For all the naysayers who thought that OzzFest couldn’t go on without Ozzy Osbourne for the first time in its ten year existence, let me tell you something: the latest installment of OzzFest proved that they could still bring in a crowd, and keep the crowd going for most of the show.

Even though Osbourne is playing 10 of the 30 OzzFest shows this year, Detroit’s edition had Osbourne absent, and it didn’t seem to make much of a difference. For the first time ever in Detroit, the crowd didn’t have to witness Ozzy Osbourne ramble incoherently, but the nearly sold out crowd of roughly 14,000 did see a very solid set from headliner System of A Down, while Disturbed and Hatebreed run away with the majority of the fans approval.

The sun beat down on the fans brave enough to weather the sounds and sights of the second stage. The usual suspects FYE, Jagermeister, etc.) had their booths in the familiar “Village of the Damned”. However, this year added a circus tent, complete with “freaks of all kinds”- the kind of stuff you’d expect from an OzzFest.

On the second stage however, Bleeding Through got the young kids slamming into each other early, with Atreyu keeping up the pace throughout their 35 minute set. Both bands normally put on strong sets, but it was the Boston band Unearth that showed the most improvement this year. The band ripped through a similar 35 minute set with new material from their upcoming In the Eyes of Fire album (out August 8th), and pummeled the fans with their last song Black Hearts Now Reign. They seemed to be taking more of a straight metal approach, versus a lot of screaming in the past. Black Label Society headlined the second stage, and the blazing sun had little to no effect on the biker wannabes cheering on Zakk Wylde and his guitar antics. But if you weren’t a fan of their live set before this, odds are it wasn’t going to change your impression of them.

As evening started to set in, the action moved to the main stage as England’s Dragonforce hit the stage, but with a lot of puzzled looks on the fan’s faces. People heard the prog-rock riffs (most sounded straight out of a video game), and wondered if this was a joke, or if the band was trying to be serious, which I think the crowd is still trying to figure out.

Italy’s Lacuna Coil did nothing to wake the crowd after their mid-afternoon drunken slumber. Even though lead singer Cristina Scabbia is amazingly attractive, her enchanting voice had the adverse affect that the band wanted during their set. In songs such as Heaven’s A Lie, and their above average take on Depeche Mode’s Enjoy The Silence, the crowd seemed more interested in getting food or beer to really care.

That slumber ended real quick when hardcore juggernauts Hatebreed hit the stage for a 45 minute set, and the crowd hit the pits running. Hatebreed was the short attention span favorite of the day, ripping through 15 songs in their set, and pumping up their upcoming release, Supremacy (out August 29th). Lead singer Jamey Jasta had the crowd waving shirts in the air and chucking beer bottles to gloriously abrasive tunes such as Live for This, and Last Breath. It seemed as if Hatebreed stole the show from the headliners, with their brand of raw fury.

Avenged Sevenfold was the group most expected to win the Battle of the Bands (or get booed out of the building), and they proved that they deserved all praise with their set. Even though the band ripped out Beast and the Harlot, and the older Unholy Confessions, I only would have wished that more time would have been devoted to their stellar Waking the Fallen record. But I think Avenged was more interested in proving the haters wrong, right down to the cover of the immortal metal classic, Pantera’s Walk, which had the entire crowd pumping their fists and screaming the lyrics at the

Disturbed looked like the band that the fans came to see more than any other band at this year’s OzzFest. Complete with poignant frontman David Draiman, the band tore through their 75 minute set and proved that mainstream hard rock still can keep the fans entertained. Starting with the first single from their Ten Thousand Fists album, Guarded, Disturbed kept things simple and stuck with crowd favorites. The fans went into overload when the group ended with their song for the Heavy Metal Time Capsule, Down With The Sickness, which might have been sang by the crowd louder than when Avenged Sevenfold did Walk.

While Disturbed performed a commendably hits flavored set, headliner System of A Down seemed hellbent of performing songs off their new double album Mezmerize/ Hypnotize. The vast majority of the material, such as Kill Rock N Roll, and the serene ballad Lonely Day were covered in their 90 minute showcase. The band, however, seemed more talkative to the crowd, but not with each other. If the rumors of the band calling it a day after this tour weren’t relevant before, they might be now. I am still not sure if System is a suitable OzzFest headliner at this point in time. The band is growing more diverse and rich in their sound, and some of the slower tempo material had some the more usual OzzFest fans heading towards the exits. Either way, the band put on a good set, but they had the thunder stolen from them at least twice at OzzFest, by the double dose of Hatebreed and Disturbed.

The big question remains: Will OzzFest be back for a second straight year without Ozzy? The crowd seemed large enough to keep the 800 pound gorilla of heavy metal tours going, but will it be time to call it something else? Close up shop? We will have to just wait and see…