The festival was created in 1996 by Ozzy Osbourne's wife and manager, Sharon Osbourne, after she was rebuffed by Lollapalooza when she tried to get Ozzy on that festival circuit.[4] The tour was well-received, which prompted the festival to become a yearly occurrence.[2]
The first Ozzfest was not a national tour, but rather a two-day festival held in Phoenix, Arizona, and Devore, California, on 25 and 26 October 1996 respectively. Ozzfest Live, a compilation of ten live tracks recorded during this festival, was released on April 29, 1997.
In 1997, there were large protests outside of the festival to cancel Marilyn Manson's performance. However, no dates were cancelled. There were also protests of a similar nature in 2001, following the Columbine High School massacre, which some groups had blamed on Marilyn Manson.
In 1998, Ozzfest ventured outside the United States for the first time into the United Kingdom, which featured a different line-up of bands. The festival would eventually return to the UK in 2001[5] and 2002.[6]
The 1998 US Tour also featured for the first time an Ozzfest web site. Photographs were made during the tour using an early generation Sony Mavica FD-7 digital camera and uploaded each night after the show, and a tour diary was kept from the road.[7]
The concert on 18 July 1998 at Float Rite Park was merged with Warped Tour 1998. Some 39,000 fans were at the 12-hour, six-stage, 48-band event.[8]
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 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.[12] Serrano had appeared at Ozzfest the year prior with his former band Ünloco.
At Iron Maiden's last Ozzfest performance, on 20 August 2005 at the Hyundai Pavilion at Glen Helen in San Bernardino, California, several detrimental events took place. During the first song, several members of the crowd, brought on by Sharon Osbourne, bombarded the English metal band Iron Maiden with eggs, bottle caps and ice after vocalist Bruce Dickinson allegedly ridiculed Ozzy's need for a teleprompter during his performances, as well as the Osbourne family's ventures into reality television (The Osbournes, Battle for Ozzfest).[13] During three of Iron Maiden's songs, the P.A. system was switched off, cutting power to Dickinson's microphone and then to all 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 Dickinson is a "prick."[14]Rod Smallwood, manager for Iron Maiden, issued a statement shortly after the debacle condemning the attack on the band.[15] In 2006, Bruce Dickinson commented, "Did I have a go at Ozzy and Black Sabbath? No. Why would I? But I do find The Osbournes TV series loathsome, and the whole cult of reality TV celebrities disgusting."[16] In response to claims that he had apologised to Ozzy for Dickinson's behaviour, Steve Harris stated "No I didn't [apologise]. What I actually said was that, if there was anything to apologise for, then I'd do it. But that was twisted around to seem like I'd said sorry – that never happened!"[16]
2007–2008
On 7 February 2007, it was announced that tickets to Ozzfest 2007 would be offered free of charge, dubbing the 2007 Ozzfest as "free fest."[17] 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.
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 only headlining the second stage in 2006. 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.[18] Then, on 26 July, Ozzfest gave away free tickets without requiring its "redemption code" previously required.[19]
At the show of 16 August 2007 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.[20]
Black Label Society (cancelled in Mansfield & Camden and Bristow due to inclement weather), Drowning Pool (canceled in Mansfield due to inclement weather, Kingdom of Sorrow (Exodus played instead on the San Bernardino date), Goatwhore (canceled on the Hartford date due to a medical emergency with their bassist), Skeletonwitch, Saviours, Kataklysm (canceled in Mansfield due to inclement weather), California Wildebeest (San Bernardino date only), Immune (San Bernardino date only).[citation needed] The guitar prodigy Yuto Miyazawa was invited by Ozzy to play "Crazy Train" at the event.[citation needed]
The 2017 Ozzfest was held again in conjunction with Knotfest, under the title "Ozzfest Meets Knotfest 2017" on 4 and 5 November 2017, in San Bernardino, California, at the Glen Helen Amphitheater.[citation needed]
