Photo by Glenn Emerstone. Photo © 2002 NY Rock. More Photos.

The players ranged from heavy-metal men of honor like Ozzy Osbourne, Rob Zombie and Zakk Wylde, to newcomers like Adema and Andrew WK. Fortunately, it didn't take long for the music to override the hype and residue of the Osbournes' hit TV show.

Last year, the Ozzfest grossed $26.4 million, and this year's model was again a sell out. With tickets ranging from $47 to $82 for a show that includes 8 acts on the main stage and 13 acts on the second stage, it was also a bargain – especially when you compare it to the hundred-dollar-plus prices commanded by acts like Paul McCartney, the Rolling Stones, and even Barry Manilow. That said, my biggest beef with Ozzfest was the $6.75 Buds and $3.50 bottled no-name water.

Last year, Papa Roach madman Coby Dick nearly incited a riot when he called on the crowd to get crazy and heave turf from the cheap seats to the stage. A few too many obliged. At this year's fest, though rattled a bit, I managed to survive intact, not to mention with a newfound respect for all things mighty and metal.

Sonny of P.O.D. at Ozzfest, PNC Bank Arts Center, NJ, July 20, 2002. Photo by Glenn Emerstone. Photo © 2002 NY Rock. More Photos.

The second stage festivities climaxed with Down. The New Orleans band features an all-star lineup, including members of EyeHateGod, Crowbar, Corrosion of Conformity and Pantera. Lead singer Phil Anselmo (Pantera) and his buddies let it rip on "Lysergic Funeral Procession," a number that Anselmo dedicated to the journalists in the crowd, referring to his "dick big enough to reach down critics' throats."

Heavy-metal goofball Andrew W.K.'s tongue-in-cheek show bordered on the bizarre. The boy delivered "I Love New York City" clad in dirty white jeans as he kicked into the song's chorus like a Radio City Rockette.

Ozzy guitarist, Viking hit man and the only one on this tour I have personally downed shots of Jack Daniels with at four in the afternoon, Zakk Wylde was next with his Black Label Society. Dedicating his set to individuals who like "drinking, fucking and pissing," Zakk and friends stampeded through a set that roared like an army of Harley Davidsons.

Adema sounded as if they were reared on Linkin Park's last record and Texan men Drowning Pool resurrected the old-school metal of Iron Maiden, particularly on Metallica's "Creeping Death." During their hit "Bodies," the crowd went nuts with fists a pumpin' and testosterone a flyin' from the pimple-faced fans.

Tim Fluckey of Adema at Ozzfest, PNC Bank Arts Center, NJ, 7/20/02. Photo by Glenn Emerstone. Photo © 2002 NY Rock. More Photos.

P.O.D. was the only rap-metal-rock act on the bill that has taken on the spirit, funk and fury of Rage Against the Machine and mutated its might into a gun-slinging derivative worthy of comparison. Singer Sonny stalked the stage as his dreads flew around his head to the crunchy distortion of Marcos's guitar. The punchy rap of "Southtown," "Satellite" and "Youth of a Nation" was fired at the crowd's funky bone as Sonny dodged the photogs (including me) in the photo pit. His lanky form bolted from stage left to right like a gazelle on the Jersey plains.

Rod Zombie – who combines the demonic glee of Ozzy with the stage antics of a tamer, cooler Alice Cooper – took to the stage in a well-worn Ramones tee shirt. His muscular vocals coupled with the industrial clatter of guitarist Riggs jolted the crowd's West Coast vibe into a ghoulishly urbane one. The backdrop of Frankenstein, Dracula and the Werewolf glared at us as the band let loose some tales of their own from beyond the crypt.

During "More Human Than Human," Zombie took to the crowd like a superhero defying drunks, slugs and overzealous security guards. For "Thunder Kiss '65," the ladies were invited onstage to shake it up for the horny, predominantly male crowd. "Dracula" was Zombie's closer, and Riggs took it to a halt when he lifted his liquid-filled guitar, drank and then spit its unknown contents at the crowd.

System of the Down combined the philosophical ramblings of a stone-faced monk and the demonic dirges of Gregorian chants into a tribal, heavy-metal funkified scat that defies categorization (though try, I may). "Chop Suey" morphed Indian raga with supersonic skunk. The band jumpstarted "Aerials" with Dire Straits' "Sultans of Swing," and took it into a rambling Black Sabbath-esque dirge. Singer Serj Tankian, dressed in a robe, ended the set with the prophetic "Keep your minds open," as the screens flickered the words "You Are Learning Now."

Before Ozzy even hit the stage, his cackle to "get fuckin' crazy" could be heard over the house P.A. A video of Ozzy in drag, as a fortuneteller and "Sex in the City" cutie, added some comic relief to the somber tones that System left in their wake. Ozzy cackled, "Let the madness begin," and it did.

Zakk Wylde strutted onstage, plugged into his four-story wall of Marshall amps and proceeded to mind fuck the crowd into submission. With a barrage of distorted vibrato and heavy-metal thunder, he borrows from the ghost of Hendrix and the youth of Page, Blackmore, Iommi and Van Halen and combines it into a flawless exercise of virtuosity. Dressed in black with a golden cross on his shirt, Ozzy countered with a wail that echoed his tormented mindset on "War Pigs." Flatfooted and stumbling around the stage like your favorite burnt-out uncle, before he started the song "Believer," from the recent album, Down to Earth, he told the crowd his wife was fine (she was recently diagnosed with cancer) and that he smoked some wacky weed with her before he went onstage. During "Suicide Solution," Zakk's guitar rang with so much emotion, it brought the crowd to silence.

"Crazy Train" ended the set and "Mama I'm Coming Home," dedicated to wife Sharon, was the first encore that Zakk played at the alter of Ozzy's feet. Ozzy told the crowd that since he learned of his wife's diagnosis a week before the tour, he's been "giving it all he's got." Zakk struck the opening chords of "Paranoia" and the crowd lost it, Ozzy cackled again in glee and Ozzfest 2002 became another blurred memory as I fired one up in celebration.