Ozzfest
is an annual festival tour of the United States (and in some years, Europe) featuring performances by many heavy metal and hard rock musical groups. It was founded by Ozzy Osbourne [1] and his wife Sharon Osbourne, [2] both of whom also organize each yearly tour with their son Jack Osbourne. [3] The Ozzfest tour has featured bands of a variety of genres within heavy metal and hard rock, including alternative metal, thrash metal, industrial metal, metalcore, hardcore punk, nu metal, death metal, gothic metal and black metal. Ozzy Osbourne himself, as well as his band Black Sabbath, has played the tour several times over the years.
|
OZZFEST TICKETS
|
History
Early years: 1996-1998
The festival was created in 1996, when organizers of musical festival
Lollapalooza refused to let
Ozzy Osbourne join the tour.
[4] The tour was well-received, which prompted the festival to become a yearly occurrence.
The first Ozzfest was not a national tour, but rather a two-day festival held in
Phoenix, Arizona and
Devore, California on October 25 and 26th, 1996 respectively.
In 1998, Ozzfest ventured outside the United States for the first time into the
United Kingdom, which featured a different lineup of bands. The festival would eventually return to the UK in 2001
[5] and 2002.
[6]
2000s
In the early 2000s, bands including
Marilyn Manson,
Mudvayne,
Slipknot,
Incubus,
Linkin Park,
System of a Down, and
Disturbed played the yearly music festival.
[7] [8] Two compilation albums of the Ozzfest tour were released, one covering select 2001
performances and another for 2002.
[9]
On-stage footage of the Ozzfest 2004 tour was shown on
MTV, as Ozzy and Sharon hosted a show on the network titled
Battle for Ozzfest
where they chose eight out of hundreds of bands to compete for a spot on the following year's Ozzfest. Ozzy selected one member from each chosen band to "tag along" on the tour. Each contestant had to complete numerous challenges in order to improve his/her band's chances of winning the contest. Occasionally, meetings would be held and certain contestants would be eliminated for various reasons. The person who prevailed as the winner and guaranteed his band's spot on the Ozzfest tour was Marc Serrano from metalcore act
A Dozen Furies.
[10]
At
Iron Maiden's last Ozzfest performance, on
August 20,
2005 at the
Hyundai Pavilion at Glen Helen in
San Bernardino,
California, several negative events took place. During the first song, several members of the crowd, brought on by
Sharon Osbourne, bombarded the British metal band Iron Maiden with eggs, bottle caps and ice. During three of Iron Maiden's songs, the P.A. system was switched off, cutting power to vocalist
Bruce Dickinson's microphone and the band's instruments . During the concert, Bruce Dickinson can be heard accusing the festival's organizers of deliberately cutting off the band's power. On Iron Maiden’s departure, Sharon Osbourne came on stage to make a few statements, telling the audience that she "absolutely loved Iron Maiden" but thought that the lead singer
Bruce Dickinson is a
prick."
[11] Rod Smallwood, manager for Iron Maiden, issued a statement shortly after the debacle condemning the attack on the band.
[12]
2007: FreeFest
On February 7, 2007, it was announced that tickets to Ozzfest 2007 would be offered free of charge, dubbing the 2007 Ozzfest as "free fest."
[13] Tickets were made available through sponsor websites, the Ozzfest web site and to those buying an advance copy of Ozzy Osbourne's new release,
Black Rain
.
Much controversy was generated when
Josh Homme of
Queens of the Stone Age was asked by
Blender, a U.S. music magazine, what he considered to be his worst summer job.
[14]
Homme stated:
"I won't be playing Ozzfest again - they treat the bands like shit... This year you get to play for free under the guise of, 'We're doing it for the fans!' But it's really for the people who fan Sharon and Ozzy with palm fronds at their house."
Sharon Osbourne responded by saying:
"I hope he gets syphilis and dies. I hope his dick fuckin' falls off so his mother can eat it."
Sponsorship money provided the revenue for the tour, but organizers did not pay any of the bands appearing. Ozzy Osbourne returned to the headlining slot on the tour after being absent from the 2006 tour. Ozzfest 2007 featured well-established acts such as Lamb of God, Static X, and Hatebreed.
There were problems with distribution of the free tickets. Fans were given codes to receive tickets through the official Ozzfest website, but due to the heavy load on
Live Nation's
secure servers, there were issues with ticket redemption. Another problem was that many "
eBay scalpers" charged fans to pay for the free tickets, often turning out to be unusable duplicates of other tickets.
