Sharon Osbourne in talks with Live Nation to revive Ozzfest: “It was something Ozzy was very passionate about”
Sharon Osbourne has revealed she’s in early discussions about resurrecting Ozzfest, the iconic metal festival she co-founded three decades ago alongside her late husband, Black Sabbath legend Ozzy Osbourne.
Speaking in a new interview with Billboard, the longtime manager – who guided Ozzy’s solo career for decades – confirms she is “talking to [concert promoters] Live Nation” about bringing the event back, with a tentative return pencilled in for 2027. While Ozzfest built its reputation on heavy music, Sharon explains that the revived edition could incorporate artists outside the traditional rock and metal sphere. “I’d like to mix up the genres,” she says.
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“It was something Ozzy was very passionate about: giving young talent a stage in front of a lot of people,” she adds. “We really started metal festivals in this country. It was [replicated but] never done with the spirit of what ours was, because ours was a place for new talent. It was like summer camp for kids.”
Launched in 1996 after Lollapalooza declined to book Ozzy, Ozzfest began as a short run of dates in Phoenix, Arizona and San Bernardino, California. Ozzy headlined the inaugural shows, backed by a bill stacked with heavy hitters including Slayer, Danzig, Biohazard and Sepultura.
From there, the festival quickly evolved into a proving ground for the next generation of heavy acts. Slipknot, Limp Bizkit and System Of A Down were among the now-household names that appeared on the tour around the time of their debut releases.
Ozzfest eventually expanded beyond the US, spawning international editions in the UK, Germany, Belgium and Japan. Its last outing was a one-off event in Inglewood, California in 2018.
Sharon previously spoke about the festival’s disappearance in 2023, attributing its cancellation after over two decades to “greedy” management.
“We made a profit. But it was not like – we couldn’t retire on it,” she said on The Osbournes Podcast. “And managers and agents wanted more and more and more, and it just wasn’t cost-effective anymore. We stopped because it just wasn’t cost-effective.
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Source: www.guitar-bass.net
