Ozzfest
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[OZZY OSBOURNE OZZFEST TICKETS FREE THIS YEAR by Leanarda S. — freebies, free things, free | Gather] 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.
Early years: 1996-1999
The festival was created in 1996, when organizers of musical festival Lollapalooza refused to let Ozzy Osbourne join the tour.[Fisher, Mark. Ozzfest’s ‘Freefest’ rolls into area Aug. 24. Times West Virginian: August 15, 2007.] The tour was well-received, which prompted the festival becoming 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 25th and 26th, 1996 respectively.[SMNnews.com | Ozzfest - Date Lineup History from 1996] Officer Reuben F. Rios of the California Highway Patrol was killed while directing traffic as it left the second Ozzfest show in 1996 when an intoxicated concert attendee accelerated for a lane change and struck the officer. Officer Rios died several hours later despite life-saving efforts of his fellow officers. The driver of the car was charged with felony DUI and second-degree murder.[Badges of Honor - 1990 through 1999]
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[SMNnews.com | Ozzfest - Date Lineup History from 1996] and 2002.[Ozzfest 2002 U.K]
2000s
In the early 2000s, bands including Mudvayne, Slipknot, Incubus, Tool, Megadeth, Linkin Park,
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.[Battle for Ozzfest | Show Cast, Episode Guides, Trailers, Aftershow & Previews | MTV]
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 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 . In audio captured during the concert, it is reported that Dickinson can be heard accusing the festival's organizers of deliberately cutting off the band's power. On Iron Maiden’s departure, Sharon Osbourne commanded the 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 and has been disrespecting Ozzfest since they began their stint with the tour." Her words were met with booing, so she walked off the stage.[Harris, Chris. Iron Maiden Pelted With Eggs At Final Ozzfest Performance MTV: August 22, 2005. Last accessed October 7, 2006.] Rod Smallwood, manager for Iron Maiden, issued a statement shortly after the debacle condemning the attack on the band.[Iron Maiden Manager's Official Statement Regarding Ozzfest Feud KNAC: August 23, 2005.]
2007: FreeFest
On February 7, 2007, it was announced that tickets to Ozzfest 2007 were going to be free of charge, dubbing the 2007 Ozzfest as "free fest."[The Ozzfest Community at Ozzfest.com, Heavy Metal & Hard Rock] Tickets were 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.[HOMME AND OSBOURNE FALL OUT OVER OZZFEST. ContactMusic.com: April 16, 2007.]
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 falls off so his mother can eat it."
[ Gibson, Doug "deathbringer". Sharon Osbourne Blasts Queens of the Stone Age Frontman Josh Homme Over Comments About Ozzfest 2007. Metal Underground: April 17, 2007.]
Sponsorship money provided the revenue for the tour, but organizers did not pay any of the bands appearing. Organizer Ozzy Osbourne returned to the headlining slot on the tour after a one-year absence. Ozzfest was able to convince well-established acts such as Lamb of God, Static X, and Hatebreed to appear at the tour.
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. At the Detroit show fans were turned away near the end unless they had non-free tickets. 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.[The Ozzfest Community at Ozzfest.com, Heavy Metal & Hard Rock] Then, on July 26, Ozzfest gave away free tickets without requiring its "redemption code" previously required.[The Ozzfest Community at Ozzfest.com, Heavy Metal & Hard Rock]
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 ingesting significant amounts of alcohol and energy drinks. As of August 18th drinking in the parking lot has since been banned at the PNC Bank Arts Center.[Thompson, Brian. Booze Banned After 2 Die, 83 Arrested At N.J. Concert. WNBC: August 17, 2007.]
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.
External links
 Ozzfest 2008 info
Official website
Ozzfest '98 Tour diary, photos and interviews
UnRated Magazine Review 2006 Ozzfest from July 16, 2006
Audio clips from June 2007 of Ozzy talking about free Ozzfest, when he'll retire, his new album and more.
Ozzfest News Coverage - 2 New Jersey Deaths at Ozzfest 2007
Ozzfest 2008 - Metallica on Board
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