by Russ Austin

Created on: February 22, 2009

I went to Independent Records in Denver in May or June of 2007 to buy the then new Ozzy CD, "Black Rain." Not his best, but a good album. Inside the "Back Rain" CDs at that time (including mine) was a code for 2 free tickets to Ozzfest 2007. In Denver, the concert was at Coors Ampitheater (formerly Fiddler's Green) on Saturday, July 28th. Of course, I redeemed the code for the tickets.

Below the dotted line is my review/testimony of my Ozzfest 2007 experience. Lamb of God and Ozzy put on great shows, but the rest of that concert experience was terrible. It's almost always an adventure being a wheelchair-user at shows, but Ozzfest 2007 was ridiculous. What you are about to read is the review/testimony that I sent to Melissa Mollet at channel 31 (the FOX affiliate in Denver) news.

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Speaking of being in a chair, I went to Ozzfest at Coors Ampitheatre on Saturday. Lamb of God and Ozzy were great, but the rest of the day before that was terrible. I couldn't go out to the 2nd stage in the parking lot, for one. Another wheelchair-user, Jay (sic?), who came in from Grand Junction to the show, told me that he tried to get to the the 2nd stage but said it wasn't accessible. Also, while I'm used to this kind of hassle in public bathrooms just about everywhere, there were able-bodied guys constantly using the one-and-only accessible stall.

The 1st time on Saturday that I went to use the Men's room on the upper level of Coors Ampitheater (formerly Fiddler's Green), there was someone in the stall. I didn't see a chair on the floor when I looked at the bottom of the stall door, so I knew I was enduring a common occurrence, again. I waited for about 5 minutes or so, and then left to find a security guard. I figured they could escort me downstairs so I could use the bathroom down there. After all, the lower level was supposedly closed off at the time because the 2nd stage was out in the parking lot and there was no one onstage on the 1st stage inside the Ampitheater. I located an "Event Staff" member (security guard) around near the entrance where I first came in. I explained to this idiot security guard (who obviously didn`t want to be bothered) the situation and if he would let me go downstairs to use the bathroom. He kept telling me No and escorted me back to the same bathroom I had just come from. Another 5-10 minutes must have elapsed during all this. When the security guard and I got into the bathroom, the same person was in the lone acessible stall. I could tell because

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