Over the weekend, crowds of people went bravely into the San Bernardino heat just to have a chance to take part in the biggest merge of the two biggest festivals in metal music. Ozzy Osborne and the crew got together last May and made the announcement that for Ozzfest’s 20th anniversary they’re going to combine Knotfest, Slipknot’s own music festival, for a two-day metal extravaganza with 40 bands playing.

Fans from all over gathered towards the San Manuel Amphitheater, fighting off dehydration from the mid ninety-degree heat, a parking staff that had people waiting to park for over two hours, and sun burns from walking along the venue just to take part of metal history. Some hardcore fans even had a chance to camp out for the event a day prior to the festival at Glen Helen Regional Park just to be 700 feet from the festival gates.

San Bernardino had about 3,400 campers and approximately 37,000 attendees ready to bang their heads.

Gates opened around 11, with hordes of excited fans rushing into the gates just to catch the spectacular look of the fair grounds. While most of the stages were still going over sound tests for shows later on in the day, one stage was prepared to rock towards the south side of the venue, the Nuclear Blast Stage. This stage hosted some great opening bands to get the crowd ready for an exciting day of metal music with bands like Kataklysm (“As I Slither” and “Crippled & Broken”) and Municipal Waste (“Unleash the Bastards” and “Born to Party”) to warm up the crowd that was already warmed up from the heat.

Noon is when the venue went into full swing with all the festival attractions now open to the fans like carnival games with a gory twist, a monster truck rally, and even amusement park rides with a professional pyro effect around the riders. Of course a festival has to host food trucks to satisfy a crowd of moshing fans with an array of burgers, kettle corn, and of course overpriced beer. If the fair fare doesn’t interest the enthusiasts of metal, then the Monster Energy Drink Stage provided two different stages of music till a half an hour after three. With bigger bands like Goatwhore, (“FBS” and “Baring Teeth for Revolt”) Hatebreed, (“To the Threshold” and “Everyone Bleeds Now”) and ending with a fan favorite Suicidal Tendencies (“I Shot the Devil” and “Cyco Vision”)

As the sun began to set over the main stage, the entertainers took a moment to pay tribute to our fallen brother in metal, Ian Fraser Kilmister or Lemmy who past away this year. In order to commemorate him, the main platform was dubbed the Lemmy Stage. As tears poured from every fans eyes, they continued to rock even harder for the main acts. Just as Lemmy would have wanted. Rival Sons took up and the stage with a six song set list that included “Electric Man” and “Open My Eyes.” Walking up on stage just only a few minutes after was Black Label Society with an eight song set list with hits like “Suicide Messiah” and “Stillborn.”

The moon started to come out around six during the five set show from Opeth with songs like “Cusp of Eternity” and “Deliverance” with the moonlight showing off the pyro effects of the fair rides as well as the “self-started” fires that fans may or may not have started on the lawn of the venue. Then the stage went pitch black. All the fans waited in anticipation for what was going to happen next. Like a sound of thunder, chords from a guitar screamed across the field. It was Megadeth with “Hangar 18” as it kicked off their massive 13 long set list.

As Megadeth walked off the stage, fans got out of their seats to make the time old tradition of using the restroom and then getting another two beers during the intermission. Unfortunately, for those waiting for a stall missed the start of one of the most awaited bands before Sabbath themselves, Disturbed. As the flames of the lawn continued to grow in mass and the pits became more brutal with each passing song. Disturbed rivaled the set list of Megadeth with a 13 song list that included hits like “Ten Thousand Fists”, “Stupify”, and of course “Down with the Sickness.”

As a long day of rocking came to an end, and a few dozen people were thrown out due to intoxication, most would consider that 9:30 would be the best  time to end a festival, however there was still the headliner of the whole show. The grandfathers of metal themselves, Black Sabbath. Opening with their self-title song, the band geared up with a 13 song set list with all the favorites like “War Pigs” and “Children of the Grave” and even new songs from their latest album “13.” As Sabbath finished their last song and began to walk off stage, the crowd began to roar for one more song. Song titles like “God is Dead?”, “Sweet Leaf”, and even “Free Bird” filled the air as they awaited an encore. Sabbath did come back out for one last song as they played “Paranoid”. With the last song now finished the band took a bow and fireworks filled the air as the stage screen now showed the phrase “The End” as the feeling now sunk in that this was the last time people in California would ever see this band play live ever again.

As the flames began to burn out, and ashes from the beer cans, t-shirts, and trash began to spread along the fairgrounds, some people started heading back to their cars to begin the pointless journey of hundreds of people trying to leave the concert at the same time. Some just knocked out in their cars in order to wait out the crazy lines and other just started drinking by their cars waiting for Sunday to do it all over again.