[15] Then, on July 26, Ozzfest gave away free tickets without requiring its "redemption code" previously required.
[16]
At the
August 16, 2007 show in Holmdel, New Jersey at the
PNC Bank Arts Center, controversy was generated as 83 attendees were arrested at the show, most of them underage and arrested prior to 8:00. In addition, two men died, one after overdosing on alcohol and energy drinks. As of August 18, drinking in the parking lot was banned at the PNC Bank Arts Center.
2008: Reduction to a one day event
Questions over whether the event would be held in 2008 began when in April that year Ozzy Osbourne announced that he would be headlining the Canadian Monsters of Rock festival.
[17] The 2008 version of the festival took place for only one date at
Pizza Hut Park in
Frisco, Texas on
August 8,
2008. The line-up featured
Metallica and Ozzy Osbourne as the headliner bands, as well as other acts such as
Jonathan Davis (frontman of
Korn),
Sevendust,
DevilDriver,
Serj Tankian (frontman of
System of a Down),
Cavalera Conspiracy,
Shadows Fall,
Apocalyptica and
In This Moment.
[18] [19] Along with the two main stages was a third, named the Texas Stage, which, according to Sharon Osbourne, featured such Texas-based bands as
The Sword,
Drowning Pool,
Goatwhore,
Soilent Green and
Rigor Mortis.
[20] [21]
The Canadian Version of "The Monsters of Rock" were held exclusively on July 26th, 2008 at the McMahon Stadium located in
Calgary,
Alberta,
Canada. It was also scheduled as a "one time only" event. The main attraction for the festival of heavy metal and mayhem were metal giants
Judas Priest and the headliner,
Ozzy Osbourne. In addition, various other "big league" heavy metal outfits attended the festivities. The following bands preceded the two main attractions:
Serj Tankian (current frontman for the temporarily non-functional
System Of A Down)
Hatebreed,
Cavalera Conspiracy (featuring current frontman of
Soulfly,
Max Cavalera)
Shadows Fall, Canadian Metal unit
Voivod,
Testament,
3 inches of blood,
Priestess,
Zimmers Hole, and
Dillinger Escape Plan
2009: Canceled
Ozzy Osbourne is currently in the studio in Los Angeles co-producing his 10th studio album with Kevin Churko. Ozzy has decided that he will not be touring until he has a new album in-stores (currently projected to be Thanksgiving 2009), and has canceled Ozzfest this year to work on the album.
[22]
Ozzfest lineups by year
References
- Ozzy Osbourne Biography
- Osbournes Hype 'Groundbreaking' Ozzfest: 'Why Not Go To A Show For Free?'
- OZZY OSBOURNE OZZFEST TICKETS FREE THIS YEAR by Leanarda S. — freebies, free things, free | Gather
- Fisher, Mark. Ozzfest’s ‘Freefest’ rolls into area Aug. 24. ''Times West Virginian'': August 15, 2007.
- SMNnews.com | Ozzfest - Date Lineup History from 1996
- Ozzfest 2002 U.K
- Ozzfest 2001: The Second Millennium - Review
- Concert Review: Ozzfest '98
- In Stores Now And Coming Soon: New Music From Ozzfest, Aaron Carter, In Flames, Jazzyfatnastees & More
- Battle for Ozzfest | Show Cast, Episode Guides, Trailers, Aftershow & Previews | MTV
- Harris, Chris. Iron Maiden Pelted With Eggs At Final Ozzfest Performance MTV: August 22, 2005. Last accessed October 7, 2006.
- ''Iron Maiden Manager's Official Statement Regarding Ozzfest Feud'' KNAC: August 23, 2005.
- The Ozzfest Community at Ozzfest.com, Heavy Metal & Hard Rock
- HOMME AND OSBOURNE FALL OUT OVER OZZFEST. ContactMusic.com: April 16, 2007.
- The Ozzfest Community at Ozzfest.com, Heavy Metal & Hard Rock
- The Ozzfest Community at Ozzfest.com, Heavy Metal & Hard Rock
- Ozzy Osbourne Announces Monsters Of Rock Headlining Gig -- So What Does This Mean For Ozzfest?
- Bands
- Metallica, Ozzy Osbourne Sign On For One-Day Ozzfest
- Ozzfest...Metallica Arrives Saturday, August 9th in Dallas, Texas
- Ozzfest 2008 is One Show Only...In Frisco
- http://www.rollingstone.com/rockdaily/index.php/2009/02/12/ozzfest-2009-canceled-as-ozzy-osbourne-wo