The day started out fine, but it was raining at Milton Keynes. The Bowl is perfectly shaped for collecting water in the main part in front of the stages, which quickly became nice and squidgy. The best bet was to retreat up the sloped sides with a few lagers to keep the cold at bay.

The second dissappointment was the truly awful sound - easily the worst outdoor PA I've ever heard. When there's a permanent set-up, you'd think they'd be able to get it right, but no.

The third downer was the no-show by Korn. The guitarist's wife was having a baby. Hmmm, you get nearly nine months notice of that sort of thing... Suspiciously, although this was only announced on the day, the official merchandise didn't have their name on. I later found out that Korn had never been intending to turn up. The booking agents hadn't even booked airline tickets for the band. Simply, their name was being used to sell tickets.

The terrible sound meant that most of the bands at the bottom of the bill sounded much the same. Korn were replaced by Therapy? who battled bravely against both the crap PA and crowd apathy, as did the Foo Fighters.

Soulfly, however, were fantastic, their Brazilian-influenced take on metal standing head and shoulders above the mundane shouty bands at the bottom of the bill and on the second stage.

Ozzy played a brief solo set, and showed some entertaining spoof videos featuring him in bizarre cameo roles, before Black Sabbath rounded off the day. Poor old drummer Bill Ward - not well enough to play - was dragged on-stage so that Ozzy could pull his trousers down. Sadly, Sabbath did nothing for me at all. I guess, for once, that I just wasn't old enough.

Best band of Ozzfest 1998
• Soulfly

Ozzfest 1998 line-up