MINNEAPOLIS — Minneapolis, Minn., has never seen a concert event like Ozzfest ’97. Billed with the hardest of hard-core bands, Ozzfest ’97 left metal music fans feeling violated.

Stacked with such mega-acts as Ozzy Osbourne, Black Sabbath, Pantera, Marilyn Manson and Type O Negative, it was the second-stage that laid the trend for what would be the heaviest concert festival to date.

Vision of Disorder, of Long Island, N.Y., immediately set the standard with vocalist Tim Williams’ gut-wrenching screams. With an intensity level matched by few other bands on the tour, VOD moved the crowd with the song “Through My Eyes” off of its current self-titled Roadrunner release.

The crowd went into a frenzy as Williams screamed “Process information makes the world go round.” The tone for the day was now set into place.

First to take the main stage was Powerman 5000. Lead singer Spider, the brother of White Zombie frontman Rob Zombie, took the band through a disappointing set.

With samples similar to White Zombie and Spider’s vocals sounding close to his brother’s, the set quickly turned into a poor rip-off of White Zombie. The performance consisted of Spider and bandmates Adam 12 and Dorian jumping like they were on pogo sticks to rhythms that weren’t all that moving.

With its first release from Dreamworks Records, “Mega Kung Foo Radio,” just hitting the shelves, the question of why they were on the main stage echoed throughout the Metrodome.

Machine Head, another Roadrunner band, followed Powerman on the main stage. Having never heard of Machine Head and not even being able to name one of its songs (mainly because the band never told anyone), its performance was a pleasant surprise.

Machine Head moved the crowd with authority. Vocalist/guitarist Robb Flynn was incredible. He was the kind of player that let every lyric from his mouth and every riff from his guitar speak for itself. The crowd was now alive and well.

The next notable act was Type O Negative. Although the band played popular songs such as “Christian Woman” and “Black No.1,” its performance was lacking emotion. Singer/bassist Peter Steele’s grumbling voice was there, but his apparent nonchalant attitude about his stage performance was even more apparent.

Type O’s most exciting part of the set came when Pantera lead singer Phil Anselmo came on stage to do a much heavier version of “Kill All The White People.” Anselmo’s voice echoed the words “don’t worry, we’ll be seeing you soon,” as he left the stage.

And when Pantera finally took the main stage, it brought the roof down. After an intro of some cheesy country tune, Pantera opened with “Cowboys from Hell,” followed by the monster mosh-pit creator, “A New Level.”

After performing such vintage Pantera tunes as “Five Minutes Alone,” “Walk” and “Domination,” Anselmo gave his thanks to the crowd and said goodbye only to encore with “This Love” and “Fucking Hostile.”

Anselmo, backed by drummer Vince Paul, bassist Rex and guitarist Dimebag Darrell gave fans their $40 dollars worth in one show. The tightness of Pantera would be unmatched and the level of intensity among the crowd was the highest of the evening.

The next bright spot was the Los Angeles band Downset, an impressive rap/hip-hop oriented metal outfit. Opening with the bouncy but lyrically challenging “Eyes Shut Tight,” Downset battled sound board problems to shine through with such impressive lyrics as “deep in you soul, fool, you now it ain’t right. Rolling around with your eyes shut tight”.

Vocalists Anthony Ray Orpeza never stopped a second to catch a breath, making it difficult for the crowd to catch theirs. Such tracks as “Empower” and “Anger” ruled Downset’s performance.

The controversial Marilyn Manson took stage next with music that was tight and quite bouncy. The only downfall to the show was Manson himself. His vocal performance consisted of screaming, screaming and more screaming without much texture.

As for his stage presence — it was insulting. Manson wiped his butt with the American flag, gave himself a laceration that left the left side of his chest a bloody mess, told the crowd that the world outside of the Metrodome wanted them to believe in a god that didn’t believe in them and attempted to get the crowd to chant “we hate love, we love hate.”

Following Manson was the man who created Ozzfest — Ozzy Osbourne. A long movie-esque intro, that included Ozzy in such classic places as the Wizard of Oz, The Adams Family and onstage with Elvis, opened his performance.

Playing such classics as “Bark at the Moon,” “Goodbye to Romance,” “Crazy Train” and “Mr. Crowley,” Ozzy had the crowd riveting.

“You’re not crazy enough for me,” Osbourne said over and over again.

Before fans had a chance to recoperate, it was reunion time — a chance to see Black Sabbath, considered by many as the originators of metal.

A long intro on the big screen, with clips of Black Sabbath selling out giant stadiums, put perspective on what the performance would come to mean. Ozzy returned to the stage beside guitarists Tony Iommi and bassist Geezer Butler. Although Faith No More drummer Mike Bordin handled percussion, this was Black Sabbath in the minds of the masses.

Opening with “War Pigs,” Black Sabbath gave the crowd a taste of what pure metal was. The band was tight, the music was loud — meaning it was time for “Iron Man.”

It was awesome to hear. It was a monumental sight to see.

Ozzy summed up the day best when he said,” This is fun, huh? Do you think we should do it again next year?”

You can guess the crowd’s response.